River Jordan: African American Urban Life in the Ohio Valley (Ohio River Valley) - Hardcover

Trotter Jr., Professor Of History Joe William

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0813120659 ISBN 13: 9780813120652

Publisher: University Press of Kentucky, 1998

Synopsis

The Ohio River has great symbolic significance in African American history. During the industrial age, it marked the division between the Jim Crow South and the urban North. Before that, it symbolized the passage of blacks from slavery to freedom along the underground railroad. Hence, African Americans frequently referred to the Ohio as the River Jordan. But what about African American life in the communities located along the river itself? In the urban centers of Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Louisville, and Evansville, blacks faced racial hostility from outside their immediate neighborhoods as well as class, color, and cultural fragmentation among themselves. Yet despite these pressures, African Americans were able to build bridges across the social chasms that separated them to create vibrant new communities. Joe Trotter examines African American urban life in these four Ohio Valley cities from the arrival of the first blacks in the region to the civil rights movements of the recent past. Standing at the forefront of both community development and social conflict was the long-term transformation of southern agricultural workers into a new urban working class.

About this title

About the Author

Joe Trotter is Mellon Bank Professor and Director of the Center for Africanamerican Urban Studies and the Economy at Carnegie Mellon University. He is one of the foremost historians of African American urban history, and has written numerous books on the topic.
Earl Lewis is Dean of the Graduate School and professor of history and African American studies at the University of Michigan. He is author of In Their Own Interests: Race, Class and Power in Twentieth-Century Norfolk and co-author of Love on Trial.
Tera Hunter is associate professor of history at Carnegie Mellon University, and author of the award-winning book To 'Joy My Freedom: Southern Black Women's Lives and Labors after the Civil War.

Review

"Presents a comprehensive overview of African-American urban life from colonial days to about 1960."―American Historical Review

"The Ohio River Valley traditionally has held a major symbolic significance for African Americans as the cultural and geographic line of demarcation between slavery and freedom, oppression and opportunity, despair and hope. Trotter searches for regional themes of the black experience in Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Louisville, and Evansville."―Choice

"By illuminating the connections among racism, deindustrialization, and the continuing transformation of rural southern blacks into new urban workers, Trotter contributes significantly to our understanding of the contemporary urban crisis."―Henry L. Taylor, SUNY Buffalo

"Summarizes most of the existing scholarship on four African American cities: Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Louisville, and Evansville."―Indiana Magazine of History

"Covers substantial intellectual territory. . . . Represents a novel and creative approach to black urban history. It provides an important model for future scholars."―Journal of American History

"Covers substantial intellectual territory."―Journal of American History

"In a tightly crafted synthesis of African American history in the Ohio Valley, Joe Trotter examines black life in four important urban communities: Cincinnati, Evansville, Louisville, and Pittsburgh."―Journal of Appalachian Studies

"Synthesizes the scholarship of the past two decades that has examined blacks who lived in Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Louisville, and Evansville."―Journal of Illinois History

"A wide-ranging work of synthesis, covering such themes as the migration of rural southern blacks, the participation of blacks in the urban political economy and their role in the struggle for justice."―Northwest Ohio Quarterly

"Illuminates the impact of the Ohio River in the context of the larger American story."―Now & Then

"Successfully synthesizes the work on the urban life of African Americans. . . . An excellent book."―Ohio History

"As a general study of black urban life and with particular important insights into the complexity of the Ohio Valley region, River Jordan is essential reading."―Ohio Valley History

"Contributes greatly to our understanding of urban problems."―Pennsylvania History

Edition details

• Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0813120659
• ISBN 13: 9780813120652
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 200