Southern Political Science Association

The Southern Political Science Association (SPSA) is an American learned society and national political science association. It promotes political science in the United States and internationally. Its primary purposes are to publish a professional journal, to improve teaching, to promote interest and research in theoretical and practical political problems, to encourage communication and to develop standards of competence and respect between persons engaged in the professional study and practice of government and politics.

History

The Southern Political Science Association was founded in 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. It is independent of the American Political Science Association. Its first president was Cullen B. Gosnell, a professor of Political Science at Emory University.

The association organizes a conference every January. From 1929 to 1936, it took place in Atlanta, Georgia. However, since 1937, its location has changed to a different location in the South every year. From 1956 to 1963, the annual meeting took place in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, where both whites and blacks could find places to stay.

Its president was Alfred Benjamin Butts in 1938. Roscoe C. Martin served as its president in 1942. He was followed by Herman Clarence Nixon, who served as its president in 1944 and 1945. By 1955, its president was Manning J. Dauer.

During the McCarthy era of the 1950s, the association remained apolitical. In 1964, Martin Luther King Jr. gave an address at the SPSA meeting in Durham, North Carolina. By 1973, its president was Samuel DuBois Cook, an African-American political scientist.

The SPSA publishes ''The Journal of Politics'', a peer-reviewed academic journal.

Past presidents

References

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Organizations established in 1929
Learned societies of the United States
Political science organizations
Culture of the Southern United States
Political science in the United States
1929 establishments in the United States