6.4 The "New South"
LEARNING OBJECTIVE: Explain how various factors contributed to continuity and change in the “New South” fron 1877 to 1898
INTRODUCTION
South was recovering from devastation of Civil War
Southerners premoted vision for “New South”
- included self-sufficient economy, capitalist values, industrial growth, modernized transportation, and improved race relations
- agricultural past and racial division only led to continuity over chnage
GROWTH OF INDUSTRY
Henry Grady spread gospel of New South
Spread editiorals from the Atlantic Constitution
- agrued for economic diversity and capitalism
Local governments wanted to attract businesses
Offererd tax exemptions to investors and low-wage for laborers
Growth of cities, industries, and railraods symbolized efforts of New South
Cities & Industries
- Birmingham, Alabama (leading steel producer)
- Mephis, Tenessee (center for lumber industry)
- Richmond, Virgina (center for tobacco indsutry)
- Georgia & the Carolina (overtook New England states in textiles)
- Southern cotton mills (400 cotton mills w 100,000 workers)
Railraod
- Southern railroad companies rapidly converted rails
- integreated south into national rail network
Souths postwar growth surpassed rest of the country
Two factors slowed industrial growth
Northern financing domianted southern economy
- north investors controlled ¾ of southern railroads and steel industry
- profits of new industry went to northern banks and financers
Failure of government to expand public education
- gov did not invest in techbucal and engineering schools, unlike north
- fewer southerns had skills needed to foster industrial development
- southern workforce faced limited economic opportunities
AGRICULTURE AND POVERTY
Industry grew in south, but remaind largely agricultural and poor
Region consisted of white farmers, black farmers, tenant farmers, and sharcroppers (paid for land with share of crop)
- southern banks had little money to lend to farmers
- shortage of credit—→ farmers borrowing from merchants
- sharecropping and crop liens—→ farmers were tied to land by debt
- farmers hardly got by year to year
COTTON AND OTHER CROPS
Souths postwar economy remained tied to growing cotton
Number of acres planting in cotton doubled
- increased cotton output —→cotton prices declining more than 50%
- Per capita income in south declined—→many farmers lost farms
Southern farmers sought to diversify their farming
- George Washington Carver (African American Scientist who premoted growth of peanuts, sweet potatoes, and soybeans)
ATTEMPTS TO ORGANIZE
Small farmers in south remained in poverty and debt (despite diversification), farmers in north and west also struggled in harvest
Alliances raillied for political reforms against agricultural struggle
- Farmers Southern Alliance, Colored Farmers National Alliance
- class and race divisions stood in way of political force
SEGREGATION
End of reconstruction—→ less protection for African Americans
Southerners and African Americans were left to solve their own issues
Democratic politicans/ ¨Redeemers¨
- won support from community and white supremacist
- exerted politcal power from racial fears of whites
- favored segregation from African Americans
- used race to deflect attention from farmers and poor
DISCRIMINATION AND THE SUPREME COURT
Supreme Court struck down laws that protected Blacks during reconstruction
Civil Rights Cases of 1883
- court ruled that congress could not ban racial rediscrimination
Plessy v. Ferguson
- required ¨separate but equal acommodations¨
- court ruled that it did violate the 14th amdendment (equal protection)
Federal court decisions supported Jim Crow Laws
- segregation laws adopted by south
- washroom, drinking fountains, park benches, and other public areas
LOSS OF CIVIL RIGHTS
Other discriminatory laws took places
Southern states wanted to prevent blacks from voting
- implemented literacy test, poll taxes, political party primaries
- grandfather cluases (allowed man to vote if his grandfather voted)
- supreme court approved laws and upheld qualifications
Discrimination took many forms
- African Americans could not serve on juries, received stiffer scentences, didnt receiver court-ordered scentences
- Lynch mobs killed more than 1,400 black men
- economic discrimination prevented jobs and skills
- African Americans were confined to farm or domestic work
RESPONDING TO SEGREGATION
Segregation, disenfranchisement, and lynching caused oppression but not powerlessness
Ida B. Wells
- editors of the Mephis Free Speech
- campaigned against lynching and Jim Crow Laws
- death threats and destruction of princting press—→ move North
Other black leaders advoated leaving south
- International migration society ( helped blacks emigrate to Africa)
- African Americans moved to Kansas or Oklahoma
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON
Some advocated for the accommodation of oppression
Booker T. Washington
- established an industrial and agricultural school for Blacks
- taught trade, virtues of hard work, moderation, and self-help
- empowered Blacks through earning ¨green ballots¨
The Atlanta Compromise
- belief that black and white southerns had shared responsibility for prosperity of region
- thought whites should work hard and support education (instead of trying to discrimnate)
National Negro Business League
- supported black-owned businesses
Washingtons emphasized racial harmony and economic cooperation
- won praise from whites (Andrew Carnegie, Theodore Roosevelt)
RESPONSES TO WASHINGTON
Civil rights leaders had mixed recations towards Washington
Some criticized his acception to discrimination
- Black leader W. E. B. Du Bois demanded end to segreation and equal rights to all Americans
Others praised his advocation for black self-reliance and support
White supremacy and segregation continued to dominate South
- Civil rights movement occured later on
- vision of New South came alive after WW2