Chapter 19B: A New South
1877 - 1900
AP United States History
West Blocton High School
Mr. Logan Greene
Chapter Objectives
• What changed in the New South between
1870 and 1900, and what stayed the
same?
• What were the origins and nature of
Southern Populism?
• What were women’s roles in the New
South?
• How did segregation and
disenfranchisement change race relations
in the South?
How New Was the New South?
• As Reconstruction closed Southerners held
an optimistic view of the future
• However, by 1900 white supremacist
political leaders had completely
disenfranchised blacks and also hampered
poor whites
• Thus the “New” South was simply new
economically as cities exploded in size and
industry began to come to the South
The Solid South
• The Democratic Party quickly regained
control of the South at the close of
Reconstruction
• The Democratic Party completely
controlled the South up until 1950 in what
was simply known as the Solid South
The New Industrial South
• Leaders the South pushed for more industry as a
way to break the bonds to Northern industry
• In the post Reconstruction south cities and
industries grew at incredible rates
• Birmingham was the best example as it changed
from a tiny hamlet to challenging Pittsburgh’s
supremacy in iron and steel manufacturing
• Coca-Cola and new tobacco also flourished at
this time
Railroads
• As industry in the New South grew
railroads grew along with it
• Railroads grew new cities in the interior of
the South as port cities declined
• As well, new areas opened up for
settlement such as Florida and areas
around the Appalachians
• Towns sprung up along rail lines
Limitations
• Despite the RAPID growth, the South was
barely keeping pace with the industrial
north
• Workers wages in the South were roughly
half of those in the North. Although this
brought businesses to the South it limited
the South’s market economy as men had
less money to spend
The Agrarian Revolt
• Despite growing urban areas the south was still
majorly agrarian
• As the railroad opened new areas for settlement
these were also new areas for agriculture
• In the period after Reconstruction cotton prices
plummeted
• This led to a serious economic collapse of the
agrarian south as thousands of farms were
foreclosed upon
• Slowly this forced farms who did survive to
attempt to diversify
Southern Farmers Organize
• Despite the Democrats control they did
face some opposition
• By 1875 over 250,000 men had joined the
Grange, the first major organization to
help farmers
• However, it was dominated by large
landowners and did not help the small
farmers
Southern Farmers Organize
• Real relief and power came with the
Southern Farmer’s Alliance founded in the
late 1870’s
• The Farmer’s Alliance founded co-ops
which offered discounted goods and credit
for poor farmers
• The Farmer’s Alliance was never intended
to be a political party
The Farmer’s Alliance
• The Farmer’s Alliance functioned like a
religious group forcing strict morality
• Surprisingly women were not excluded
from the Alliance and welcomed to be
officers and spokespeople
• African-Americans sponsored their own
group the Colored Farmer’s Alliance and
fought for basically the same issues
Populism
• The Alliance turned to politics with the
Subtreasury plan: an idea of storing cotton
until the price rose and receiving loans
from the government
• Democrats failed to back the plan
• Frustrated the Alliance formed the Populist
Party which would become the single most
important third party in American history
The Populists
• The Populists supported a growing list of issues:
– Direct election of Senators
– Income tax
– Women’s suffrage
– Government ownership of railroads
• The Populists made inroads in the South but
soon Democrats fused Populist principles with
their own and the Populist died out; however,
virtually all their issues became part of America
politics
Women
• Many Southern women had gained power
through their experiences in the Alliance
• Women began voicing their opinions
• The Women’s Christian Temperance Union
(WCTU) addressed the evils of alcohol and
pushed for prohibition and quickly began
pushing for women’s suffrage
• Women’s Clubs grew throughout the South and
pushed for a voice for women in the New South
and were normally sponsored by Churches and
followed morality causes
Race
• As Reconstruction ended race relations stayed
somewhat calm as many African-Americans
maintained the right to vote
• The issue came with the generation of Blacks
that were born free. They demanded full rights
and equality and this upset the delicate balance
• As the economy worsened blacks became the
scapegoat for white politicians who wished to
widen the division between poor whites and
blacks
Lynching
• Sadly in the period after 1890 lynching
became all to common in the South
• Whites justified it as protecting white
southern virtue (specifically white female
virtue)
• Ida B Wells was the most outspoken
opponent of the lynching as they slowly
tapered off
Segregation
• In the post Reconstruction period Northern
cities began to scale back public
segregation as Southern cities ramped up
their segregation
• At the same time disenfranchisement
became common place
• The Supreme Court ruled on the situation
in 1896’s Plessy v. Ferguson by stating
that separate but equal was legal and
made segregation acceptable
Jim Crow Laws
• States now codified segregation in new
state constitutions and with new laws
• The laws that spelled out legalized
segregation were known as Jim Crow Laws
and were passed in virtually every
southern state
Disenfranchisement
• States now felt they had the green light to legally
make their blacks second class citizens
• States began to disenfranchise or remove the
vote from blacks
• They used poll taxes and literacy tests as the
most common ways to take away the vote
• To keep poor uneducated whites voting
grandfather clauses to allow anyone eligible in
1867 to vote regardless
The National Consensus
• It is hard to imagine how the South could so
blatantly ignore the 14th and 15th Amendments
• Racial stereotypes of Africans as uneducated and
ignorant people permeated in the North as well
• Very few whites in the North or South felt
strongly enough to protest the new laws
• The Republicans in the North did not need
Southern votes so they did not broach the issue
• In essence no one who was against the new laws
had enough to gain to protest them
Black Responses
• Blacks attempted to break the
disenfranchisement and the segregation
but were brutally defeated by state
governments as the national government
ignored the issue
• Some blacks left the south while many
chose to simply slip into pure black
communities to escape the rampant
racism
Black Leaders
• Two men emerged as voices for African
Americans:
– WEB DuBois: A northerner who preached
immediate equality and wanted Blacks to go to
Universities and become scholars, doctors, and
lawyers. Founded the NAACP
– Booker T. Washington: A former slave who
wanted blacks to learn a trade or become
better farmers to support themselves before
going after equality. Founded the Tuskegee
Institute to train African Americans
Chapter Objectives
• What changed in the New South between
1870 and 1900, and what stayed the
same?
• What were the origins and nature of
Southern Populism?
• What were women’s roles in the New
South?
• How did segregation and
disenfranchisement change race relations
in the South?