Bigham, Darrel E. 1942–

(Darrel Eugene Bigham)

PERSONAL:

Born August 12, 1942, in Harrisburg, PA; son of Paul and Ethel Bigham; married Polly Hitchcock (a program director), September 23, 1965; children: Matthew, Elizabeth. Ethnicity: "Caucasian." Education: Messiah College, B.A., 1964; attended Harvard University, 1964-65; University of Kansas, Ph.D., 1970. Politics: Democrat. Religion: Episcopalian. Hobbies and other interests: Travel, gardening.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Evansville, IN. Office—Department of History, University of Southern Indiana, 8600 University Blvd., Evansville, IN 47712; fax: 812-465-7061. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Historian, educator, and writer. University of Southern Indiana, Evansville, assistant professor, 1970-75, associate professor, 1975-81, professor of history, 1981—, director of Historic Southern Indiana program, 1986—. Indiana State University—Evansville, codirector of regional archives, 1972-74. Indiana Historical Bureau, member of historical marker advisory committee; Indiana Council for History Education, past chair; National Council for History Education, Indiana representative; member of Indiana Council for Social Studies and National Council for Social Studies; U.S. Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, member, 2000—; appointed Vanderburgh County Historian. Leadership Evansville, executive director, 1976-79; Southern Indiana Rural Development Project, member of board of directors; past president of board of directors of Volunteer Action Center, Evansville Arts and Education Council, Evansville Museum of Arts and Science, and Democrats for Better Government; past member of board of directors of Evansville Museum, Conrad Baker Foundation, and Evansville Vanderburgh County Public Library.

MEMBER:

Society of Indiana Archivists (director, 1972-75; president, 1977-79), Organization of American Historians, American Historical Association, National Trust for Historic Preservation, American Association for State and Local History, Indiana Association of Historians (chair of historical education committee, 1994-2002; president, 1999-2000), Indiana Historical Society, Vanderburgh County Historical Society (president, 1981-84, 1993-96), Rotary Club of Evansville.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Rockefeller Brothers Theological fellow, 1964-65; National Defense Education Act (NDEA) fellow, 1965-68; Faculty Recognition Award, University of Southern Indiana Alumni Association, 1987; grant from National Endowment for the Humanities, 1989-91; Distinguished Professor Award, University of Southern Indiana, 1989; Paul Harris fellow, 1992, and Rotarian of the Decade, 1997, both Rotary Club of Evansville; Tall Sagamore of the Wabash, awarded by governor of Indiana, 2000.

WRITINGS:

Reflections on a Heritage: The German Americans in Southwestern Indiana, Indiana State University (Evansville, IN), 1980.

We Ask Only a Fair Trial: A History of the Black Community of Evansville, Indiana, Indiana University Press (Bloomington, IN), 1987.

An Evansville Album: Perspectives on a River City, 1812-1988, Indiana University Press (Bloomington, IN), 1988.

Indiana Resource Book, Glencoe/McGraw (New York, NY), 1997.

Towns and Villages of the Lower Ohio, University Press of Kentucky (Lexington, KY), 1998.

Evansville, Arcadia Publishing (Mount Pleasant, SC), 1998.

Southern Indiana, Arcadia Publishing (Mount Pleasant, SC), 2000.

(Editor) Indiana Territory, 1800-2000: A Bicentennial Perspective, Indiana Historical Society (Indianapolis, IN), 2001.

Evansville: The World War II Years ("Images of America" series), Arcadia (Charleston, SC), 2005.

On Jordan's Banks: Emancipation and Its Aftermath in the Ohio River Valley, University Press of Kentucky (Lexington), 2006.

Contributor to books, including Their Infinite Variety: Essays on Hoosier Politicians, Indiana Historical Bureau (Indianapolis, IN), 1981; Always a River: AnAnthology, edited by Robert L. Reid, Indiana University Press (Bloomington, IN), 1991; Indiana's African-American Heritage: Essays from Black History News and Notes, edited by Wilma Dulin, Indiana Historical Society (Indianapolis, IN), 1993; and The Black Press in the Middle West, edited by Henry Lewis Suggs, Greenwood Press (Westport, CT), 1996. Contributor of articles and reviews to journals, including Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History, Black History News and Notes, Old Northwest, Peace and Change, Journal of American History, American Historical Review, and Alabama Review. Member of editorial board, Indiana Magazine of History, 1982-86; member of editorial advisory board, Evansville Press, 1984-86, and Organization of American Historians Newsletter, 2001—.

SIDELIGHTS:

Darrel E. Bigham, a professor of history with the University of Southern Indiana, specializes in American history since 1815, with emphasis on race, ethnicity, religion, and urbanization, especially in the Ohio Valley and the Midwest. For example, in Towns and Villages of the Lower Ohio, published in 1998, the author examines many of the early villages and towns on the lower Ohio River that were founded in the 1790s. He explains why some of these towns prospered and others did not and why none developed into a major city despite the entrepreneurial spirit of their inhabitants.

Many of Bigham's books focus specifically on Evansville, Indiana. Among these books are We Ask Only a Fair Trial: A History of the Black Community of Evansville, Indiana and An Evansville Album: Perspectives on a River City, 1812-1988. In Evansville: The World War II Years, the author examines not only the city and its inhabitants' contributions to the war effort through its industry but also the city's inherent racism that was directed both at African Americans who worked in the city's industries and black soldiers. In an article for the Courier Press of Evansville, Patricia Swanson commented that the author's "book documents multiple instances of racism. For instance, when the Evansville Shipyard celebrated the launching of the 100th LST [landing ship tank], it had two parties—one for white workers, one for blacks (who had only menial jobs)." Swanson also noted another instance of racism depicted by Bigham: "Evansville bragged about its USO for soldiers and sailors. However, it was open only to white servicemen. Blacks had to go to a Lincoln Gardens site."

In his 2006 book, On Jordan's Banks: Emancipation and Its Aftermath in the Ohio River Valley, the author looks at the lives of African Americans in the Lower Ohio River Valley states of Kentucky, Ohio, Illinois, and Indiana. His chronicle of their lives follows blacks from prior to the Civil War on through the first decades after the war's end. "On Jordan's Banks is a valuable addition to the existing literature on the settlement of the Ohio River Valley," wrote Brenda Faverty in History: Review of New Books. "It fills a gap left by the exclusion of the African American experience in previous historical works." In a review of On Jordan's Banks for H-Net: Humanities and Social Sciences Online, Stephen A. Vincent noted: "Written in a straightforward, matter-of-fact style, On Jordan's Banks will both greatly enlighten the general, ‘lay’ portion of its targeted audience and serve as the standard academic source on many of its Ohio Valley topics for the indefinite future."

Bigham once told CA: "In brief, I have sought to explain the place in which I have lived since 1970: how and why the towns and cities of the lower Ohio are what they are; how and why the people of this region think, believe, and act as they do. My audience is general—mostly regional—though I seek to reach academics, also, with a reliable and valid narrative."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Historical Review, October, 1989, Leonard P. Curry, review of We Ask Only a Fair Trial: A History of the Black Community of Evansville, Indiana, p. 1182; February, 1999, Ralph D. Gray, review of Towns and Villages of the Lower Ohio, p. 188; October, 2006, Carroll Van West, review of On Jordan's Banks: Emancipation and Its Aftermath in the Ohio River Valley, p. 1182.

American Studies, spring, 1990, Thomas C. Cox, review of We Ask Only a Fair Trial, p. 129.

Choice, May, 1998, N.J. Hervey, review of Towns and Villages of the Lower Ohio, p. 1589; November, 2006, K.L. Gorman, review of On Jordan's Banks, p. 544.

Courier Press (Evansville, IN), August 28, 2005, Patricia Swanson, "Book Explores Evansville's Racism during World War II," review of Evansville: The World War II Years.

Journal of American History, March, 1989, Joe W. Trotter, review of We Ask Only a Fair Trial, p. 1339; December, 1998, Kim M. Gruenwald, review of Towns and Villages of the Lower Ohio, p. 1072; December, 2006, Cheryll Ann Cody, review of On Jordan's Banks, p. 878.

Journal of Economic History, December, 1998, John E. Murray, review of Towns and Villages of the Lower Ohio, p. 1155.

Journal of Southern History, February, 2007, Wells Jonathan Daniel, review of On Jordan's Banks, p. 206.

Public Historian, winter, 1999, review of Towns and Villages of the Lower Ohio, p. 120.

ONLINE

American Rivers Bookstore,http://www.scuttlebuttsmallchow.com/riverlist4.html (January 22, 2008), overview of Towns and Villages of the Lower Ohio.

H-Net: Humanities and Social Sciences Online,http://www.h-net.org/ (January 22, 2008), Stephen A. Vincent, review of On Jordan's Banks.

Lincoln Bicentennial,http://www.lincolnbicentennial.gov/ (January 22, 2008), profile of author.

University of Southern Indiana Web site,http://www.usi.edu/hsi (January 22, 2008), faculty profile of author.

University Press of Kentucky,http://www.kentuckypress.com/ (January 22, 2008), overview of Towns and Villages of the Lower Ohio.