THE
NEW SOUTH
SS8H7 The student will evaluate key political,
social, and economic changes that occurred in
Georgia between 1877 and 1918.
a. Evaluate the impact the Bourbon Triumvirate, Henry
Grady, International Cotton Exposition, Tom Watson
and the Populists, Rebecca Latimer Felton, the 1906
Atlanta Riot, the Leo Frank Case, and the county unit
system had on Georgia during this period.
b. Analyze how rights were denied to African-Americans
through Jim Crow laws, Plessy v. Ferguson,
disenfranchisement, and racial violence.
c. Explain the roles of Booker T. Washington, W. E. B.
DuBois, John and Lugenia Burns Hope, and Alonzo
Herndon.
d. Explain reasons for World War I and describe
Georgia’s contributions.
"NEW SOUTH"
“New South” refers to the time after
Reconstruction as Georgia and her fellow states
attempted to rebuild and grow after the Civil War
and Reconstruction. Industrial growth, struggling
farmers, segregation, and the fight for civil rights
fill the years 1877 – 1918.
THE BOURBON TRIUMVIRATE
Democratic leaders before, during, and shortly
after the Civil war
 Believed industry was more important than
agriculture
 Helped form a large middle class
 Supported low taxes which resulted in few
Government services
 Expanded railroads
 Believed in “white supremacy”


* the idea that whites were superior to AfricanAmericans
THE BOURBON TRIUMVIRATE:
JOSEPH E. BROWN
Successful lawyer
 Focused on states
rights
 Served as a U.S.
Senator and later as
Chief Justice of
Supreme Court
 Governor of Georgia
from 1857 - 1865

THE BOURBON TRIUMVIRATE:
ALFRED H. COLQUITT
Was a lawyer and
served in the military
 Served in Federal and
State legislatures
 Served in the
Confederate army
during the Civil War
 Served as the first
Democrat Governor
of Georgia after
Reconstruction from
1876 - 1882

THE BOURBON TRIUMVIRATE:
JOHN B. GORDON
Believed to be the
leader of the KKK at
one point
 U.S. Senator and later
governor of Georgia
from 1886-1890
 He then went back
into the Senate

THE BOURBON TRIUMVIRATE
GROUP OF THREE (BROWN, COLQUITT, GORDON)—WANTED TO
STRENGTHEN ECONOMIC TIES WITH THE NORTH, WHILE KEEPING WHITE
SUPREMACY—CONSIDERED OLD SOUTHERN TRADITIONS
Failures
Successes

State taxes lowered

State war debts reduced

Business and industry
expanded

Did not improve lives of
poor

Education suffered

Did not reform
prisons

Poor working conditions
in factories
INTERNATIONAL COTTON EXPOSITION
An exposition is a
public show put on by
a business to make
money
 The International
Cotton Exposition
took place in 1881,
1885, and 1895 in
Atlanta, Georgia
 It promoted industry
growth in Georgia by
attracting the interest
of Northern investors

INTERNATIONAL COTTON EXPOSITION
The Expositions were
greatly supported by
Henry Grady
 He promoted the idea
of the industrial “new
south”
 He was the editor of
the Atlanta Journal
 He used the
newspaper to promote
industrialization and
northern support

ATLANTA
Atlanta is again the transportation and
industrial center of Georgia
 It is made the Capital of the state in 1868
 The number one industry was textile mills
(textiles are woven materials)


Why would textile mills
be the number one
industry in Georgia?
ALL THE COTTON
THE POPULISTS AND FARMERS’ ALLIANCE
… Not everyone supported
the industrialized Georgia
that the Triumvirate and
Henry Grady desired
 Agricultural farmers, despite
being the largest business in
Georgia, were struggling
 Most were heavily in debt
due to the Crop lien system,
sharecropping, and tenant
farming

CROP LIEN SYSTEM
Remember, the Civil War left Georgia in ruins;
the economy suffered greatly.
 Farmers were hit especially hard.
 Under the Crop Lien system, farmers borrowed
against their upcoming harvest to buy necessary
supplies
 Few harvested enough to payback what they had
borrowed and many lost their land.

THIS LED TO THE POPULIST MOVEMENT
A political movement
focused on helping
farmers
 Wanted gov’t to
regulate the
economy so farmers
could earn more
money
 Believed white and
black farmers should
work together
 Wanted lower taxes
on low-income citizens
 Wanted government
ownership of railroad,
telephone, and
telegraph

TOM WATSON

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
Supporter and leader in the
Populist party
Lawyer, publisher, and
historian
Born on a plantation and
struggled to get through school
(financial problems)
His family lost their plantation
during Reconstruction
Claimed that industrialization
hurt small farmers in Georgia
He tried repeatedly to be
elected into office (successful
only in 1882,1890, and 1920)
While in office he helped pass
the Rural Free Delivery Act
(mail service)
THE PROGRESSIVE ERA
PROGRESSIVE ERA
 Progressive
reforms supported:
Ending corruption
in the
Government
 Prohibition
 Women’s Suffrage
 Education
 Public Health

PROHIBITION
1907 – 125 GA counties passes
prohibition laws
 later in 1907 the state passed a
prohibition law
 made the manufacture and sale
of alcoholic beverages a crime
 1916 state made the possession
of alcoholic beverages a crime
 1919 – prohibition becomes a
national law


*Georgia is known for having some
of the strictest prohibition laws in
the nation
WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE
Women wanted to be considered
full citizens with full rights
 Women believed they should
have a say in government and
politics
 Major leaders in women’s
suffrage …



Susan B. Anthony, Jane Addams
and Rebecca Latimer Felton
(Georgia)
19th Amendment is ratified in
1920 … women in Georgia begin
voting in 1922


Education
Creating mandatory
attendance laws and
building better schools





Public Health
Georgia struggled with
sanitary systems for
sewage, impure food,
and infectious diseases
1903 Georgia created a
State Board of Health …
with a budged of $3,000
Advancements were
slow
1914 funding was
provided for every
county in Georgia to
have a Board of Health

*few actually
participated until around
1922
THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT
Goal: Progress!
Society
Business
•fight poverty
•break up large
•improve working corporations
conditions
•regulate
businesses
•votes for
women
•decrease
corporate power in
•prison reform
•outlaw alcohol government
Government
•greater voice
of “the people”
•more voters
•did not seek to
increase
participation of
blacks in
elections
REBECCA LATIMER FELTON


Disagreed with the Bourbon
Triumvirate
Was against the Convict
Lease System




* This system “rented”
prisoners to companies to use
as workers. It took many years
for the poor conditions the
prisoners endured to be
brought to light and changed.
Supported Women’s
suffrage
Served as a senator when
Tom Watson died for until a
replacement was found
First woman ever to sit in
the U.S. Senate

(even if it was only for a day)
SEGREGATION IN THE SOUTH

“Jim Crow Laws”

state and local laws
enforcing racial
segregation in the
Southern United States
DISENFRANCHISEMENT

Laws were created to keep African Americans in Georgia
from voting


Grandfather clause:


only those men whose fathers or grandfathers were eligible to vote
in 1867, could vote
Poll tax: a tax paid to vote


… these countered the 15th amendment
Voters had to own property
Literacy Tests:
reading tests were administered to decide eligibility
many African Americans could not read, limiting their voting
abilities
 Neither could a lot of poor whites but they were given an easier
test or just passed along
 African Americans who were educated and could read often still
“failed”
 The test was often determined by the poll worker and could be
different for different people



Gerrymandering: election districts drawn up to separate
the African American voters
GERRYMANDERING

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

In your notes you see 3 sections of blocks. Each
section has 50 blocks.
The red blocks vote for Jerry and the Blue blocks vote
for Tom.
In section 1 there are no separate districts so the
blue would win in a vote allowing Tom to win.
In section 2 there are 5 equally drawn districts.
Because blue still out numbers red in each section,
blue would win in a vote still allowing Tom to win.
In section 3 the districts are drawn so that only 2 of
the 5 districts have a blue majority. In a vote red
would win with 3 of the 5 district votes allowing Jerry
to win.
GERRYMANDERING
In this example the blue would represent
primarily African American voting.
 In areas where African American votes
outnumbered white votes, whites would draw up
districts similar to section 3.
 This allows primarily white population
votes to outnumber African American votes
despite the fact that African Americans
outnumber whites in that area.

THIS CLIP IS FROM THE MOVIE SELMA AND IS SET IN 1965. IT IS
STILL A GOOD EXAMPLE OF HOW TWISTED THE VOTING “TESTS”
COULD BE.
HOMER PLESSY AND
THE PLESSY V. FERGUSON COURT CASE (1896):

Homer Plessy:
Born in Louisiana
 From mixed heritage (1/8th African American)
 Was an activist for civil rights
 Plessy sat in a “whites only” train car and
refused to move when asked


*this was a planned event to test segregation laws
He was jailed overnight and released with a $500
bond
 Judge John Howard Ferguson found Plessy
guilty

HOMER PLESSY AND
THE PLESSY V. FERGUSON COURT CASE (1896):
The case went on to the Supreme Court
 Supreme Court approved segregation laws as
long as the facilities were equal

*Facilities were almost never equal in reality
*Decided that under the 14th & 15th
amendments African Americans were granted
political rights but not social rights
 The decision was not overturned until 1954
CUMMINGS V. RICHMOND COUNTY
BOARD OF EDUCATION (1899):

Supreme Court decision supporting segregated
schools in Georgia
BOOKER T WASHINGTON
Born a slave in Virginia
 Civil Rights leader of the era
 President of Tuskegee Institute in Alabama


– well educated
Supported good relations between blacks and
whites
 Worked to improve the lives of African
Americans through economic independence
 Believed social and political equality would
come with improved economic conditions and
education; they would need to work hard and
wait for the changes to take place over time

BOOKER T WASHINGTON
Famous “Atlanta Compromise” speech
(1895)
 Controversial speech by Booker T
Washington at the 1895 Cotton Exposition
 WEB Dubois labeled the speech the
Atlanta Compromise because
Washington had "sold out"
 The speech asks African Americans to
focus on basic education and slow social
changes
 He also somewhat supported partial
segregation as can be seen in this quote, “In all
things that are purely social we can be as
separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in
all things essential to mutual progress.”

W.E.B.
born free, highly educated – Masters
DUBOIS and Doctorate degrees from Harvard
 Professor at Atlanta University
 Believed action was necessary to
ensure civil rights
 Believed Booker T. Washington was
too accepting of social injustice
 developed “the talented tenth,” an
elite group of educated African
Americans

*they worked together to help get rid of
segregation
*developed the NAACP (National
Association for the Advancement of
Colored People)

Dubois gained more followers as
more violence broke out and
restrictive laws were passed
JOHN HOPE
Civil rights leaders from Augusta, GA
 He was President of Morehouse and
Atlanta University
 Like DuBois, believed that African
Americans should actively work for
equality
 Part of the group that organized
NAACP
 Hope’s wife, Lugenia, worked to improve
sanitation, roads, healthcare and
education for African American
neighborhoods in Atlanta

1906 ATLANTA RIOT

various leaders and newspapers created a climate of
anger and fear
*they reported that African American men had been
attacking white women
 *these allegations were proved to be untrue




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unemployed and frustrated white men started a twoday riot
they destroyed African American owned shops and
attacked black men on the street
21 people killed; hundreds wounded and a lot of
property damage
Atlanta was placed under martial law: military forces
used to control civilians
ALONZO HERNDON
Born a slave, worked his way up to
owning a successful barber shop
 1905: Purchased a small insurance
company and managed it well

* Now one of the largest African
American businesses in the US
 * Worth over $200 million and operates
in 17 states

donated to charities and the Atlanta
University (He was on the Board of
Trustees)
 in 1927 he was the wealthiest
African-American in Atlanta

LEO FRANK CASE



1913: man accused of killing a 13-year-old employee, Mary
Phagan in Atlanta
Mr. Frank was a Jewish man from New York
There was little evidence against Mr. Frank, but he was
convicted and sentenced to death


Governor Slaton changed death sentence to life imprisonment


* Anti-Semitism and resentment for successful northerners played a
role
* after he went over the case again he believed Frank was innocent
Armed men from Marietta took Frank from the prison and
lynched him
* They called themselves the “Knights of
Mary Phagan”
 *White supremacist Ku Klux Klan reborn
as a result

COCA-COLA

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Invented in Atlanta in
1885 by John S.
Pemberton as tonic
Business purchased and
expanded by Asa
Candler
Sold company in 1919
for $25 million
Robert Woodruff grew
company to billions of
dollars in sales each
year
Woodruff and Candler
generous givers to
worthy causes
Coca-Cola is still a
major economic source
in the Georgia economy
COCA – COLA LOGO THROUGH THE YEARS
Used in the primary
elections
 Whichever candidate won
the most units won the
election
 It was not based on
popular vote

Problem … the majority of the population lived in
cities and towns but those unit votes were only 168
where the rural counties had 242. The areas with the
majority of the population could not beat out the rural
counties.
Therefore, candidates could win even if the majority
of the population voted for someone else
WORLD WAR I
1914 – 1918
REASONS FOR THE WAR
World War I broke out in late 1914, but tension
had been building in Europe since 1900.
 The MAIN causes:

Militarism – Building up armed forces
 Alliances – agreements or promises to defend or
help another country
 Imperialism – trying to build up an empire
 Nationalism – pride in your country and desire to
defend it

* ARCHDUKE FRANZ FERDINAND OF
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY WAS HEIR TO
THE THRONE
* HE WAS ASSASSINATED IN BOSNIA
* AUSTRIA-HUNGRY BLAMED SERBIA
WWI

Both sides had allies so when war was declared
all of their friends backed them up in the fight
WWI: HOW THE US GOT INVOLVED
President Wilson worked to keep the US out of
the war
 1915: German submarine sank passenger ship
Lusitania killing 128 Americans
 1917: sub attacks resumed sinking American
ships
 Feb 26, 1917 Zimmerman telegram: Germany
tried to get Mexico to attack the US



In return they were promised lost territories of
Texas, New Mexico and Arizona
April 6, 1917 Wilson finally joined the Allied
powers
GEORGIANS AND THE WAR
±100,000 Georgians volunteered to join the US
armed forces
 Training in Georgia at Camp Benning, Fort
McPherson, and Camp Gordon helped Georgia’s
economy
 Georgians contributed manufactured goods and
farm produce
 3,000 young Georgians killed in the war

The war ended November 11, 1918
 We’ll discuss the end of WWI when we get to
WWII since this “war to end all wars” actually
causes the next world war.

FIRSTS OF WWI

http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-i/worldwar-i-history/videos/wwifirsts?m=528e394da93ae&s=undefined&f=1&free
=false
WEB LINKS – ALL VIDEOS
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Atlanta Race Riot
http://www.wgbh.org/programs/American-Masters56/episodes/The-Atlanta-Race-Riot-1906-37236
Reasons for the War
http://www.history.com/videos/causes-of-world-war-i#causesof-world-war-i
Sinking the Lusitania
http://www.history.com/videos/causes-of-world-war-i#u-boatssink-the-lusitania-in-1915
Firsts of WWI (2 min)
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-i/world-war-ihistory/videos/wwifirsts?m=528e394da93ae&s=undefined&f=1&free=false
Very Fast-paced overview/discussion of the US in WWI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y59wErqg4Xg