In Summer 2013, Dr. Ellis was awarded a fellowship to attend a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Summer Institute in Savannah, Georgia. He spent two weeks in Georgia participating in the institute titled, “African American History and Culture in the Georgia Lowcountry: Savannah and the Coastal Islands.”
Sponsored by the Georgia Historical Society (GHS), this institute focused on African American life on the coastal islands of Georgia and the city of Savannah, exploring the significance of slavery in Georgia to the broader Atlantic world. Through a place-based immersion, summer scholars deepened their understanding of how slavery, race, and the South shaped patterns in US history.
The institute was intensive, and it included research at the GHS, travel to Sapello and Ossabaw Islands, walking tours of Savannah, scholarly presentations, group discussions, and a rigorous reading schedule. In response to the institute, Dr. Ellis reworked the syllabus for his 1301 and 1302 US history courses to more deeply reflect the current scholarship on race and slavery.
Savannah, Georgia
To read about Dr. Ellis’s summer experience, Click Here
To read more about the institute or the Georgia Historical Society, Click Here
Sapelo Island