Michael L. ThurmondMICHAEL L. THURMOND is the chief executive officer of DeKalb County, Georgia. He is the author of Freedom: Georgia’s Antislavery Heritage, 1733–1865 and A Story Untold: Black Men and Women in Athens History. Thurmond has previously servd in the Georgia legislature, as director of Georgia’s Division of Family and Children Services, as Georgia labor commissioner and as superintendent of DeKalb schools. In 1997 Thurmond became a distinguished lecturer at the University of Georgia’s Carl Vinson Institute of Government. He lives in Stone Mountain, Georgia. Read More Read Less