The Barber of Natchez Reconsidered - (Southern Biography) by Timothy R Buckner (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Timothy Buckner's The Barber of Natchez Reconsidered uses William Johnson's life to demonstrate how Black men asserted their masculinity in the nineteenth century. Johnson, a wealthy free Black barber in Natchez, Mississippi, kept a diary from 1835 until his death in 1851. Published a hundred years later by LSU Press, William Johnson's Natchez (1951) is considered by historians to be among the most important sources on free Black life in the antebellum South. The diary inspired numerous studies of Johnson's life, including the influential The Barber of Natchez (LSU Press, 1953), by Edwin A. Davis and William R. Hogan. The study and others established Johnson as an anomaly in the old South: a free man of color who held himself separate from other African Americans through slave-owning and internalizing white ideas about racial prejudice. Using recent scholarship on Black masculinity as an essential new lens to reexamine Johnson, Buckner suggests that earlier interpretations failed to understand the complexity of his life. While Johnson's profession as a barber allowed him to achieve acceptance and respectability, it also required him to be subservient to the needs of his all-white clientele. As Buckner shows, that does not mean that Johnson was only concerned with acceptance by whites or that he held himself apart from Natchez's Blacks. Instead, the sources on Johnson's life reveal a man deeply connected to and supportive of the broader African American community while catering to the whims of whites for economic and social survival. In the antebellum South, being a man required a public performance. As Buckner reveals, Johnson participated in that performance to a degree not seen in recent studies of Black masculinity. Outside his working hours, he competed with other men, white and Black, free and enslaved, in various masculine pursuits, especially gambling, hunting, and fishing. Johnson's barbershop was a prime location for witnessing and gossiping about the many fights in Natchez's notoriously violent streets. By making connections based on a shared sense of manliness, Johnson also found ways to engage with whites in civic matters and even challenged them on party politics via non-threatening means. Like many other free Black men, he asserted his manliness in ways beyond just rebelling against slavery. Buckner's long overdue reinterpretation of Johnson's life is a welcome addition to the LSU Press list that will serve as a needed corrective to earlier works about him"--

Book Synopsis

Winner of the Jules and Frances Landry Award

Historians have long considered the diary of William Johnson, a wealthy free Black barber in Natchez, Mississippi, to be among the most significant sources on free African Americans living in the antebellum South. Timothy R. Buckner's The Barber of Natchez Reconsidered reexamines Johnson's life using recent scholarship on Black masculinity as an essential lens, demonstrating a complexity to Johnson previously overlooked in academic studies.

While Johnson's profession as a barber helped him gain acceptance and respectability, it also required his subservience to the needs of his all-white clientele. Buckner's research counters earlier assumptions that suggested Johnson held himself apart from Natchez's Black population, revealing instead a man balanced between deep connections to the broader African American community and the necessity to cater to white patrons for economic and social survival.

Buckner also highlights Johnson's participation in the southern performance of manliness to a degree rarely seen in recent studies of Black masculinity. Like many other free Black men, Johnson asserted his manhood in ways beyond simply rebelling against slavery; he also competed with other men, white and Black, free and enslaved, in various masculine pursuits, including gambling, hunting, and fishing. Buckner's long-overdue reevaluation of the contents of Johnson's diary serves as a corrective to earlier works and a fascinating new account of a free African American business owner residing in the prewar South.

Review Quotes

"Buckner explores how masculinity operated in the life of William Johnson, a prominent free Black resident and popular barber of antebellum Natchez, Mississippi, through a close re-reading of Johnson's diary. . . . The Barber of Natchez Reconsidered is an important new work, offering a balanced reinterpretation of Johnson's life and effectively revealing the complexities of his performance of Black masculinity in antebellum Natchez."--Journal of Southern History

"Buckner adds new layers of meaning to Johnson's life and experiences. . . . This is an interesting and thought-provoking companion to Johnson's diary, which period specialists will find rewarding. Recommended."--CHOICE

"Buckner's close inspection of the diary of William Johnson provides a nuanced picture of its author and his story. The book corrects interpretative mistakes made by scholars and situates this important primary document within a much-changed and updated historiography on antebellum free Black life, free Black slaveholding, Black and southern masculinity, as well as the prewar frontier and urban South."--Libra R. Hilde, author of Slavery, Fatherhood, and Paternal Duty in African American Communities over the Long Nineteenth Century

"Timothy R. Buckner skillfully examines William Johnson's life and experiences with this rich case study, serving to illuminate vital issues surrounding race, politics, and power in Natchez, Mississippi, and the Lower South. Buckner's emphasis on the multifaceted nature of Black manhood in and out of slavery, and on the structural forces that shaped actions and identities in the antebellum South, makes this a critical addition to the field."--David Stefan Doddington, author of Contesting Slave Masculinity in the American South

About the Author

Timothy R. Buckner is associate professor of history at Troy University and coeditor of Fathers, Preachers, Rebels, Men: Black Masculinity in U.S. History and Literature, 1820-1945.