Upcoming Discussion of Elizabeth J. West’s “Finding Francis”

Finding Francis is the product of years of research on the part of Elizabeth West, English professor at GSU’s Downtown campus, along with her students working in the Mapping Atlanta project lab. Working together, they combed U.S. Census records and slave schedules from the 19th century to learn more about Francis Sistrunk, a distant ancestor.  Then, they combined the information they learned with mapping technologies like GIS to give an exhaustive look at the land on which Francis lived in Harris County, Georgia. The book gives a unique insight into the life of an enslaved woman, as well as those of her children, who migrated to Mississippi in the period after the Civil War.

In honor of Women’s History Month, Dr. West will host a book talk next Tuesday, March 28 from 4:00 to 6:00 PM. The discussion is part of Georgia State University’s Center for Studies on Africa and its Diaspora and presented by the Decatur Book Festival. It will feature special guest moderator Rose Scott, host of A Closer Look on Atlanta’s NPR station 90.1 WABE. Come to Classroom 1 of Library North on the Downtown campus for an intelligent discussion about race and sex in the history of the South.