A New South and a New Georgia  The South and Georgia Move from agriculture to industry  Several factors cause tremendous growth

Robber Barons and Monopolies  Monopoly – complete control of a business area  Robber Barons – wealthy owners of monopolies.  Labor unions - formed by workers to bargain with companies.

Problems of Industrialization  Workers were mistreated.  Laissez-faire – “leave it alone” – government would not interfere with business.  Sherman Anti-trust Act government outlawed monopolies

Modernization Electricity  Thomas Edison finds ways to distribute electricity  Electric Streetcars expand cities  New inventions and methods improve life

Urbanization Immigration  Rapid growth  Immigrants – people from other countries  few in South  Little Italy, Greektown Suburbs  City growth creates problems  People with money move to suburbs

2 – New South Movement  1877 – 1910 – South focuses on rebuilding  New South diversified by expanding industry, fewer cash crops, more food crops  Northern banks invest in South

Advocates ….  Henry W. Grady – Atlanta editor popularizes “New South”  John B. Gordon, Joseph Brown, Alfred Colquitt – politicians who support economic change with whites at top (known as Bourbon Triumvirate)

…. and Critics  Some want to stay rural  Lost Cause – belief by some that the Old South is not gone   Many Confederate veterans, Southerners want nothing to do with North   eventually see benefit of diversification to economy

Business and Industry   New cotton textile mills open in South, 1880s – 1920s. Paid very little.   Jobs attract white farmers   Lintheads – workers with lint in hair and clothes. Sometimes looked down upon.   Timber, tobacco, steel, coal, oil major Southern industries by 1900

Southern Agriculture   New South supporters hope small farms will replace plantations   Sharecropping system prevents change   workers remain poor

Growth Factors   Railroads   South rebuilds rails after Civil War—40,000 miles of track by 1890   Labor unions unsuccessful in South   Laws pass allowing landowners to “lease” convicts for labor -Convict Lease System

Market Towns   15% of Southerners live in urban areas by 1900, up from 7% in 1860   Market towns appear when an area’s economy starts to grow (trade center)   Boosters promote town growth

3 – Urban and Rural Worlds of Georgia Cotton and Other Cash Crops  70% of farmers grow cotton as main crop  Tobacco grown, but takes a lot of work  Corn #2 cash crop Food Crops  Cotton prices fall  Peaches become successful  Dairy successful for middle and south Georgia

Life on the Farm  Most Georgia farmers sharecroppers or tenant farmers  Crop-liens – laws that gave merchants and landowners rights to tenants crops.  Small farm owners could not afford fertilizers to enrich soils.  Farm owners usually white – black farmers usually sharecroppers or tenant farmers.

Georgia Towns and Cities Atlanta  rebuilding by end of 1865  Capital by 1867  In 1910, population 155,000 Savannah  Little war damage  Naval supplies become important exports  In 1900, population 55,000 Macon  Central Railroad reopens in 1866  Prosperous industrial city by 1900

Georgia Business and Industry Large and Small Industries  15 large industries by 1900  Smaller industries grow to become major companies  Dalton called “Carpet Capital of the World” Cotton States Exposition  Showcases southern businesses, modern equipment  Opens in Atlanta; 800,000 attend over three month period  Shows South equal player in national economy

African Americans in Georgia’s Cities   create own neighborhoods   15 percent live in cities by 1890s   Poor whites slowly take jobs from skilled African-American workers   Whites will not work or provide services for blacks   African-American businesses open to fill need   Alonso P. Herndon owner of the Crystal Palace Barber Shop and founder of the Atlanta Mutual Insurance Association