The New South

Segregated South and Black Migration

  • Merchants, planters & businessmen dominated South after Civil War

    • called themselves “redeemers” because they believed they were redeeming the South from the evils of Reconstruction

  • Monies to promote economic and education equality were slashed

  • New laws were enacted to arrest people without jobs — many black arrested

  • Between 1879-1880, 40 to 60 thousand migrated to Kansas seeking political equality

  • North → blacks experienced racism

The Kansas Exodus

  • After Civil War, blacks struggle to become successful in South, so many blacks migrated to Kansas

Decline of Black Politics and Voting

  • During post-Reconstruction, black participation in government declined

  • Between 1890 and 1906, every Southern state enacted laws to eliminate black voting

Segregation and White Domination

  • 1883: Supreme Court invalidated the Civil Rights Act of 1875, which outlawed discrimination of hotels, railroads, and theaters

  • Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) - The Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of segregation under the “separate but equal” doctrine

  • Point of segreation was white dominance

    • when blacks and whites do come together, whites would have the upper hand

Rise of Lynching

  • Individuals who spoke out against racial injustice faced violent reprisals

  • Every year from 1883-1905, more than 50 people were lynched in the South

  • Lynchings occured at night with a crowd of spectators

  • Most of those lynched were falsley accused of raping white women

  • Ida B. Wells - publiclly spoke out agianst lynching

Northern & Southern Reconciliation

  • Racial equality is lost as the North and South sought to reconcile from the Civil War

  • New narriative was born from Civil War

    • this narriative framed the conflict as a family quarrel which placed brother against brother in a bloody conflict

  • Southern states erected statues in honor of their conflict

  • Southern schools taught children about “happy slaves”

  • US main focus was economic expansion with the goal of becoming an economic and world power