The New South- Slogan or Reality?

The "New South" was more of a slogan in aspects such as political and social power dynamics and ideals, but the diversification of the economy was a reality of the south's recent progression and development. The Redeemers and Bourbon Democrats of the time were devoted to maintaining white dominance over blacks and restoring the region to it's former glory; contemporary critics of the Bourbons even said that they had "learned nothing from the civil war". Democrats implemented voting restrictions such as the Mississippi plan and literacy tests that kept blacks from participating in democracy while allowing Bourbons to stay in power, despite the passing of the 14th and 15th amendments. Socially, lynchings were at an all time high in the late 19th century, "separate but equal" battle cries rang out from Southern whites bolstered by the Plessy v. Ferguson case, which sent the signal of segregation being legal to the rest of the country. However, the diversification to the southern economy in it's expanding agricultural base of Louisiana rice, cane sugar, and two new types of tobacco, as well as growth in the textile industry, meant a new chapter in the Southern economy.