Heimler’s History: The New South (1877-1898)

Key Question

• What were the various factors that contributed to continuity and change in the “New South” from 1877 to 1898?

The Concept of the "New South"

• Henry Grady's Vision
  • Editor of The Atlanta Constitution
  • Coined the term “New South”
  • Advocated for economic diversity, industrial growth, and laissez-faire capitalism
  • Advocated for the South to adopt Northern industrial practices
• Industrial Growth
  • Southern cities and industrial centers grew
  • Southern states surpassed New England in textile manufacturing
  • Population growth and railroad expansion equaled or surpassed other regions

Limitations of the New South

• Continued Agricultural Dominance
  • Predominantly agricultural economy persisted
  • Sharecropping became widespread
• Sharecropping System
  • Aimed to provide land access for poor whites and emancipated blacks
  • In reality, functioned as a new form of slavery due to debt cycles

Racial Segregation

• Compromise of 1877
  • Ended Reconstruction; federal troops withdrew from the South
  • Withdrawal led to the rise of racial segregation
• Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
  • Supreme Court upheld racial segregation as constitutional (“separate but equal”)
  • Legalized segregation in public facilities
• Jim Crow Laws
  • Segregated public facilities (e.g., bathrooms, water fountains, transportation)
  • Black people barred from jury service and public office
  • High incidence of lynching; over 1,000 black people lynched in the 1890s

Resistance to Segregation

• Ida B. Wells
  • Editor of a black newspaper
  • Advocated against lynching and Jim Crow Laws
  • Faced death threats; presses destroyed; continued activism in the North
• Henry Turner
  • Founded the International Migration Society
  • Facilitated migration of black Americans to Liberia
  • Efforts unsustainable due to economic hardships and diseases
• Booker T. Washington
  • Promoted economic self-sufficiency for blacks
  • Believed economic empowerment would lead to political power
  • Vision seen as impractical due to political and economic barriers

Conclusion

• Despite the gains and visions for a "New South," many aspects of the Old South persisted, particularly in terms of agriculture and racial segregation.
• Resistance and advocacy for change were present, highlighting the ongoing struggle for equality and civil rights.