Reconstruction and the Reconstruction and the Rise of the New SouthRise of the New South

1865-19171865-1917

Civil WarCivil 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

Civil War and Race RelationsCivil 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 Freedman’s Bureau and Republicans in Congress• Thaddeus Stevens (House)• Charles Sumner (Senate)

• One Senator joked that the only rights confederates should have were “funeral rites.”

African Americans and Reconstruction

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

African Americans and Reconstruction

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

Rise of the New SouthRise 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

Rise of the New SouthRise 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”

New South CitiesNew 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

New South CitiesNew 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 south’s 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

A New South CityA 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

AtlantaAtlanta

Race RelationsRace 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

New PaternalismNew 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?

Group Work / DiscussionGroup Work / Discussion

• Analyze:• LA and MS Black Codes• Sharecroppers contracts• “A Georgia Sharecropper’s 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?