Reconstruction and the Rise of the New South

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Reconstruction and the Rise of the New South

• 1865-1917

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Civil War

• Profoundly and permanently altered social,
  cultural, political, economic landscape
• Raised important questions
• Labor relations?
• Civil rights?
• Power of federal government?
• Relationship between President and Congress
• 623,000 dead 500,000 wounded 30,000 amputees

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Civil War and Race Relations

• Freed 4 million enslaved persons
• 180,000-200,000 African American men fought on
  the side of the Union
• African Americans became more mobile demanded
  land, education, access to polls, and public
  accommodations
• Backed by Freedmans Bureau and Republicans in
  Congress
• Thaddeus Stevens (House)
• Charles Sumner (Senate)
• One Senator joked that the only rights
  confederates should have were funeral rites.

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African Americans and Reconstruction

• Despite their increased mobility, African
  Americans remained overwhelming a southern, rural
  population
• Most worked as sharecroppers or tenant farmers
• By 1894 24 million acres devoted to cotton
  production up from 9.35 million in 1873
• Increased production meant steadily declining
  prices -- made life very difficult
• Race made things more difficult for black farmers
• Debt peonage

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African Americans and Reconstruction

• When Reconstruction ended in 1877 so to did the
  civil rights protected by the 14th and 15th
  amendments
• In 1883 the Supreme Court struck down the civil
  rights act of 1875 and said that private citizens
  did not have to recognize the civil rights
  granted by the 14th amendment
• By 1887 southern railroads became the first
  segregated public accommodation
• By the end of the 1870s all southern states
  except MS, SC, LA, FL reverted to Democratic rule

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Rise of the New South

• South depended on cotton, but prices were falling
  at home and abroad
• Southern (white) boosters dreamed of a New South
• Modeled after an idealized notion of the northern
  industrial revolution (explain)
• Especially sought to lure the textile industry
  from NE to the south
• Reality was a mix between extraction of raw
  materials and growing urban industrial centers

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Rise of the New South

• Growing industry in the north increased demand
  for timber, coal, and turpentine, which
  southerners provided
• There was also a growing manufacturing base in
  the south that consisted primarily of textiles
  and iron
• By 1900, south employed 1/3 of all textile
  workers and places like Birmingham, AL were
  turning out more iron than all of the southern
  states combined
• But most southerners continued to work in
  extractive industries

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New South Cities

• Although much of the south remained rural and
  extractive, cities were vital to the formation
  of the New South
• both practically and symbolically or
  ideologically (explain)
• Atlanta, Nashville, Charleston, Mobile, and
  Birmingham
• manufacturing firms rose from 21k in 1860 to 70k
  by 1900 -- mostly in textiles, tobacco, iron, and
  steal
• Urban population also grew from about 9 in 1880
  to 20 by 1910
• By 1910 there were 396 towns and cities in the 11
  southerner states -- about 20 of national total

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New South Cities

• Unlike northern cities, urban growth in the south
  was fueled almost entirely by internal regional
  migration
• Foreign born comprised only 4.7 of the souths
  urban population in 1910
• Part of the population growth was fueled by black
  migration
• About 8 of black population lived in cities in
  1880 rose to about 19 in 1910
• Overall about 35 of urban population was black
• This meant that about 65 of city dwellers were
  white in 1910

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A New South City

• Atlanta
• Population
• 37k in 1880
• 200k by 1920
• Residents of its overcrowded neighborhoods
  adopted the Atlanta Spirit -- a commitment to
  continued growth and a faith that they would
  overcome the challenges and hardships presented
  by that growth

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Atlanta
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Race Relations

• Despite their progressive rhetoric, southern
  whites were unable to answer what they called
  the Negro question.
• What evolved in most southern cities was a new
  form of paternalism (define)
• White supremacy was maintained by new measures of
  segregation and discrimination often enforced by
  violence (Jim Crow)
• At the same time, blacks were accorded limited
  public support to improve their health,
  education, and welfare

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New Paternalism

• Most whites adopted a policy of providing blacks
  with (substandard) education, health care, and
  industrial training, and then allowing them to
  succeed or fail on their own.
• Can you see any problems with this philosophy?

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Group Work / Discussion

• Analyze
• LA and MS Black Codes
• Sharecroppers contracts
• A Georgia Sharecroppers Story
• Questions
• What was life like for blacks in the south,
  1865-1917?
• Why?
• Provide examples from reading/lecture
• Why is this important?
• How would YOU teach this stuff?