A notice from the World Heritage Initiative, Department of History, Georgia State University
Atlanta, Georgia
18 March 2020
With great regret but with an abundance of caution regarding the spread of COVID-19, and in fulfillment of federal recommendations, we have cancelled the U.S. Civil Rights Movement Sites Symposium scheduled for April 16-18, 2020 on the campus of Georgia State University.
For those of you who made plans to attend, please contact your hotel regarding your reservation and terminate any travel arrangements for coming to Atlanta that you may have. If your reservation was with the Marriott Residence Inn Downtown, your rooms have already been canceled.
On Monday the University System of Georgia Board of Regents announced the closing of all campuses through the Spring Semester. Over the weekend, the Organization of American Historians, the National Council on Public History, and other professional groups cancelled their April conferences. Also various federal agencies, from FEMA to the CDC, recommended cancelling all gatherings of fifty or more people through mid-May. Consequently, we will comply with the university rules and follow the examples of the professional organizations as well as the federal guidelines, and will cancel the Symposium.
In the weeks ahead, we will be discussing the idea of rescheduling the Symposium. Odds are that we will wait until next Spring 2021. In any case, you may rest assured that we will communicate with you in the hopes of gaining your participation. While it is extremely disappointing to do this, given the exceptional nature of the program we were able to create through the commitment of outstanding speakers and panelists, we know it is the right thing to do. We are committed to gathering interpreters, stakeholders, and property owners from the nation’s civil rights sites together with leaders in museum practice and historic preservation at some future date in Atlanta.
Until then may you, your family and friends stay safe as we weather this global crisis.