6.4 The "New South"
3 min read•january 17, 2023
Ashley Rossi
Eshal Warsi
Ashley Rossi
Eshal Warsi
New South
The South continued to struggle to find its new place in the country after the Civil War and Reconstruction. The days of the “”-- The , chivalry, slavery as a “positive good”, etc (Gone With the Wind, anyone?) were over. Despite some small areas of and some rallying calls to construct a “New South,” the south struggled to rebuild.
Some southerners promoted a new vision for a self-sufficient southern economy built on modern capitalist values, industrial growth, and improved transportation. Railroads and the expansion of markets led to increased industrial production and new city development. , the editor of the spread the gospel of the New South with editorials that argued for economic diversity and laissez-faire capitalism.
Despite progress, the South remained a largely agricultural section and also the poorest region in the country. The poverty of the majority of southerners was not caused by northern capitalists. Two other factors were chiefly responsible:
The South’s late start at
A poorly educated workforce.
Agriculture in the "New South"
Although slavery has been outlawed, landowners continued to employ African Americans on their plantations through and .
is a type of agricultural system in which the landowners provide resources to farmers in return for a portion of the profits the farmers make from their crops. While this may sound reasonable, many former slaves had no choice but to work as tenants for white landowners. They could not legally own land and had to work for others.
was another similar system. The landowners would rent out pieces of their land to a tenant farmer. They would pay the landowner rent through the crops they harvested that season.
Social Status for Former Slaves
There was little to no social mobility and economic opportunity for many African Africans due to . The KKK continued using violence to keep African Americans out of the polls and legislative offices. was widespread. , , and were also used to restrict voting rights.
Supreme Court and Civil Rights
The ⚖️ made a series of decisions that severely limited the nature of the .
In the , the Court ruled that Congress could not legislate against racial discrimination practices by private citizens, which included railroads, hotels, and other businesses. This meant that anyone but the government could discriminate against African Americans.
Image Courtesy of Wikimedia
The most important of these cases was Plessy v. Ferguson (1896). The case stemmed from a challenge to a Louisiana law that required separate railway cars for white and black passengers. Homer Plessy, an African American man, refused to leave a whites-only railway car and was arrested. He argued that the law violated the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, which guarantee equal protection under the law and prohibit discrimination on the basis of race.
The ruled that segregation was constitutional under the doctrine of “separate but equal.” This ruling ushered in the , and allowed the government institutions to practice segregation.
Voter Suppression
Various political and legal devices were invented to prevent blacks from voting. The most common were . They were extremely difficult tests meant to stop African Americans from voting. Since many could not obtain formal education, they could not pass the test and vote in elections. and political party primaries for whites only () also prevailed. Many southern states adopted , which allowed a man to vote only if his grandfather had cast ballots in elections before Reconstruction.
Still, many brilliant minds (such as , , and ) continued to debate the nature of racial relations and advocate for civil rights.
🎥 Watch: AP US History - Period 6 Review
Key Terms to Review (23)
Atlanta Constitution
: The Atlanta Constitution is a newspaper that was established in 1868 in Atlanta, Georgia. It played a significant role in shaping public opinion during the Reconstruction era and beyond.Booker T. Washington
: Booker T. Washington was an influential African American educator and leader in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He advocated for vocational education for African Americans as a means to improve their economic status, while not directly challenging segregation.Civil Rights Cases of 1883
: The Civil Rights Cases of 1883 were a group of five cases consolidated into one issue by the U.S. Supreme Court, which declared that the Fourteenth Amendment prohibited only government violations of civil rights, not denials by individuals or private organizations.Fourteenth Amendment
: The Fourteenth Amendment is a part of the U.S. Constitution that was ratified in 1868. It grants citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States, including former slaves, and guarantees all citizens "equal protection of the laws."Grandfather Clauses
: Grandfather clauses were provisions set up by several Southern states after Reconstruction which allowed potential white voters who failed literacy tests or could not afford poll taxes to still be eligible for voting if their grandfathers had been eligible to vote.Henry Grady
: Henry Grady was a journalist and orator who helped reintegrate the states of the Confederacy into the Union after the American Civil War. He advocated for a "New South" with diversified industry and less reliance on agriculture.Ida B. Wells
: Ida B. Wells was an African-American journalist, abolitionist, and feminist who led an anti-lynching crusade in the United States during the 1890s.Industrialization
: Industrialization is the process by which an economy shifts from primarily agrarian to one based on the manufacturing of goods. Individual manual labor is often replaced by mechanized mass production, and craftsmen are replaced by assembly lines.Jim Crow Era
: The Jim Crow Era refers to a period in U.S. history (late 19th century to mid-20th century) when state and local laws enforced racial segregation in the Southern United States.KKK (Ku Klux Klan)
: The Ku Klux Klan is an American white supremacist hate group whose primary targets are African Americans.Literacy Tests
: Literacy tests were used as a requirement that voters demonstrate basic reading skills before being allowed to cast ballots. Like poll taxes, these tests were often used in the South during Jim Crow era as another method to disenfranchise African American voters.Lost Cause
: The "Lost Cause" is a term referring to a cultural narrative in the post-Civil War South that romanticizes the Confederate cause as noble and portrays its defeat as tragic.Lynching
: Lynching refers to the illegal execution of an individual, often by a mob or group, without a legal trial. This was a common form of racial terrorism in the United States, particularly against African Americans during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.Old South
: The "Old South" refers to the Southern United States in the period before the American Civil War, characterized by an agrarian economy largely based on plantations and slavery.Plessy v. Ferguson
: A landmark Supreme Court case in 1896 that upheld racial segregation laws for public facilities under the doctrine of "separate but equal."Poll Taxes
: A poll tax is a fee that was required to be paid in order for an individual to vote. This was used primarily in the South during the late 19th and early 20th centuries as a way to prevent African Americans from voting.Racial Segregation
: Racial segregation is the systemic separation of people into racial or other ethnic groups in daily life.Sharecropping
: This was an agricultural system that emerged after the Civil War, where landowners allowed tenants to use their land in exchange for a share of the crops produced.Supreme Court
: The Supreme Court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in many legal jurisdictions. In terms of U.S history, it refers specifically to the Supreme Court of United States which has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all federal and state court cases involving issues of federal law plus original jurisdiction over a small range of cases.Tenant Farming
: Tenant farming is an agricultural production system in which landowners contribute their land and often a measure of operating capital and management, while tenant farmers contribute their labor along with at times varying amounts of capital and management.Voter Suppression
: Voter suppression refers to strategies, legal or illegal, used to prevent eligible voters from exercising their right to vote.W.E.B. DuBois
: W.E.B. DuBois was an American sociologist, historian, civil rights activist, and co-founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).White Primaries
: White primaries were primary elections held in the Southern United States in which only white voters were permitted to participate.6.4 The "New South"
3 min read•january 17, 2023
Ashley Rossi
Eshal Warsi
Ashley Rossi
Eshal Warsi
New South
The South continued to struggle to find its new place in the country after the Civil War and Reconstruction. The days of the “”-- The , chivalry, slavery as a “positive good”, etc (Gone With the Wind, anyone?) were over. Despite some small areas of and some rallying calls to construct a “New South,” the south struggled to rebuild.
Some southerners promoted a new vision for a self-sufficient southern economy built on modern capitalist values, industrial growth, and improved transportation. Railroads and the expansion of markets led to increased industrial production and new city development. , the editor of the spread the gospel of the New South with editorials that argued for economic diversity and laissez-faire capitalism.
Despite progress, the South remained a largely agricultural section and also the poorest region in the country. The poverty of the majority of southerners was not caused by northern capitalists. Two other factors were chiefly responsible:
The South’s late start at
A poorly educated workforce.
Agriculture in the "New South"
Although slavery has been outlawed, landowners continued to employ African Americans on their plantations through and .
is a type of agricultural system in which the landowners provide resources to farmers in return for a portion of the profits the farmers make from their crops. While this may sound reasonable, many former slaves had no choice but to work as tenants for white landowners. They could not legally own land and had to work for others.
was another similar system. The landowners would rent out pieces of their land to a tenant farmer. They would pay the landowner rent through the crops they harvested that season.
Social Status for Former Slaves
There was little to no social mobility and economic opportunity for many African Africans due to . The KKK continued using violence to keep African Americans out of the polls and legislative offices. was widespread. , , and were also used to restrict voting rights.
Supreme Court and Civil Rights
The ⚖️ made a series of decisions that severely limited the nature of the .
In the , the Court ruled that Congress could not legislate against racial discrimination practices by private citizens, which included railroads, hotels, and other businesses. This meant that anyone but the government could discriminate against African Americans.
Image Courtesy of Wikimedia
The most important of these cases was Plessy v. Ferguson (1896). The case stemmed from a challenge to a Louisiana law that required separate railway cars for white and black passengers. Homer Plessy, an African American man, refused to leave a whites-only railway car and was arrested. He argued that the law violated the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, which guarantee equal protection under the law and prohibit discrimination on the basis of race.
The ruled that segregation was constitutional under the doctrine of “separate but equal.” This ruling ushered in the , and allowed the government institutions to practice segregation.
Voter Suppression
Various political and legal devices were invented to prevent blacks from voting. The most common were . They were extremely difficult tests meant to stop African Americans from voting. Since many could not obtain formal education, they could not pass the test and vote in elections. and political party primaries for whites only () also prevailed. Many southern states adopted , which allowed a man to vote only if his grandfather had cast ballots in elections before Reconstruction.
Still, many brilliant minds (such as , , and ) continued to debate the nature of racial relations and advocate for civil rights.
🎥 Watch: AP US History - Period 6 Review
Key Terms to Review (23)
Atlanta Constitution
: The Atlanta Constitution is a newspaper that was established in 1868 in Atlanta, Georgia. It played a significant role in shaping public opinion during the Reconstruction era and beyond.Booker T. Washington
: Booker T. Washington was an influential African American educator and leader in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He advocated for vocational education for African Americans as a means to improve their economic status, while not directly challenging segregation.Civil Rights Cases of 1883
: The Civil Rights Cases of 1883 were a group of five cases consolidated into one issue by the U.S. Supreme Court, which declared that the Fourteenth Amendment prohibited only government violations of civil rights, not denials by individuals or private organizations.Fourteenth Amendment
: The Fourteenth Amendment is a part of the U.S. Constitution that was ratified in 1868. It grants citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States, including former slaves, and guarantees all citizens "equal protection of the laws."Grandfather Clauses
: Grandfather clauses were provisions set up by several Southern states after Reconstruction which allowed potential white voters who failed literacy tests or could not afford poll taxes to still be eligible for voting if their grandfathers had been eligible to vote.Henry Grady
: Henry Grady was a journalist and orator who helped reintegrate the states of the Confederacy into the Union after the American Civil War. He advocated for a "New South" with diversified industry and less reliance on agriculture.Ida B. Wells
: Ida B. Wells was an African-American journalist, abolitionist, and feminist who led an anti-lynching crusade in the United States during the 1890s.Industrialization
: Industrialization is the process by which an economy shifts from primarily agrarian to one based on the manufacturing of goods. Individual manual labor is often replaced by mechanized mass production, and craftsmen are replaced by assembly lines.Jim Crow Era
: The Jim Crow Era refers to a period in U.S. history (late 19th century to mid-20th century) when state and local laws enforced racial segregation in the Southern United States.KKK (Ku Klux Klan)
: The Ku Klux Klan is an American white supremacist hate group whose primary targets are African Americans.Literacy Tests
: Literacy tests were used as a requirement that voters demonstrate basic reading skills before being allowed to cast ballots. Like poll taxes, these tests were often used in the South during Jim Crow era as another method to disenfranchise African American voters.Lost Cause
: The "Lost Cause" is a term referring to a cultural narrative in the post-Civil War South that romanticizes the Confederate cause as noble and portrays its defeat as tragic.Lynching
: Lynching refers to the illegal execution of an individual, often by a mob or group, without a legal trial. This was a common form of racial terrorism in the United States, particularly against African Americans during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.Old South
: The "Old South" refers to the Southern United States in the period before the American Civil War, characterized by an agrarian economy largely based on plantations and slavery.Plessy v. Ferguson
: A landmark Supreme Court case in 1896 that upheld racial segregation laws for public facilities under the doctrine of "separate but equal."Poll Taxes
: A poll tax is a fee that was required to be paid in order for an individual to vote. This was used primarily in the South during the late 19th and early 20th centuries as a way to prevent African Americans from voting.Racial Segregation
: Racial segregation is the systemic separation of people into racial or other ethnic groups in daily life.Sharecropping
: This was an agricultural system that emerged after the Civil War, where landowners allowed tenants to use their land in exchange for a share of the crops produced.Supreme Court
: The Supreme Court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in many legal jurisdictions. In terms of U.S history, it refers specifically to the Supreme Court of United States which has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all federal and state court cases involving issues of federal law plus original jurisdiction over a small range of cases.Tenant Farming
: Tenant farming is an agricultural production system in which landowners contribute their land and often a measure of operating capital and management, while tenant farmers contribute their labor along with at times varying amounts of capital and management.Voter Suppression
: Voter suppression refers to strategies, legal or illegal, used to prevent eligible voters from exercising their right to vote.W.E.B. DuBois
: W.E.B. DuBois was an American sociologist, historian, civil rights activist, and co-founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).White Primaries
: White primaries were primary elections held in the Southern United States in which only white voters were permitted to participate.
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