my new book unveils an unlikely nineteenth century city narrative

Some of the content below originally appeared in  a posting on my   Gender, Race and the Urban Space blog:

I am writing on this blog less as I teachThe Nineteenth Century City class in the Fall. I may return to it from time to time as I make new discoveries while teaching a new graduate course titled "Gender, Race and the Urban Space" and a new undergraduate course titled "Antebellum America."

Although I am not blogging as often on this site, I do want to take the time to share something related to the theme if often address: black urban life. My book Remember Me to Miss Louisa: Black and White Intimacies in Antebellum America is now available for pre-order on bookseller websites like Amazon.

The book, which will be published by Northern Illinois University Press this June, uncovers the ways in which (always have to get the requisite "ways  in which" academic speak in there) women and children of color migrated outside slave territory before the Civil War with the assistance of an unlikely body - southern white men. Ohio and Cincinnati in particular was filled with newly freed black and mixed race women and children owing partly to its place on the Mississippi-Ohio river network.

Ultimately, relying greatly on correspondence from African American women and children and legal documents as well as published contemporary writings, the book demonstrates that while white men can hardly be excused from their participation in oppressing people of color during the antebellum period, they unveil themselves as being uncomplicated as most human beings when they made decisions to demonstrate some measure of concern for certain enslaved women and the children they had with them. The book is yet another that shows the struggle of unmarried mothers of color in cities, but, again, white men are a  part of the conversation in anticipated and unanticipated ways. In providing black or mixed race women and children with the means to leave often rural spaces, white men were inserting them knowingly or unknowingly into emerging urban life in America. Indeed, the "nineteenth century city" is often the setting for my book.
That newly freed black and mixed race women and children manifest in such a setting is significant partly because far too often we do not often see people of African descent in chronicles of rising of industry and urbanization in the United States. Instead, we hear a great deal about such inventions as steamboats and when we hear of white-black interaction, it often involves race riots such as the kind that indeed took place in Cincinnati and other cities like Philadelphia and New York before the Civil War.

The explosion of literature on urban history, one of the fastest growing subfields of African American history, is widening the lens on black urban life during the nineteenth century. I look forward to sharing what I've discovered about the experiences of black women and children in antebellum and postbellum Cincinnati and elsewhere. Yes, given the racial hostility in Cincinnati, that city often served as a staging ground for some new migrants who eventually moved on to places as varied as Colorado, Kansas, Washington state, northern Mexico and some even returned to the South.

That said, I have entertained the idea of ending this blog and addressing my students and others via only my teaching and technology site. That site was created because technology - as in films, videos and music clips -  is so important to how I teach and even conduct research (film and theatre were prongs in my first graduate degree).

One day at a time on it all. In the meantime, back to teaching - and celebrating the coming release of my first historical monograph. Great way to start the new year.

Dr. Richard Megraw on baseball and the "nineteenth century city"

a tapestry of voices tell a story about the past...

Here is a sound clip of me and the students trying to read the script for the short  "Tuscaloosa, The Nineteenth Century City." While you listen, check out this Bama sunset. As my colleague Bart Elmore edits the music and I edit the photography for this short, I look forward to seeing the students' final papers on an existing Tuscaloosa building that was built during the nineteenth century. The short will be shown at 4 pm, December 4, in Room 118, tenHoor Hall. In the meantime, Roll Tide!

Americans..."we like to do whatever makes us happy even if that leaves us alone.”

Gulf of Mexico near the Florida Panhandle and Alabama.

The students did a fairly good job of comparing the lives of nineteenth century geologist Clarence King and Eliza Potter, a hairdresser who lived during the same century. Michael decided they were similarly challenged when it came to the issue of character. “Eliza was a horrible gossip,” Michael wrote, adding that “Clarence lived a double life.” He also detected how they both reflected the ways in which interracial relationships were a part of nineteenth century life. “Eliza Potter was a mixed race woman,” he said, and “Clarence King [was having] a relationship with an African American woman." His words in this regard resonate as my own research reveals the degree to which black-white unions occurred - forcibly or otherwise - throughout this century even though many white Americans generally saw people of color as being inferior. No matter their station or skin color, nineteenth century city dwellers like King and Potter battled loneliness, something Gunther Barth pointed out in his attention to nineteenth century urban culture. Indeed, Aaron noted how "both [individuals] seemed to be characterized by loneliness despite the fact that they were surrounded by people.” Added Evelyn, both “Clarence and Eliza…find themselves lonely” although for different reasons. King’s home was the “primeval forest” unlike Eliza who boasted about her house “in the heart of the city” of Cincinnati. Regan saw how both individuals “used their loneliness as [a] motivation to seek…adventures.” Said Anne Marie, they were “born travelers. They live[d] to tell the tales of their adventures over land and sea.” That said, A.J. rightly observed that Eliza had to be more careful than King because she was a woman of mixed race. Wrote A.J., “She went through some bad times, which she was either a part of or witnessed "[For example], she got off a boat in New Orleans, but [did not] stay long for fear of being sold into slavery.” Ultimately, both people, as Ryan wrote, “did whatever pleased and made them happy.” In this way, they captured “American life. We like to do whatever makes us happy even if that leaves us alone.”

While I was generally pleased with their responses, helping the students better synthesize all that has been learned this semester has been my biggest challenge. As they looked for meaning in the movements of King and Potter, it would have been great to see them invoke some of what  Barth teaches about nineteenth century American life.  As the semester ends, we turn to working collectively on our class video about buildings in Tuscaloosa. The idea is to find the nineteenth century “city” in Tuscaloosa’s history (and perhaps in Alabama's history. The above photo features the Gulf of Mexico, which touches the shores of Mobile, a critical southern and urban port in this state). Along the way, the students will be revising their essays about the building they randomly selected. It is my hope that they work harder to make connections between course readings and indeed outings – last week, they had a scavenger hunt at the Eugene Allen Smith Photography exhibit at the Alabama Museum of Natural History; Anne Marie and Lewis finished first and with the most correct answers - and their own research.

Tuscaloosa, a walking/driving city

What the students' chosen buildings look like when placed together on a map.

I wanted to share what I call a "bubble map" of a select group of buildings that existed in Tuscaloosa during the nineteenth century. "Bubble" refers to the tiny circles, which Microsoft allows you to use in order to digitally manipulate a picture. This image started out as a basic Google Map. If you look closely, you can see the Black Warrior River in the top third of it. I was very interested in seeing how these structures, which the students randomly selected, would materialize if bundled visually together. I was struck by how we ended up with three churches and how all three are in the lower left hand side of the map, or essentially near downtown. I wondered how they ended up being in that location. We pondered this as a class yesterday. Perhaps it is because these churches contributed to this location being the center of Tuscaloosa during this century. Noticeably missing are some important structures like the Gorgas House and the Jemison Mansion. We just had a new enrollee so maybe he will choose one of them. As the city is presently laid out, and barring no traffic, you can see all of these buildings by car across  8.3 miles, or in 32 minutes. If this was truly a "walking city" map in Tuscaloosa's present layout, it is about 4.2 miles of walking and can be done in 1 hour and 42 minutes (at least that's what Google says. I am not so sure in this Alabama heat). As aside, we had a great visits yesterday by Sarah Riches, MA in Architecture, University of Chicago, and Dr. Susan Reynolds, Assistant Editor of Alabama Heritage. Riches offered the students a vocabulary to describe their randomly chosen buildings. I enjoyed hearing about how the use of words like "space" and "void" will help them critique a structure. Reynolds shared lots of historical information about the Kilgore House, a structure that was recently demolished. Among the highlights for me was learning about the female students who lived there at the turn of the turn of the century. One of them, a redhead, appears to have had an exuberant personality. I look forward to reading the students' thoughts about Barth's take on the ways in which the metropolitan press and department stores helped American "city people" form an identity during the nineteenth century, but also about how the city he describes was not experienced similarly by all Americans. Speaking of American, as we approach the fourth week of class, I really want them to think about what it means to be an "American." One tool for getting them into that head space is a History channel documentary, America: The Story of Us. I was prepared to not like this documentary, but actually enjoyed it and highly recommend it. We will take up the subject of what it means to be American as a class next week as UA's American Studies Professor Rich Megraw visits us to discuss a popular American sport, which like many things American, has its roots elsewhere: baseball. I have promised the students that I will try not to wear my grandpa's Yankees cap as I know Dr. Megraw is a big Philly fan and would be quite unhappy. PS See regular discussions of local structures in a blog written by The Tuscaloosa News Librarian Betty Slowe.