Buchanan, Thomas C. 1967–

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Buchanan, Thomas C. 1967–

PERSONAL:

Born August 5, 1967; immigrated to Australia, c. 2004. Education: Oberlin College, B.A. (with honors); Carnegie Mellon University, M.A., Ph.D.; University of Memphis, postdoctoral study.

ADDRESSES:

Office—University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia; fax: 61-9-8303-3443. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Educator and historian. University of Nebraska at Omaha, assistant professor; University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia, lecturer in history, 2005—.

MEMBER:

Australia and New Zealand American Studies Association (member of executive committee).

WRITINGS:

Black Life on the Mississippi: Slaves, Free Blacks, and the Western Steamboat World, University of North Carolina Press (Chapel Hill, NC), 2004.

Contributor to Journal of Urban History, Journal of Social History, American Historical Review, H-Civil War, Journal of Third World Studies, and Indiana Magazine of History.

SIDELIGHTS:

Thomas C. Buchanan is an American academic and historian who immigrated to Australia in 2004. While in the United States, Buchanan earned a bachelor of arts degree with honors from Oberlin College before completing both a master of arts degree and a Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon University. Additionally, he undertook postdoctoral studies at the University of Memphis. After completing his studies, Buchanan began working as an assistant professor at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. He began as a lecturer in history at Australia's University of Adelaide in 2005. He is on the executive committee of the Australia and New Zealand American Studies Association. Buchanan contributes articles and book reviews to a number of academic journals, including the Journal of Urban History, Journal of Social History, American Historical Review, H-Civil War, Journal of Third World Studies, and the Indiana Magazine of History.

Buchanan published his first book, Black Life on the Mississippi: Slaves, Free Blacks, and the Western Steamboat World, in 2004. The book covers the life and culture of African Americans who either worked on or traveled by the Mississippi River steamboats in the nineteenth century, arguing that this phenomenon helped to develop a pan-Mississippi black culture and community. Bruce E. Baker, writing in H-Net: Humanities and Social Sciences Online, observed that the book "builds on an impressive and imaginative body of primary sources." Baker claimed that the book "is an excellent and important account of a part of southern history and African-American history that has unaccountably been poorly served. It would work well in a variety of classroom settings. I could easily imagine it being read in an undergraduate seminar on African-American history, labor history, or a variety of other specialized areas; like the steamboats in the pan-Mississippi world it describes, Buchanan's book links several historiographic areas together. The contradictions it points out—the freedom to travel balanced against the harsh discipline of life on the river—would make it work well in a graduate class as well." On the more critical side, Baker remarked that in the book "Buchanan suggests that local courthouses, if searched, might turn up more lawsuits like the ones he found at the state and federal level, and it is disappointing that this lead was not followed up." Baker concluded: "Nonetheless, this is a work that historians in a variety of fields, the general public, and even the late Mark Twain could read with profit and interest." Tommy L. Bogger, writing in the Historian, noticed sections of the book where Buchanan "gives little documentation to support his statements, and his fixation on the inland-rivers slave trade, at times, causes him to overlook the larger picture." However, Bogger concluded that Black Life on the Mississippi "is a contribution to the historiography on slavery, especially for those persons who know little about slavery on the western inland waters."

Luther J. Adams, writing in the Journal of African American History, stated: "That Black Life on the Mississippi highlights the paradoxical nature of the Mississippi, and the mobility afforded river workers was its greatest strength. Buchanan artfully negotiates the agency African Americans demonstrated to gain any advantage in a world dominated by slavery and the reality of white supremacy that circumscribed the lives of both free and enslaved African Americans." Adams warned, however, that the book is less about Mississippi's "black life" as opposed to its "work culture." All the same, Adams described the book as "a story of fluidity, possibility, and hope, as well as an account of the numerous and powerful restrictions African Americans faced throughout the period. Buchanan weaves this complex narrative utilizing an impressive array of sources located throughout the Pan-Mississippi region." Jay R. Mandle, reviewing the book in the Journal of Social History, found the study to be "extremely well-executed," adding that "Buchanan is convincing. So too is he credible in his depicting the culture that emerged out of river life. But like much social history, there is a whiff of romanticism in his account." Mandle concluded that "Buchanan has succeeded in the task that he has set for himself. With this book he has ‘uncovered the hidden world of the slaves and free blacks of the Mississippi River’…. It now remains for other scholars to follow up and provide perspective on the results of the historical excavations presented in this important work." Nikki Taylor, writing in the Journal of Southern History, noted that the majority of Buchanan's information comes "from the records of St. Louis and New Orleans, to the near exclusion of other western cities, like Cincinnati, that heavily relied on steamboat workers, creating a somewhat imbalanced view of this pan-Mississippi society." Taylor summarized, however, that the author "has indeed illuminated how valuable the Mississippi steamboat industry was to the African American community."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Historical Review, February, 2006, Douglas R. Egerton, review of Black Life on the Mississippi: Slaves, Free Blacks, and the Western Steamboat World, p. 168.

Choice, July 1, 2005, S. Condon, review of Black Life on the Mississippi, p. 2048.

Historian, spring, 2006, Tommy L. Bogger, review of Black Life on the Mississippi.

Journal of African American History, spring, 2006, Luther J. Adams, review of Black Life on the Mississippi.

Journal of American History, December, 2005, Mark M. Smith, review of Black Life on the Mississippi, p. 977.

Journal of Social History, winter, 2005, Jay R. Mandle, review of Black Life on the Mississippi.

Journal of Southern History, February, 2006, Nikki Taylor, review of Black Life on the Mississippi, p. 170.

Journal of the Early Republic, summer, 2006, Patricia Bellis Bixel, review of Black Life on the Mississippi.

Western Historical Quarterly, winter, 2006, Roger D. Hardaway, review of Black Life on the Mississippi.