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.