On Jordan's Banks: Emancipation and Its Aftermath in the Ohio River Valley (Ohio River Valley Series) [Hardcover]

Darrel E. Bigham (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 2005 | Series: Ohio River Valley Series

The story of the Ohio River and its settlements are an integral part of American history, particularly during the country's westward expansion. The vibrant African American communities along the Ohio's banks, however, have rarely been studied in depth. Blacks have lived in the Ohio River Valley since the late eighteenth century, and since the river divided the free labor North and the slave labor South, black communities faced unique challenges. In On Jordan's Banks, Darrel E. Bigham examines the lives of African Americans in the counties along the northern and southern banks of the Ohio River both before and in the years directly following the Civil War. Gleaning material from biographies and primary sources written as early as the 1860s, as well as public records, Bigham separates historical truth from the legends that grew up surrounding these communities. The Ohio River may have separated freedom and slavery, but it was not a barrier to the racial prejudice in the region. Bigham compares early black communities on the northern shore with their southern counterparts, noting that many similarities existed despite the fact that the Roebling Suspension Bridge, constructed in 1866 at Cincinnati, was the first bridge to join the shores. Free blacks in the lower Midwest had difficulty finding employment and adequate housing. Education for their children was severely restricted if not completely forbidden, and blacks could neither vote nor testify against whites in court. Indiana and Illinois passed laws to prevent black migrants from settling within their borders, and blacks already living in those states were pressured to leave. Despite these challenges, black river communities continued to thrive during slavery, after emancipation, and throughout the Jim Crow era. Families were established despite forced separations and the lack of legally recognized marriages. Blacks were subjected to intimidation and violence on both shores and were denied even the most basic state-supported services. As a result, communities were left to devise their own strategies for preventing homelessness, disease, and unemployment. Bigham chronicles the lives of blacks in small river towns and urban centers alike and shows how family, community, and education were central to their development as free citizens. These local histories and life stories are an important part of understanding the evolution of race relations in a critical American region. On Jordan's Banks documents the developing patterns of employment, housing, education, and religious and cultural life that would later shape African American communities during the Jim Crow era and well into the twentieth century.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"There is simply an overwhelming amount of information packed into this fascinating book." -- AfroAmericanHeritage.com

"Bigham's careful study of African American life between 1860 and 1880 subtly reminds scholars that the Lower Ohio is important." -- American Historical Review

"Successfully illustrates that African Americans did more than just survive slavery, the Civil War, and emancipation; they carved out their own destinies.... Highly recommended." -- Choice

"A valuable addition to the existing literature of the settlement of the Ohio River Valley. It fills a gap left by the exclusion of the African American experience in previous historical works." -- History

"Brings together an impressive array of secondary sources and supplements these with original research into census materials, tax records, and other primary documents." -- Indiana Magazine of History

"Bigham explores churches, schools, jobs, politics, families, and the varieties of everyday African American life to offer fascinating insights into the changing reality of American ideals of equality." -- James H. Madison, author of A Lynching in the Heartland: Race and Memory in Ame

"In this fine study of African American life in the 19th -century Ohio Valley, historian Darrell Bigham adds another chapter to our understanding of this important region in U. S. history. Whereas most scholars have focused primarily on the larger urban centers, Bigham illuminates the experiences of blacks in little known towns and cities all along the Ohio River. As such, he also opens up prospects for exciting new research on this subject." -- Joe W. Trotter, author of River Jordan: African American Urban Life in the Ohio

"An important resource for those interested in the collective history of African Americans in the Ohio Valley." -- John A. Hardin, Western Kentucky University

"Unlike other studies that have focused exclusively upon the racial dynamics of large metropolitan areas like Cincinnati, Bigham finds potent history in small places as he traces the transition from antebellum slavery to postemancipation freedom in the town and villages where relationship could hold more sway than rhetoric." -- Journal of Illinois History

"[A] fine study of African American life on the nineteenth century's great 'Borderland'...This is regionalism of the most valuable kind, defining a region that since the Civil War has been largely subsumed by the Midwest north of the river and the South below it. Bigham's study challengesthose regional distinctions, at least in the matters of race and culture." -- Ohio History

"Expands our understanding of a complex topic, as it rejects the Ohio River as a divide but instead makes it the center of a vast region for examining black/white relationships." -- Thomas L. Owen, Archivist for Local History, University Archives, University of

"In arguing [his] point quite persuasively, Bigham, like Joe William Trotter, forces scholars to reconceptualize the Ohio River Valley and the notion of borderlands in American history. There is much to applaud in Bigham's exhaustive study. This is an important and useful work and will cause historians and the public to continue the re-evaluation of the Ohio River Valley's transformation during the nineteenth centure, the meaning of emancipation for African Americans, and the ways that blacks attempted, and in many cases succeeded, to advance as a group on both sides of the Ohio. All scholars interested in African American history, the Ohio River Valley, and urbanization, should read this fascinating book." -- James M. Beeby, Indiana University Southeast, Ohio Valley History

""Much demographic information is relayed in the text, and a series of useful tables in the appendix denotes population shifts and the groth of African American communities. These same demographics may make On Jordan's Banks a challenging study for the general reader, but scholars interested in regional history will find that Bigham has succeeded in bringing together a host of secondary sources and community studies to offer a clear picture of African American life in the lower Ohio Valley. Although one could argue that the book contains little new information because it is not based soly on original research, those who study the black experience in the Midwest and the Upper South will find much fodder here."" -- West Virginia History

""[A] meticulously researched and lucidly written volume.""A fine study that adds much to our knowledge of African American life in the 19th century Ohio Valley River region, a topic that until recently has received only scant attention from scholars. Whereas many historians have focused primarily on the larger cities, Bigham discusses, in great detail, the experiences of Black Americans in little-known and obscure towns and cities. For this reason alone, he should be greatly commended.""This volume clearly enhances out understanding of the important and complex history of the Ohio Valley region as well as the nature of race relations in the United States overtime." -- Dr. Eric Jackson" -- Dr. Eric Jackson

""An important and useful work and will cause historians and the public to continue the re-evaluation of the Ohio River Valley's transformation during the nineteenth century, the meaning of emancipation for African Americans, and the ways that blacks attempted, and in many cases succeeded, to advance as a group on both sides of the Ohio. All scholars interested in African American history, the Ohio River Valley, and urbanization should read this fascinating book." -- Ohio Valley History" --

About the Author

Darrel E. Bigham, professor of history and director of the Historic Southern Indiana organization at the University of Southern Indiana, is the author of several books, including Towns and Villages of the Lower Ohio.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 456 pages
• Publisher: The University Press of Kentucky (December 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813123666
• ISBN-13: 978-0813123660
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,548,247 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A new (and much needed) look at the Ohio River Valley, February 10, 2006

By 

AfroAmericanHeritage (Wisconsin) - See all my reviews

This review is from: On Jordan's Banks: Emancipation and Its Aftermath in the Ohio River Valley (Ohio River Valley Series) (Hardcover)

Each morning when he was a boy growing up along the banks of the Ohio River, my dad used to row across to a small farm on the Kentucky side to buy milk. Though the maps in our childhood history books portrayed the river as a nearly impenetrable boundary between North and South, ON JORDAN'S BANKS reveals its true nature as more of an Information Superhighway by comparatively studying African American life in the Ohio River Valley as a region. The book covers the period from 1861 - 1890 (and a bit beyond to the Great Depression in the epilogue.)

Drawing primarily on secondary sources, Bigham finds surprising similarities between the north and south shores during both the antebellum and postwar eras. He explores the wide ranging forms slavery (and freedom) took in various areas...for example, it seems that some slaves in Louisville possessed greater liberties than free blacks in Cincinnati. He examines the development of churches, schools (both integrated and segregated), benevolent societies and the social strata within black communities and across racial lines. He explores the evolution of free labor. And he shows that the fight for civil rights and suffrage knew no boundaries.

At times I felt statistics stalled the narrative, but this is a minor complaint and I'm not sure it could have been handled differently; there is simply an overwhelming amount of information packed into this fascinating book. I recommend it to Ohio River history buffs as well as to African American Studies.