Encyclopedia article about emancipation of Georgia's more than 400,000 slaves which began during the chaos of the Civil War and continued well into 1865. During the war, emancipation came largely at the hands of slaves determined to secure their own freedom. Although slaves and soldiers spread information about emancipation, bondage lingered into the summer months of 1865, particularly in the more remote neighborhoods of southwest Georgia. Emancipation demanded the reconfiguration of the full range of social and economic relations. Former slaves, ex-slaveholders, and the Northerners responsible for enforcing freedom had their own ideas about what the future should bring. Struggles between those competing visions punctuated emancipation in Georgia but also laid the foundations for a new social order. Though fragile and incomplete, it rested on assumptions of universal freedom and civil rights.

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Cite as: "Emancipation," New Georgia Encyclopedia. Retrieved [date]: http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org.

Forms part of the New Georgia Encyclopedia.