Main Idea: "King Cotton" and the South's lack of a diverse economy were main factors in it's downfall, leading to a pledge to diversify the "New South".
Factors of Diversification:-Intellectuals such as Henry W. Grady viewed the South as a land for potential with a strong core, diverse economy, growth over time, varied agricultural focuses, and increasing emphasis on industrialization.
-Tobacco resurgence was due partly to the identification of two new varieties and opened up a new export market.
-Seaman A. Knapp led the way for Louisiana rice and cane sugar to become economic staples, as he introduced the development of a network of local and regional offices for agricultural education and protection.
-Textile industries remained a strong point, as the number of cotton mills in the south increased from 161 to 400 after the Civil War.
-Rail Service allowed for the North and South the profit from the other's productivity and allowed Southern crops to reach Northern markets. Birmingham, Alabama became known for its coal, limestone, and iron production; this was essential in powering the trains.
-Hydroelectricity was significant in the south east USA.
-Souther pines provided soft, multi-use lumber, great to repair homes destroyed in the war. Luckily, the forestry industry grew along with the pines, and the first forestry school was opened in Asheville, 1898.
-Others included lumber industry, clay, glass, stone, canneries and canned vegetables, mint juleps,
and moonshine.
II. Political Changes
Main Idea: As Southerners turned towards local leaders known as "Redeemers", devoted to redeeming the racial dynamic and political structure of the Old South, the Democratic party rose to power with the primary goal to repress blacks at the expense of whites.
-"Bourbons" was a common derogatory name given to Redeemers by Republicans, Independents, and Populists to demonstrate that the group had essentially learned nothing from the Civil War. Although they were not officially affiliated with the KKK, they benefitted from violence and aggression against blacks; they sought to regain local control and adopt a laissez-faire federal government policy.
-Education in the South was deemed less important by Redeemers than business and industrial efforts, and most Bourbons felt that the costs of education should be borne of private benefactors. Philanthropists such as John F. Slater, who donated a million dollars to the development and maintenance of black schools, and George Peabody kept Southern education going. J.L.M. Curry developed extraordinary programs still in use today, increasing literacy to 88% for whites and 50% for blacks.
-Redeemer's programs of agriculture and public health helped Democrats win key Congressional seats in the election of 1874, a majority in the House of Representatives, and several prime seats in the Senate.
III. Race Relations in the South
Main Idea: Southern white expectations of black subservience and segregation furthered the perpetuation of violence against blacks, as well as obstructions of civil and political rights.
-White Landlords conveniently replaced the title of "slave owner"; landlords kept sharecroppers in constant debt, introducing a wave of black indentured servants using labor to pay off what they owe: an impossible feat, due to the landlord's building interest.
-The Populist Party of the 1890's needed numbers to gain more power, swaying them to attract black voters, which angered the Redeemers. This led to the development of literacy tests, which, along with poll taxes, were implemented solely to root out black voters.
-The Mississippi Plan took this a step further by stating that all voters had to live in the state for a minimum of two years. Blacks, who were mainly transient, moving to follow jobs through the South, were at a significant disadvantage. Rules were sometimes not enforced to white constituents.
-Plessy v. Ferguson: Plessy was a one eigth Black man forced to leave a whites only railway car. The Supreme Court ruled that this was justified, and it was taken as the green light for all segregation across the South. Because of this, violence against blacks rose drastically, as lynchings hit record highs in the late 1800s.
-Booker T. Washington urged blacks to focus on daily survival, rather than a grand uprising, believing that forming a strong economic base was more important and realistic than attaining equal rights; this was asserting in his famous Atlanta Compromise speech stating that blacks had to accept short term segregation.
-W.E.B. Du Bois however, believed in "ceaseless agitation" to gain equal rights, and was one of the founding members of the NAACP. He was outwardly critical of Washington and eventually moved to Ghana in 1961, tired of America's slow progressive pace.
-The Mississippi Plan took this a step further by stating that all voters had to live in the state for a minimum of two years. Blacks, who were mainly transient, moving to follow jobs through the South, were at a significant disadvantage. Rules were sometimes not enforced to white constituents.
-Plessy v. Ferguson: Plessy was a one eigth Black man forced to leave a whites only railway car. The Supreme Court ruled that this was justified, and it was taken as the green light for all segregation across the South. Because of this, violence against blacks rose drastically, as lynchings hit record highs in the late 1800s.
-Booker T. Washington urged blacks to focus on daily survival, rather than a grand uprising, believing that forming a strong economic base was more important and realistic than attaining equal rights; this was asserting in his famous Atlanta Compromise speech stating that blacks had to accept short term segregation.
-W.E.B. Du Bois however, believed in "ceaseless agitation" to gain equal rights, and was one of the founding members of the NAACP. He was outwardly critical of Washington and eventually moved to Ghana in 1961, tired of America's slow progressive pace.
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