University of Kentucky UKnowledge African American Studies Race, Ethnicity, and Post-Colonial Studies 1998 River Jordan: African American Urban Life in the Ohio Valley Joe William Trotter Jr. Click here to let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Thanks to the University of Kentucky Libraries and the University Press of Kentucky, this book is freely available to current faculty, students, and staff at the University of Kentucky. Find other University of Kentucky Books at uknowledge.uky.edu/upk. For more information, please contact UKnowledge at [email protected]. Recommended Citation Trotter, Joe William Jr., "River Jordan: African American Urban Life in the Ohio Valley" (1998). African American Studies. 8. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/upk_african_american_studies/8 Ohio River Valley Series Rita Kohn and William Lynwood Montell Series Editors RIVER JORDAN African American Urban Life in the Ohio Valley JOE WILLIAM TROTTER JR. THE UNIVERSITY PREss OF KENTUCKY Copyright © 1998 by The University Press of Kentucky Scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth, serving Bellarmine University, Berea College, Centre College of Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky University, The Filson Historical Society, Georgetown College, Kentucky Historical Society, Kentucky State University, Morehead State University, Murray State University, Northern Kentucky University, Transylvania University, University of Kentucky, University of Louisville, and Western Kentucky University. All rights reserved. Editorial and Sales Offices: The University Press of Kentucky 663 South Limestone Street, Lexington, Kentucky 40508-4008 www.kentuckypress.com Frontispiece: “In River Jordan.” The Rev. George W. Wyatt of Cincinnati’s Antioch Baptist Church prepares for baptismal ceremonies in the Ohio River around World War I. From W.B. Dabney, Cincinnati’s Colored Citizens (1926) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Trotter, Joe William, 1945– River Jordan: African American urban life in the Ohio Valley / Joe William Trotter, Jr. p. cm.—(The Ohio River Valley series) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-10: 0-8131-2065-9 (cloth : alk. paper).—ISBN-10: 0-8131-0950-7 (paper : alk. paper) 1. Afro-Americans—Ohio River Valley—Social conditions. 2. City and town life—Ohio River Valley—History. 3. Ohio River Valley— Social conditions. 4. Ohio River Valley—Race relations. I. Title. II. Series. F520.6.N4T76 1998 977'.00496073—dc21 97-43458 ISBN-13: 978-0-8131-0950-3 (pbk : alk. paper) This book is printed on acid-free recycled paper meeting the requirements of the American National Standard for Permanence in Paper for Printed Library Materials. Manufactured in the United States of America. Member of the Association of American University Presses To AUNT VELMA TILLMAN ANDERSON IN MEMORY OF UNCLE MELVIN CLARENCE ANDERSON This page intentionally left blank Contents List of Figures, Maps, and Tables IX Series Foreword xi Preface xiii Part 1: African Americans and the Expansion of Commercial and Early Industrial Capitalism, 1790-1860 1. African Americans, Work, and the "Urban Frontier" 3 2. Disfranchisement, Racial Inequality, and the Rise of Black Urban Communities 24 Part 2: Emancipation, Race, and Industrialization, 1861-1914 3. Occupational Change and the Emergence of a Free Black Proletariat 55 4. The Persistence of Racial and Class Inequality: The Limits of Citizenship 73 Part 3: African Americans in the Industrial Age, 1915-1945 5. The Expansion of the Black Urban-Industrial Working Class 95 6. African Americans, Depression, and World War II 122 Epilogue 151 Notes 161 Bibliography 180 Index 194 This page intentionally left blank Figures, Maps, and Tables Figures In River Jordan frontispiece William Glover's barbershop in Evansville 39 Fountain Lewis Sr. 41 Martin Robison Delany 58 Cincinnati black community known as "Little Bucktown" 76 Reverend J.D. Rouse 79 Evansville's Alexander Chapel AME Church 80 Wendell P. Dabney and wife 82 Peter Clark 84 Jennie D. Porter 87 James Hathaway Robinson and family 113 Reverend Junius Caesar Austin 115 City Federation of Colored Women's Clubs building 118 William Ware 119 Pittsburgh's low-income public housing 129 Daisy Lampkin 136 Sallie Wyatt Stewart 137 Charles W. Anderson and mother 139 The 'Fighters' baseball team of Evansville 142 Ben Careathers and Steve Nelson 154 Carl O'Neal Dickerson 155 Maps 1. The Ohio Valley 5 2. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 8 3. Cincinnati, Ohio 10 4. Louisville, Kentucky 12 5. Evansville, Indiana 13 Tables 1. African American Population, Ohio Valley Cities, 1800-1850 28 2. African American Population, Ohio Valley Cities, 1960-1910 66 3. African American Population, Ohio Valley Cities, 1910-1930 97 4. African American Population, Ohio Valley Cities, 1930-1950 124 5. African American Population, Ohio Valley Cities, 1950-1980 152 Series Foreword The Ohio River Valley Series, conceived and published by the University Press of Kentucky, is an ongoing series of books that examine and illu­ minate the Ohio River and its tributaries, the lands drained by these streams, and the peoples who made this fertile and desirable area their place of residence, of refuge, of commerce and industry, of cultural de­ velopment, and, ultimately, of engagement with American democracy. In doing this, the series builds upon an earlier project, ''Always a River: The Ohio River and the American Experience:' which was sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the humanities councils of Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, with a mix of private and public organizations. The Always a River project directed widespread public attention to the place of the Ohio River in the context of the larger American story. This series expands on this significant role of the river in the growth of the American nation by presenting the varied history and folklife of the region. Each book's story is told through men and women acting within their particular place and time. Each reveals the rich resources for the history of the Ohio River and of the nation afforded by records, papers, and oral stories preserved by families and institutions. Each traces the impact the river and the land have had on individuals and cultures and, conversely, the changes these individuals and cultures have wrought on the valley with the passage of years. As a force of nation and as a waterway into the American heartland, the Ohio and its tributaries have touched us individually and collectively. This series celebrates the story of that river and its valley through mul­ tiple voices and visions. River Jordan: African American Urban Life in the Ohio Valley reveals the impact that Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Louisville, and Evansville had on blacks and the effects those people had on the cities themselves. Within the mainstream we witness the emergence of a distinctive black economy, xii culture, and political structure. Joe William Trotter draws upon traditional and new sources to bring dimension to each center's African American population and depicts how, throughout two centuries, individuals and institutions emerged from the shadows to bring diversity and vibrancy to their own and to the region's history. River Jordan presents the picture as it is, inviting us to assess the manifestations of the American story of people of color. Rita Kohn William Lynwood Montell Preface This book builds upon the recent explosion of scholarship in African American urban history. Although class, gender, and cultural issues re­ quire much more research, the existing scholarship provides the intel­ lectual foundation for a new African American urban synthesis. l Accordingly, based primarily upon existing scholarship, this book is con­ ceived and presented as a partial contribution to a larger synthesis. The Ohio Valley is an excellent place to start because it holds great symbolic significance in African American history. It not only represented the boundary between slavery and freedom during the antebellum era, but the division between the Jim Crow South and the urban North during the industrial age. Indeed, African Americans frequently referred to the Ohio as the "River Jordan" because it symbolized their passage from southern bondage to the "land of hope" or "promised land" farther north. River Jordan examines African American life in four Ohio Valley cit­ ies-Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Louisville, and Evansville-from the Ameri­ can Revolution to the mid-twentieth century. By exploring the development of black urban life in a regional context, connected by the Ohio River, this book not only aims to broaden our understanding of black life in urban America, it also addresses the overall aim of the Ohio River Valley Series, i.e., to illuminate the "impact of the Ohio River in the context of the larger American story:'2 As a work of synthesis, this book seeks several specific objectives. First and most important, it emphasizes the role of black workers in the trans­ formation of black urban life under the impact of commercial and later industrial capitalism. While documenting the deleterious impact of ra­ cial and class inequality on black life, the book gives particular attention to the migration of rural southern blacks into Ohio Valley cities, their participation in the urban political economy, and their role in the devel­ opment of black urban communities and the struggle for social justice. Second, this study documents the gradual emergence of the black middle class and its small elite, including the nature of their relationship