Book Review

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Book Review | The Journal of American History, 86.1 | The History Cooperative

River Jordan: African American Urban Life in the Ohio Valley. By Joe William Trotter Jr. (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1998. xvi, 200 pp. Cloth, $29.00, isbn 0-8131-2065-9. Paper, $17.00, isbn 0-8131-0950-7.)

This book is evidence of the dynamic growth of scholarly work on African American communities since 1970. Based mostly on secondary literature, this study was conceived by Joe William Trotter Jr. as "a partial contribution to a larger synthesis" of black urban history. 1

Partial it may be, but River Jordan covers substantial intellectual territory. The book compares the status of African Americans in four Ohio Valley cities—Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Louisville, and Evansville—over an unusually long time. It is divided into three chronological sections (the antebellum era, 1861-1914, and 1914-1945) of two chapters each: the first devoted to work and economic change, the second to community development, residential patterns, and the struggle for racial equality. Reflecting Trotter's background in labor history, the book devotes unusual attention to economic activities. . . .

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