American History Reconstruction The New South American History Reconstruction

Southern Objectives Following War Abandon one crop agriculture Develop all resources of the rich land Build up industries

Industry Railroad built to transport goods Large amount of labor available Poor whites Newly freed blacks Northern investors built factories Textile mills, ironworks, lumber projects, sugar refineries Mill owners – owned houses of workers Owned stores to buy goods Cities Grow – new cities built (Birmingham, Alabama) – junction of 2 railroad lines

Agriculture Large plantations broken up Tenant farming – share cropping Agricultural Progress Improved machines Agricultural colleges (Alabama and Virginia) Fertilizers Crops Sugar, cotton, rice, corn, tobacco

Truck Farming Fresh fruit and vegetables Longer growing season Oranges, apples, watermelons, peaches, strawberries Longer growing season Cheap labor Railroad cars and refrigerated cars

Education State provided funds Reluctance of taxpayers to support public schools with tax money Segregated schools cost more As economics improved in the South, so did the education

Sharecropping System Blacks farmed on former plantation Gave large portions of their crop to landlord for rent of land, tools, seed, & work animals Purchased food and clothing from white owned store Became deeper and deeper in debt each season Rarely saw cash Diet of fat meat and corn bread kept them ill most of the time Females were servants for white families

“Solid South” Politics – Democrat Hatred for Republicans All electoral votes for president went to democratic candidates Blacks denied right to vote (for Republicans) Literacy tests Grandfather clauses Poll taxes

African American Leaders Booker T Washington Son of a slave mother and white father Received vocational education @ Hampton Institute (VA) Founded Tuskegee Institute in Alabama Insisted that voc ed was necessary to probe black people with the skills needed to earn a living (didn’t think liberal arts ed was essental)

Spoke out against lynching's and illegal discrimination Believed the blacks would make more progress by avoiding protests and emphasizing education and by owning their own businesses "In all things that are purely social, we can be as separate as the fingers, yet as one hand in all things essential to mutual progress."

African American Leaders W.E.B. DuBois Born in Massachusetts Well educated Wrote “Souls of Black Folk” Criticized Booker T Washington Urged broader education for blacks Urged blacks to DEMAND rights to achieve full equality and opportunity

Organized the Niagara Movement Niagara Falls, NY Demanded the end to all unequal treatment based on race or color Founded the NAACP Worked through the courts to end restrictions on voting and other civil rights “To be a poor man is hard, but to be a poor race in a land of dollars is the very bottom of hardships.”

Jim Crow Laws Laws passed by the Southern states to keep African Americans “in their place”

(1896) Plessey v Ferguson Homer Plessy 1/8 Black Rode a ‘white” railroad car to challenge Jim Crow laws Supreme Court rule Separate but equal is acceptable

Closure How do you think that the race issue should have been resolved in the New South? Write a paragraph to support your answer.