Southern Seed, Northern Soil: African-American Farm Communities in the Midwest, 1765–1900 by Stephen A. Vincent (review)

fc) r the region's ordinary residents by ccimmitting themselves to an antislavery pc,licy, but " the big folks"also revealed their cc,ntempt fc, r the rights of the majority by pposing any reforniation of a constitutic, n riddled with aristocratic features. Althotigh they ultimately lost the convention ccintest, the Cc, nventionists successfully defeated the " big fc, lks," who never again exercised the pc,litical colitrol they enjoyed pricir tc) 1 820. More importantly, they placed at the center of Illinois politics the " white fc,lks"' visic,n of an egalitarian republic that blended prosperity and Ce] 111]lty. While he c, ffers a refreshingly new interpretation of the significance of the ci, nventic, n crisis and rightly seeks to establish imp(, rtant connectic, ns between local and natic,nal pc,litical changes, Simec, iie may have civerstated the demise of the " big folks"in Illinois by ignoring the subtle differences between rheti, ric and substance in the p(, litical debate. Perhaps the contest in Illinois was really a battle ainc, ng elites. Rather than the result of political demands v(, iced by poor white men, the democratic transformatic,n iii Illinois cultuic may have enierged because politicians on each side of the divide sc, ught ti)apprc, priate a rhetoric of egalitarianisin tc) maintain their own claim to authority. As they organized their campaigns and encouraged Illitic,is residents to cast their votes, the pro-and anti-conventic) n leaders exposed the general electorate to the mechanics of pi,litical org: inization, created the expectation of political power,and ultimately laid the fundatic, n for a subsequent, t], ough not necessarily directly related, emergence of the secoiid American party system. Even with this mincir quibble , Simeone' s bc)(, k is an essciitial read fc, r any student (, f the ptilitical culture of the (, ld Northwest and the rise of Jacksoni: in pcilitics. Suzanne C() oper Guasco C{)] lege of Willicitii and Mary Steplien A. Vincent. Southern Seed, Northern Soil:AfricanAi „ erictin Ftil-111 Commitiiilies in the Midwest, I7(, G-1900. Bloomington: Indiana University IFess, I 999. ISBN: 025 333i779 Ic|(, th), $ 35·00. Stephen A. Vincent's S(, t/thern Sect/,Norther?? Sc) il: AfricanAmerican Farm Coinmunities in the Midwest, I 76 s -/ 900 expli, res the history of two Indiana farming communities , the Beech and llc, berts settlements. Vincent argues that these midwestern settlements, fc, rmed by families from the South, were unique because the pioneers of bc, th commitnities were free people of color, of mixed Native American, African, and European ancestry, " who had been trec fc,r successive generations." Ip. xiv) Alth(, ugh in i 860 African Americans inade up less than one percent f the populatioii in the states created from the Old Northwest Territory, this study provides valuable insights into a segment (, f iidwestern society historians have largely ign)red. In addition to the Beech and Rolierts communities in Indiana, African Americans founded as many as thirty similar settlements in Indiana, Ohic),Michigan, and Wiscoiisin. During the perioil of heaviest migration, frcim I 820 through the I 84·os, most migrants settled in the southern areas of Ohic), Indiana, and Illinc, is. Vincent uses a cc, mbination of documentary sources, public recv,rds, and oral histi, ry interviews to piece ti, gether the history of two c, f tllese imp() rtailt c() 11711111171ties. The founders of the Beech and Roberts settlements did not form typical African American communities, but did settle the land in ways familiar to other midwestern migrants. Those reaching central Indiana relocated frc) m mostly Virginia, Ncirth Care, lina, and Kentucky where their families had been free for successive generatic, ns. They had long histories of land ownership in the South and were most likely of mitlti-racial heritage. Paralleling other neer conimunities, Beech and Ri, herts settlers relied on patterns of chain migration to fil] their neighbc, rhoods with close kin . ind friends from the South. In ccmtrast to the majoi· ity of African Americans in the nineteenth century whc) gravitated toward emplc, yinent oppoitunities in the nabn's cities, these Midwestern inigrants s(} light places in the ci,untryside or small towns where they coiild purchase land. Indeed...