REVIEWS 376 who lived for two decades in New- pants and the relative prevalence of port, Indiana, and George DeBaptiste, particular methods and routes of a black Madison, Indiana, barber who escape may not be entirely satisfied. took flight for Detroit after eight years Nonetheless, Bordewichs ambitious of assisting slaves escaping across the narration vividly presents the combi- Ohio River. nation of moral fervor, opportunity, The covert exodus of thousands and audacious bravery that offered of slaves possesses inherent drama, individuals and the nation alterna- and the book provides numerous tives to slavery and racism. While the compelling examples of their suc- Underground Railroad could hardly cessful escapes as well as episodes of redeem “the soul of America,” its role physical confrontation and personal in liberating an estimated 100,000 tragedy. Painting details of sectional people from slavery, sometimes one crises and antislavery politics on a person at a time, was a tangible broad canvas means that context accomplishment in a society that, sometimes threatens to overwhelm especially for African Americans, the core subject of the study. Bor- exhibited far too few attributes of a dewichs effort to describe the under- Promised Land. grounds resistance as the fulcrum of a victorious antislavery movement DAVIDGELLMAN is associate professor leads at times to rhetorical over-reach. of history at DePauw University and Readers seeking a more focused, author of Emancipating New York: The intensive appraisal of the under- Politics ofslavery and Freedom, 1777- ground movement’s myriad partici- 1827 (2006). On Jordan$ Banks Emancipation and Its Aftermath in the Ohio River Valley By Darrel E. Bigham (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2005. Pp. x, 428. Maps, appendix, notes, index. $45.00.) With On Jordan’s Banks, Darrel E. impressive array of secondary sources Bigham, for many years a productive and supplements these with original scholar of southern Indiana history, research into census materials, tax broadens his geographical scope to records, and other primary docu- focus upon the African American ments. The work makes a valuable experience in the Ohio River valley contribution to the scholarly record during the last half of the nineteenth and represents a worthy addition to century. In this heavily footnoted vol- the Ohio River Valley Series published ume, Bigham brings together an by the University Press of Kentucky. 377 INDIANA MAGAZINE OF HISTORY It is not, however, an easy book to the Underground Railroad, blacks read. quickly discovered the insecurity of The broad story of race relations their “freedom”:housing in short sup- in America following emancipation ply, jobs limited by racial restriction, and Reconstruction is well known. violence both random and with pur- Still, the Ohio River valley provides a pose, voting and civil rights more a convenient region in which to view dream than a reality. While the story the small variations in race relations is not new, Bigham supports it with between the once slaveholding extensive documentation, often going Sou th-represented here by Kentucky county-by-county up one side of the on the river’s south bank-and the river and then down the other. strongly racist free states on the north Not simply the objects of histori- bank. For the most part, as Bigham cal forces and white decision makers, shows, blacks in the Ohio valley lived African Americans created separate separate from whites, whether by law, settlements when faced with hostility by custom, by power, or by fear. With in urban centers, established some this separateness-on both sides of remarkably sophisticated social and the river-came inequality of re- educational institutions, and some- sources and opportunity. Black men times even made the difference in and women in the valley responded political decisions when whites were as they did elsewhere-by protesting divided. Bigham fills his pages with on occasion, by accommodating as a tidbits of information and with the rule, and by forming separate institu- names of otherwise anonymous peo- tions to undergird their pursuit of ple, but the individuals in this volume human survival and advancement as never really come alive as real peo- a free people. ple-they are buried in the details. Following emancipation and the Unless truly interested in all of end of the Civil War, former slaves the historical examples, the reader moved closer to the river, sometimes might profitably review the sum- stopping in the larger cities and towns maries that begin and end each chap- of Kentucky, such as Louisville, and ter, or even skip to the epilogue, more frequently seeking the north- which gives a strong analytical sum- bank urban centers of Cincinnati, mary of the larger picture of black New Albany, or Evansville. Clearly experience in the Ohio River valley most desired to escape the place of and projects the impact of this expe- their recent enslavement, seeking jobs rience well into the twentieth centu- first in order to provide a means of ry. supporting themselves, but also chas- ing the less tangible benefits of free- LESTERC. LAMON is the author of sev- dom. Whether in a small Kentucky eral books and articles on African town or a larger city like Cincinnati American history and professor emer- with a past seasoned by support for itus at Indiana University South Bend. .