From Cherokees and Creeks to MARTA and malls, new book examines Gwinnett

Two hundred years of Gwinnett County history is explored in a recently published book.

“Gwinnett County, Georgia, and the Transformation of the American South, 1818-2018″ is a compilation of scholarly articles by various authors. The book — edited by Michael Gagnon of Gwinnett College and Matthew Hild of Georgia Tech — is not a genealogy-related work. Its 15 chapters cover various aspects of the county’s history. The first chapters look at the area’s Cherokee and Creek origins, the famous sovereignty case of Worcester v. Georgia, then “Slavery and Cotton in Antebellum Gwinnett.”

That is followed by one on Confederates and Unionists and another on Reconstruction. The Air Line Railroad and Town Building chapter helps readers understand the growth of certain areas of the county. A chapter on the rise and fall of the cotton economy brings the story into the 20th century. Alice Strickland, who became the first woman mayor in Georgia when she took the helm in Duluth, has a chapter. The African American experience in the county from 1910-1980 is featured. Toward the end is “Of Malls and MARTA, Gwinnett in the late Twentieth Century.” That is followed by one on how mass immigration changed the demographics. Each chapter is footnoted, and there is a full index.

This book greatly contributes to the understanding of Gwinnett’s history and is a rare scholarly approach to a Georgia county’s past. It is available from the publisher, the University of Georgia Press, at ugapress.org, in softcover for $34.95, as well as in other formats. Gagnon has several speaking engagements, including August 9 at the Gwinnett Museum at 6:30 p.m.

Georgia Open History Library

The University of Georgia Press recently began reprinting select books from years past that they are calling the Georgia Open History Library. Funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the publications come in several formats, but you can get a printed book if you want. An advisory board helps select the titles. See ugapress.org/series/Georgia-open-history-library. Several dozen titles are on display at the Georgia Archives in Morrow.