The New South and Race in the Southern United States (Late 19th - Early 20th Century)

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms and concepts related to the New South and race in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

New South

A post-Reconstruction vision to industrialize the South and diversify agriculture, promote infrastructure, and invite northern capital and southern labor, while maintaining white supremacy and Jim Crow.

Henry Grady

Editor of the Atlanta Constitution who preached the New South, industrial growth, and a North–South economic model.

Lost Cause

A romanticized memory of the Confederacy that minimized slavery and promoted monuments and white supremacy, used to justify the old social order.

The Clansman

Novel by Thomas Dixon portraying the Ku Klux Klan as heroic defenders of the South; later adapted into the film that helped popularize KKK sentiment.

Birth of a Nation

1915 film by D. W. Griffith based on The Clansman; credited with reviving the Ku Klux Klan and spreading Lost Cause mythology.

Ku Klux Klan (KKK)

White supremacist secret society that used terror to enforce racial hierarchy; revived in the early 20th century and aided by popular culture.

Jim Crow laws

Legal and social systems enforcing racial segregation in public and private life.

Disfranchisement

The removal of Black voting rights through measures like literacy tests and poll taxes, especially 1890–1908.

Red Shirts

White supremacist paramilitary groups in the South that used violence to suppress Black voters and restore Democratic control.

Wilmington Coup (1898)

White supremacist overthrow of a biracial Fusion government in Wilmington, North Carolina, resulting in Black leaders being displaced.

Lynching

Extralegal murders of Black people, often public spectacles; thousands killed from the 1880s through the 1950s, with brutal rituals and mob participation.

Ida B. Wells

African American journalist and anti-lynching advocate who documented lynching and helped spur national anti-lynching efforts.

Rebecca Latimer Felton

White women’s rights activist who endorsed lynching; later the first woman to serve in the U.S. Senate.

Dyer Bill

1918 federal anti-lynching legislation introduced by Leonidas Dyer; would have made counties liable for lynching; not enacted.

Lost Cause monuments

Monuments and memorial projects (e.g., United Daughters of the Confederacy) celebrating the Confederacy and Confederate figures.

New South industries

Rise of textiles, tobacco, furniture, and steel; expanding railroads and roads; growth of manufacturing in the South.

Cotton Belt

Lower South region where Black workers were concentrated; Mississippi and Georgia had the most recorded lynchings.

New South labor patterns

Shift to wage labor in mills and factories; whites often held better jobs while African Americans faced lowest-paying, dangerous roles; mill villages were usually whites-only.

Redemption (and Reconstruction context)

Period when white supremacists regained political power after Reconstruction; led to disenfranchisement and Jim Crow laws.

Lost Cause in national culture

The Lost Cause memory spread beyond the South through novels and film, shaping broader American perceptions of the Civil War and Reconstruction.

Railroads and roads in the New South

Infrastructure expansion to connect rural areas with urban centers, facilitating industrial growth and commerce.

New South paradox

Industrial and infrastructural modernization coexisting with persistent poverty and enduring racial segregation.

Dana Barlett

Los Angeles reformer who described the city as a model, focusing on residential suburbs and an identity as a city of homes.

Liberty Hyde Bailey

Botanist who argued that every agricultural question is a city question, linking rural concerns with urban planning.

Glendora

A Los Angeles suburb that prioritized residential development over industry or agriculture to maintain a city of homes.