River Jordan: African American Urban Life in the Ohio Valley Contributor(s): Trotter, Joe William (Author) |
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ISBN: 0813109507 ISBN-13: 9780813109503 Publisher: University Press of Kentucky OUR PRICE: $23.75 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: March 1998 Annotation: The Ohio River once symbolized the passage of blacks from slavery to freedom along the underground railroad. Hence, they frequently referred to it as the "River Jordan". Yet in the urban centers along the river's shores, blacks faced racial hostility. Here Joe Trotter examines African American life in the Ohio Valley cities Evansville, Louisville, Cincinnati, and Pittsburgh, from the arrival of the first blacks to the Civil Rights movement. 21 photos. 5 maps. |
Additional Information |
BISAC Categories: - Social Science | Ethnic Studies - African American Studies - History | United States - State & Local - General - Social Science | Sociology - Urban |
Dewey: 977.004 |
LCCN: 97043458 |
Series: Ohio River Valley |
Physical Information: 0.62" H x 6.02" W x 9.01" (0.74 lbs) 218 pages |
Themes: - Cultural Region - Mid-Atlantic - Cultural Region - Midwest - Cultural Region - Southeast U.S. - Cultural Region - South - Demographic Orientation - Urban - Ethnic Orientation - African American - Geographic Orientation - Kentucky - Geographic Orientation - Ohio - Geographic Orientation - Pennsylvania |
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
Publisher Description: Since the nineteenth century, the Ohio River has represented a great divide for African Americans. It provided a passage to freedom along the underground railroad, and during the industrial age, it was a boundary between the Jim Crow South and the urban North. The Ohio became known as the "River Jordan," symbolizing the path to the promised land. 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 create vibrant new communities as former agricultural workers transformed themselves into a new urban working class. Unlike most studies of black urban life, Trotter's work considers several cities and compares their economic conditions, demographic makeup, and political and cultural conditions. Beginning with the arrival of the first blacks in the Ohio Valley, Trotter traces the development of African American urban centers through the civil rights movement and the developments of recent years. |