Michael Todd Landis

“Slavery and Power in Civil War Georgia” is a nine-chapter book project exploring Georgia in the 1850s-60s, with a focus on the centrality of slavery to the state’s politics, culture, and economy. Of special importance are the voices and experiences of the unfranchised—namely women, free people of color, and the enslaved—who have traditionally been neglected, or outright ignored, by scholars. Through deep mining of archival collections and records, “Slavery and Power in Civil War Georgia” demonstrates that state and national policies were driven by the unfranchised majority who self-emancipated, challenged authorities, pressured politicians, and overturned social norms. By shifting attention away from elites, the project offers a more comprehensive assessment of what it meant to be a Georgian in the Civil War.