James L. Leloudis

I am a historian of the post-Emancipation South. My scholarship tells the stories of ordinary people who have fought long and enduring battles for a full measure of American citizenship. I write and teach about the past as a source of inspiration for building a more just, equitable, and democratic future.

In recent years, these interests have taken me from the archives into state and federal courtrooms, where I have served as an expert witness for the NAACP, the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, and other plaintiffs seeking to protect our most precious birthright: the right to vote. That work is the basis for my most recent book, Fragile Democracy, co-authored with historian Robert Korstad and published by the University of North Carolina Press.