
The Mississippi’s Forgotten People: Life on Shantyboats and the Margins of American Society
From The Mississippi Valley Traveler Podcast by Dean Klinkenberg
September 10, 2025 · 1h 21m · Episode 67
About this episode
This episode features a discussion with historian Gregg Andrews about shantyboat communities and their historical significance along American rivers.
Send us Fan Mail A hundred years ago, shantyboat communities could be found along many rivers in the US. Historian Gregg Andrews went in-depth to research these communities, inspired in part by the discovery of a personal connection to them, which resulted in a book called “Shantyboats and Roustabouts: The River Poor of St. Louis, 1875 to 1930.” In this episode, I talk with Gregg about those shantyboat communities. After Gregg describes how he got interested in shantyboat communities, he desc...
People in this episode
Host: Dean Klinkenberg
Guest: Gregg Andrews
Topics covered
- shantyboat communities
- American society
- historical research
- river culture
- marginalized groups
Keywords
- shantyboats
- American history
- river communities
- Gregg Andrews
- marginalized people
Mentioned in this episode
Books & works: Shantyboats and Roustabouts: The River Poor of St. Louis, 1875 to 1930
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