Elizabeth J. West, the John B. and Elena Diaz-Verson Amos Distinguished Chair in English Letters at Georgia State University, is leading a new initiative aimed at uncovering the history of enslaved people in 19th-century Georgia.
The Data Mining and Mapping Antebellum Georgia (DMMAG) project combines information from the SlaveVoyages.org database with documentation from U.S. Census records, state deed and mortgage records, and estate records to identify the names and locations of thousands of enslaved people throughout the state. The pilot database is slated to be released to the public by the end of this academic year.
“The exciting part of this work is its usefulness and access to the public,” said Dr. West. “The DMMAG project shows how data can be efficiently collected and presented for researchers. It helps both public and private researchers quickly combine and connect different types of information to answer various questions, whether small or large.”
At Georgia State, Dr. West serves as director of academics for the university’s Center for Studies on Africa and Its Diaspora. As a scholar, she focuses on interdisciplinary approaches to studies of early Africana diaspora literatures of the Americas. Her research has led to several publications, including Finding Francis: One Family’s Journey From Slavery to Freedom (University of South Carolina Press, 2022). The book chronicles one of Dr. West’s ancestors and was the inspiration for launching the DMMAG project.
Dr. West received her Ph.D. from Emory University in Atlanta.
