On October 20-24, 1993, the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History (ASALH) held its seventy-eighth annual meeting in Baltimore, Maryland. The theme of the conference, "Strengthening Leadership to Enhance Empowerment," was elucidated in sessions such as "Historical Approaches to African American Resistance," and "Martin and Malcolm: The Men, Myths, and Twentieth-Century America. Other sessions included various topics such as "Rebuilding and Reform: Community Formation in Slavery and ‘Freedom’" “Varieties of the Struggle for Civil Rights and Political Reform,” “Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on Urban Education," and "Race and Oppression: The United States and South Africa." Prof. David C. Dennard chaired the program committee, which included Robert Hall, Northeastern University; Janette H. Harris, ASALH past president ex officio; Robert L. Harris, Cornell University; Charles Johnson, Jr., Morgan State University; Freddie L. Parker. North Carolina Central University; June O. Patton, ASALH scholar-in-residence; Merline Pitre, Texas Southern University; Leslie H. Pollard, Paine College; Barbara Woods, Hampton University; and Alfred Young, Georgia Southern University.

At the meeting, the association presented the first Carter Godwin Woodson Scholars Medallion to Benjamin A. Quarles, emeritus, Morgan State University. The Woodson Medallion is presented to a scholar whose career is distinguished through at least a decade of research and writing in the field of Afro-American life and history.

The annual meeting continued the tradition of Carter Woodson, the association's founder, of encouraging the study of African American history among secondary and postsecondary students. During the meeting, the undergraduate and graduate ASALH essay contest winners were invited to present their papers. The ASALH also sponsored a workshop for middle and secondary teachers on "African Americans in World War II."

The association maintains the Carter G. Woodson Home in Washington, D.C., where Woodson managed the organization from 1923 until his death in 1950. The Woodson Home is currently a national historic landmark.