The American JourneyA History of the United States, 7th Edition

By: Goldfield • Abbott • Anderson • Argersinger • Argersinger • Barney • Weir

Chapter

A New South:

Economic Progress

and Social Tradition

1877-1900

17

A New South: Economic Progress and Social

Tradition 1877-1900

The “Newness” of the New South

The Southern Agrarian Revolt

Women in the New South

Settling the Race Issue

Conclusion

Learning Objectives

How new was the New South?

What were the origins and nature of Southern Populism?

How did traditional gender roles shape the opportunities

available to women in the New South?

What steps did white Southerners take in the late

nineteenth century to limit the freedom of African

Americans?

The “Newness” of the New South

The “Newness” of the New South

While white southerners were marching backward toward

an idealized past, they were at the same time projecting

an image of progress in economics and technology.

However, the extent of progress was mixed and

compromised by racial divisions. By 1900, black

southerners were more isolated and powerless than at

any time since 1865.

The “Newness” of the New South (cont'd)

Solid South

The one-party (Democratic) political system that dominated the South

from the 1890s to the 1950s.

An Industrial and Urban South

The “newness” of the New South concerned the economy,

especially the rise of industry and a corresponding

urbanization.

An Industrial and Urban South

Birmingham, Alabama epitomized the one aspect of the

New South as iron and steel mills emerged in the city.The

southern textile industry also grew, especially in the

Piedmont. The tobacco and soft drink industries also

became important economic aspects of the South.

An Industrial and Urban South

Southern railroad construction boomed in the 1880s, tying

the section together and stimulating the rise of interior

cities.

MAP 17–1 Railroads in the South, 1859 and 1899

MAP 17–1 (continued) Railroads in the South,

1859 and 1899

The Limits of Industrial and

Urban Growth

Southern urban and industrial growth was rapid but barely

kept pace with the northern boom.

The Limits of Industrial and

Urban Growth (cont'd)

A weak agricultural economy and high rural birthrate kept

wages in the South low and undermined the southern

economy. Consumer demand was low limiting the market

for southern manufacturing goods. Low wages also had

other negative effects, including keeping immigrants

away.

The Limits of Industrial and

Urban Growth (cont'd)

The South remained a section apart. The Civil War had

wiped out its capital resources, making it a colony of the

North. Investment seemed riskier making the South

dependent on numerous small investors.

FIGURE 17–1 Per Capita Income in the South as

a Percentage of the U.S. Average, 1860–1920

Farms to Cities:

Impact on Southern Society

Industrialization had a huge impact on the South.

Failed farmers moved to textile villages but by 1900, almost

one-third of the textile mill work force were children under

fourteen and women.

Between 1880 and 1900, the gap between rural and urban

areas widened.

Farms to Cities:

Impact on Southern Society (cont’d)

The urban South attracted the region’s talented and

ambitious young men.

The Southern Agrarian Revolt

The Southern Agrarian Revolt

Southern agriculture was dominated by cotton between

1877 and 1900, and the record-breaking explosion of

supply led to a catastrophic decline in prices. The more

cotton farmers grew, the less money they made.

FIGURE 17–2 The Price of Cotton, 1869–1910

Cotton and Credit

Railroad construction allowed farmers to plant more cotton,

but the region became an importer of food.

The cash-poor economy meant credit dominated. Cotton

was the only commodity easily converted into cash and

so became the only one accepted for credit.

Cotton and Credit (cont’d)

The web of credit extended from farmers to local merchants

to city merchants.

Southern Farmers Organize,

1877–1892

Declining conditions led farmers to fight for improvements.

They supported lower interest rates, easier credit,

regulation of railroad freight rates, and lower commodity

prices.

Redeemer governments represented large landowners and

merchants, stimulating small farmer organizations.

Southern Farmers Organize,

1877–1892 (cont'd)

By 1875, nearly 250,000 southern farmers had joined the

Patrons of Husbandry, often called the Grange. The

leaders were large farmers.

Southern Farmers Organize,

1877–1892 (cont'd)

The most powerful farm reform organization was the

Southern Farmers’ Alliance that originated in Texas. It

became a surrogate government and church for many

small farmers. It developed into the People’s Party.

Grange

The National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry, a national

organization of farm owners formed after the Civil War.

Southern Farmers Organize,

1877–1892 (cont'd)

Southern Farmers’ Alliance

The largest of several organizations that formed in the post-

Reconstruction South to advance the interests of beleaguered small

farmers.

Colored Farmers’ Alliance

An organization of southern black farmers formed in Texas in 1886 in

response to the Southern Farmers’ Alliance, which did not accept

black people as members.

Southern Farmers Organize,

1877–1892 (cont'd)

Subtreasury plan

A program promoted by the Southern Farmers’ Alliance in response to

low cotton prices and tight credit. Farmers would store their crop in a

warehouse (or “subtreasury”) until prices rose, in the meantime

borrowing up to 80 percent of the value of the stored crops from the

government at a low interest rate.

Southern Farmers Organize,

1877–1892 (cont'd)

Populist Party

A major third party of the 1890s, also known as the People’s Party.

Formed on the basis of the Southern Farmers’ Alliance and other

reform organizations, it mounted electoral challenges against the

Democrats in the South and the Republicans in the West.

Women in the New South

Church Work and Preserving Memories

Church work provided an avenue for southern women to

enter the public arena. They founded home missions to

promote industrial education among the poor and help

working-class women become self-sufficient.

Religion led southern white women to join the Women’s

Christian Temperance Union.

Church Work and Preserving Memories (cont'd)

The reform movement among middle-class southern white

women was conservative in nature.

Settlement house

A multipurpose structure in a poor neighborhood that offered social

welfare, educational, and homemaking services to the poor or

immigrants; usually under private auspices and directed by middle-

class women.

Church Work and Preserving Memories (cont'd)

Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU)

National organization formed after the Civil War dedicated to prohibiting

the sale and distribution of alcohol.

Women’s Clubs

A broader spectrum of southern middle-class women joined

women’s clubs that were church-sponsored or memorial

organizations.

Women’s clubs often federated into a larger organization

and frequently discussed political issues.

Women’s Clubs (cont’d)

The activities of black women’s clubs paralleled those of

white women’s clubs.

Public white women’s clubs maintained white solidarity.

The plight of young white working-class and farm women

was the primary interest of most southern white women’s

clubs.

Settling the Race Issue

The Fluidity of Southern Race Relations, 1877–1890

Race relations remained fluid between 1877 and the early

1890s. Many African Americans voted and held office.

Segregation was the rule in churches, schools, some

organizations, and some public places, but whites and

blacks conducted business with each other and otherwise

maintained cordial relations.

The Fluidity of Southern Race Relations, 1877–1890

(cont'd)

During the 1880s, African Americans joined interracial

unions and were active in the Republican Party.

The White Backlash

As young African Americans demanded full participation in

American society, white Southerners of the same

generation resented the changed status of African

Americans.

The White Backlash (cont’d)

The South’s deteriorating rural economy and the volatile

politics of the late 1880s and early 1890s heightened

tensions between the races. Racial rhetoric and violence

escalated.

Lynch Law

White mobs lynched nearly 2,000 black Southerners

between 1882 and 1903.

Memphis journalist Ida B. Wells launched an anti-lynching

crusade.

Lynching

Execution, usually by a mob, without trial.

Segregation by Law

Southern white lawmakers tried to bolster white solidarity

and guarantee African American subservience in the

1890s by legalized segregation and disfranchisement of

black voters.

In the 1870s, racial segregation in public places was

spreading in southern cities and ending in northern urban

areas.

Segregation by Law (cont’d)

New segregation legislation focused on railroads and

providing separate but equal facilities.

In 1896, the U. S. Supreme Court ruled that separate but

equal was constitutional in the Plessy v. Ferguson case.

Jim Crow laws extended racial segregation.

Segregation by Law (cont’d)

Segregations

A system of racial control that separated the races, initially by custom but

increasingly by law during and after Reconstruction.

Disfranchisement

The use of legal means to bar individuals or groups from voting.

Plessy v. Ferguson

U.S. Supreme Court decision in 1896 affirming the constitutionality of

racial segregation by law.

Segregation by Law (cont’d)

Jim Crow laws

Segregation laws that became widespread in the South during the

1890s, named for a minstrel show character portrayed satirically by

white actors in blackface.

Disfranchisement

The movement to reduce or eliminate the black vote in the

South began in the 1880s.

Disfranchisement included a variety of measures such as

complicating the registration and voting process as well

as instituting the secret ballot.

The poll tax and the grandfather clauses also helped

eliminate black voters.

Disfranchisement (cont'd)

African Americans protested disfranchisement vigorously

but to no avail.

Poll tax

A tax imposed on voters as a requirement for voting. Most southern

states imposed poll taxes after 1900 as a way to disfranchise black

people; the measures also restricted the white vote.

Disfranchisement (cont'd)

Grandfather clause

Rule that required potential voters to demonstrate that their grandfathers

had been eligible to vote; used in some southern states after 1890 to

limit the black electorate, as most black men’s grandfathers had been

slaves.

The March of Disfranchisement Across the

South, 1889–1908

History and Memory

The southern white version of history—institutionalized in

history books, monuments, and popular culture—not only

immortalized the Lost Cause and the Redemption, but it

served the contemporary purpose of endorsing and

justifying white supremacy.

A National Consensus on Race

In the 1890s, apparently a majority of Americans agreed

that African Americans were inferior and should be treated

as second-class citizens.

Popular culture stereotypes combined with intellectual and

political opinions in the North supported southern policy.

Response of the Black Community

By the 1880s, a new, black middle class had emerged in the

South. Centered in the city, business and professional

African Americans served a primarily black clientele.

Response of the Black Community (cont’d)

Black women played an increasingly active and prominent

role in African American communities. Black women’s

clubs developed to address the new era in race relations.

Response of the Black Community (cont’d)

Booker T. Washington advocated learning industrial skills to

help African Americans gain self-respect and economic

independence. He supported the Atlanta Compromise.

W. E. B. DuBois challenged Washington and supported

self-help, education, and black pride, helping found the

NAACP.

Response of the Black Community (cont’d)

Atlanta Compromise

Booker T. Washington’s policy accepting segregation and

disfranchisement for African Americans in exchange for white

assistance in education and job training.

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

(NAACP)

An interracial organization founded in 1910 dedicated to restoring African

American political and social rights.

FIGURE 17–3

Disfranchisement

and Educational

Spending in the

South, 1890–1910

Conclusion

Conclusion

In 1900, the South was more like the rest of the nation than

at any other time since 1800.

White Southerners promoted national reconciliation but

maintained the peculiarities of the region.

The New South was both American and southern.