Black life on the Mississippi : slaves, free Blacks, and the western steamboat world

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Title:

Author:

Buchanan, Thomas C., 1967-

ISBN:

9780807829097

Personal Author:

Buchanan, Thomas C., 1967-

Publication Information:

Chapel Hill : University of North Carolina Press, c2004.

Physical Description:

xv, 256 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 25 cm.

Contents:

Introduction : race and the antebellum western steamboat economy -- Ch. 1. From plantation to freedom : African American steamboat workers and the pan-Mississippi world -- Ch. 2. Below the pilothouse : the work culture of steamboats -- Ch. 3. Living blood for gold : African American families and the Mississippi River -- Ch. 4. Boats against the current : slave escapes on the western rivers -- Ch. 5. Rascals on the antebellum Mississippi : the Madison Henderson gang -- Ch. 6. Emancipation and steamboat culture -- Epilogue : the decline of Mississippi River steamboating.

Abstract:

"Offering a counternarrative to Twain's well-known tale from the perspective of the pilothouse, Thomas C. Buchanan paints a more complete picture of the Mississippi, documenting the rich variety of experiences among slaves and free blacks who lived and worked on the lower decks and along the river during slavery, through the Civil War, and into emancipation." "Buchanan explores the creative efforts of steamboat workers to link riverside African American communities in the North and South. The networks African Americans created allowed them to keep in touch with family members, help slaves escape, transfer stolen goods, and provide forms of income that were important to the survival of their communities."--BOOK JACKET.

Subject Term:

African Americans -- Mississippi River Valley -- History -- 19th century.

African American steamboat workers -- History -- 19th century.

River life -- Mississippi River Valley -- History -- 19th century.

Geographic Term:

Mississippi River Valley -- History -- 19th century.

Mississippi River -- History -- 19th century.

Copies:

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Library	Material Type	Item Barcode	Shelf Number	Copy	Status
Searching... 1:IIEMSA	1:GEN-BOOK	33168020369217	977.020496073 B918B 2004	1	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

All along the Mississippi--on country plantation landings, urban levees and quays, and the decks of steamboats--nineteenth-century African Americans worked and fought for their liberty amid the slave trade and the growth of the cotton South. Offering a counternarrative to Twain's well-known tale from the perspective of the pilothouse, Thomas C. Buchanan paints a more complete picture of the Mississippi, documenting the rich variety of experiences among slaves and free blacks who lived and worked on the lower decks and along the river during slavery, through the Civil War, and into emancipation.

Buchanan explores the creative efforts of steamboat workers to link riverside African American communities in the North and South. The networks African Americans created allowed them to keep in touch with family members, help slaves escape, transfer stolen goods, and provide forms of income that were important to the survival of their communities. The author also details the struggles that took place within the steamboat work culture. Although the realities of white supremacy were still potent on the river, Buchanan shows how slaves, free blacks, and postemancipation freedpeople fought for better wages and treatment.

By exploring the complex relationship between slavery and freedom, Buchanan sheds new light on the ways African Americans resisted slavery and developed a vibrant culture and economy up and down America's greatest river.