New South

child workers in textile mills

- 1880-1910 1/4 of cotton mill workers in the south were below the age of 16 - when children started jobs they worked 6 weeks without pay - children started in entry level job such as spinning spooling or doffing

tobacco workers

prior to 1884 Jewish workers rolled cigarettes by hand - eventually most Jewish hand roller left Durham and were given $25 in severance pay, instead employers hired rural citizens from NC at lower salaries - the 1880 NC census revealed that some blacks worked in tobacco processing - tobacco workers' wages were higher than rural workers

basic definition of the new south

the new south ideology referred to the south after reconstruction proponents of the new south supported advances in agriculture and industrialization, ties with modern national economy and the growth of cities

African American voices during the 1895- Booker T Washington's Atlanta Compromise Speech

- Atlanta's leaders invited Washington so Northerners thought that the south was making racial progress generating northern investment - Washington urged blacks to take advantage of agriculture and business opportunities which would lead them to eventually gain rights - Washington differed from DuBois because he emphasized that blacks should non engage in militant protest but should wait to acquire rights, he states that blacks "mist cast down their buckets" - Washington's accommodationist approach won approval of southern whites

steel- fuel for city growth in New South (Birmingham Alabama)

- Birmingham was one of leading industrial centers for steel production in new south (the Pittsburgh of the south) - steel was used in production of rails and rail cars - the Birmingham steel workers produced steel which was sold in international and national markets - Andrew Carnegie invested in this plant - capital from steel production built residential districts and office buildings in Birmingham

textile production in the south

- Grady believed that industrialization would lead the south to economic independence - the new drive toward industrialization was called "cotton mill campaign of the new south" - but in the early 1900s the south became the number one textile region in the world

sloss furnace- Birmingham Alabama

- James Sloss a merchant built the furnace in 1881- leading steel mill in Alabama - new white well stove was first type built in Birmingham - during its first year the furnace sold 24000 tons of iron - in 1883 at Louisville Exposition this company won bronze for the best pig iron - in 1881 the Birmingham press promoted Sloss as governor of Alabama since he embraced "the Gospel of Industrialism"

new south steel industry- living conditions in steel towns

- Sloss furnaces provided low cost housing for workers - 48 houses were designed for blacks- typical shotgun style with 2 rooms and on foundation post - housing served two purposes- it attracted family men and provided a ready supply of labor - workers gathered in steel towns for Bbqs and dancing - workers had their own plots of land with gardens and chickens

opponents of grady and edmonds

- Thomas Watson critized Grady for submitting to northern interest and some farmers refused to grow other crops besides cotton - Grady could not portray to northern investors a benign radical order since violence increased

African Americans reaction to Washington's speech- DuBois

- WEB Dubious was an intellectual leader and civil rights activist who opposed Washington's ideas of accommodation - instead he campaigned for black elite who worked for progress of race - opposed Washington's idea of gradualism for civil rights

Wade Hampton- symbol of new south leadership

- before SC was redeemed in 1874 majority of voters were black - former confederates such as Wade Hampton supported new south industrialization but also advocated states' rights and white supremacy - in 1876 he become SC governor and still permitted black men to vote- yet blacks had to keep their proper places

technology in southern textile production

- before civil war textile mills in south mostly used water power - after Civil war steam power mills were more widespread. steam power was produced by burning coal or wood - turbine wheels were smaller and more efficient than water wheel processing more water by spinning faster

origins of a modern tobacco industry in the new south

- before civil war the south only processed a small amount of tobacco - after the civil war Washington Duke started to process golden tobacco on his farm in orange county NC - in 1860s he cultivated 15000 pounds of tobacco per year in rural factories on his farmstead

more on southern mill villages

- by 1900 92% of factory workers lived in southern textile mill villages which included houses schools and social clubs - the downside of mill downs were that workers were dependent on company stores which charged higher prices for items that led to debt - close proximity of houses to mill led to close supervision of workers - in order to cope with mill town conditions workers formed their own organizations, grew food, enjoyed rural traditions such as music and demanded higher wages

1881 international cotton expositions - Atlanta Georgia

- city leaders hosted this exposition displaying cotton plants from around the world to generate investment toward industrial development - people from north and south attended this event

growth of coal and steel industries- late 19th century new south

- coal and iron mining increased in Appalachian areas from WV to Alabama, the south produced one half million tons of coal each year - technological advancements such as the open hearth furnace lowered the cost of production of steel - the open hearth process took hours and allowed for the periodic testing of large batches of molten steel made to the precise specification of customers

railroad industry in the new south

- connected southern towns and cities promoting industrialization state government officials made deals with railroad executives which led to new railroad lines - connected upcountry areas of the south with urban centers- markets for farmers and delivered goods from the north and south to remote areas - high railroad tariffs in the south- cheaper to transport southern raw materials than finished goods to the north

workers at steel factories in the new south

- freedmen and poor whites - owners segregated factories in order to control wages, working conditions and union organizing - impoverished sharecroppers migrated to Birmingham for jobs (few immigrants)

workers in phosphate mines and processing plants

- freedmen, rural migrants, convicts and immigrants mined phosphate and worked in processing plants - blacks enjoyed flexibility since they labored under the task system - phosphate workers received higher wages than rural workers but faced strenuous working conditions in riverbeds, suffered from humid climates, radioactivity exposure and racism

tobacco industry in Winston Salem NC

- from 1880s to the 20th century tobacco processing dominated - growing, manufacturing and warehousing of tobacco occurred

1895 Cotton states and international exposition

- goal to foster trade with other southern states and south america - exhibits featured the accomplishments of women and black and the latest technology in electricity, transportation, manufacturing and agriculture - financial problems plagued this exposition but it showcased Atlanta as a regional business center and attracted northern and European business

conditions southern mill workers faced during the late 19th century

- harsh and dangerous conditions- 10-12 hour days heat humidity and dust; some workers developed brown lung disease or died from accidents - laborers did not receive workers compensation for accidents or insurance - still workers formed social networks and staged strikes

development of tobacco factories in Durham NC

- in 1874 the Duke family expanded its tobacco business to building a tobacco processing plant in Durham- led to large scale tobacco production in south - in 1890 James Duke with the help of tobacco inventions created American Tobacco Company combining 200 tobacco companies such as Lucky Strike , becoming the largest monopoly in the south

Proponents of the new south

- in 1880 Henry Grady made the new south popular in speeches and writings - he promoted industrialization railroad expansion and the break up of large plots of planter land - he encouraged northern investment and southern industries but still believed that whites were superior to blacks

new south? jim crow segregation

- in 1880s de facto (by custom) segregation mostly existed in south - by late 19th century southern state legislatures initiated de jure (by law) segregation in new constitutions - Jim crow laws were states and local laws which barred blacks from public places and placed other restrictions on them - Jim crow existed from 1876-1965 - the earliest Jim Crow laws segregated blacks in public transportation, indicating that blacks must occupy separate but equal facilities but in reality the faculties were far from equal

cities of the new south

- in NC more than 40 cities existed by 1910- industry fueled the growth of cities- elaborate buildings - in 1895 Henry Belk established the Belk department store in Charlotte NC appealing to the working class by selling quality goods at cheap prices such as buttons and clothing - a new class of southern businessmen shaped Atlanta, Charlotte, Durham and Nashville - not all areas of the south developed at the same rate- citizens of Charleston SC resisted change and many of its buildings remained antebellum influences

indirect disenfranchisement provisions in late 19th century Louisiana

- indirect disenfranchisement measures were used in LA and other southern states to bar poor whites and blacks from polls- property tests or literacy tests - 1898 grandfather clause- literacy and property tests were not to be given to individuals whose father and grandfathers were not entailed to vote - these disenfranchisement provisions eliminated black participation in politics

three main benefits of textile mills in new south

- it made sense to convert the south's main cash crop into a finished product - yarn and cloth were easy for unskilled laborers to produce - some southern mills were built during antebellum era so the south was already familiar with textile production

advertising the new south- cotton expositions in nineteenth century Atlanta

- late nineteenth century fairs and expositions served as important advertising functions - from 1861-1865 civic leaders hosted 3 cotton expositions which were important to the city's economic recovery - admission generated capital toward city improvements - Henry Grady promoted the two cotton expositions

mill villages in the new south

- many mill towns were in Piedmont regions of Carolinas - families lived in company owned houses, employers collected rent from these workers - new south mill men, such as the cone brothers of Greensboro North Carolina built mill empires which were towns that consisted of many mills

continuity in the new south- agricultural labor

- most of the south was rural well into mid 20th century - sharecroppers and tenant farmers grew tobacco and cotton- ex slaves often worked for former matters - Georgia developed the convict leasing system in 1874 (quasi- slavery)- southerners would lease inmates (often blacks) to coal mine operators- workers were not paid

more on textile production in the New South

- new and rebuilt textile mills during 1870s and 1880s; mostly local merchants established southern mills - by 1880s textile mills benefited from northern investment since lower taxes in south, climate weather milder and labor was cheaper - textile mills converted raw cotton and wool into clothing, selling clothing to consumers nation wide - mills were symbols of southern growth

other supporters of new south - Richard Edmonds

- new south proponents supported the farm to factory movement, which promoted industrialization and indicated that cotton was no longer king rather they advocated growing diverse crops - two goals of movement were capital investment and diverse industry - still opposed to northern labor unions and ambiguous over whether factories should hire blacks

phosphate fertilizer production in the new south

- northern and local investors helped establish the phosphate industry near Charleston SC replacing old plantation houses with fertilizer mills - technological advances led to a boom in mining and the production of fertilizers in the low country - mines were located in the Ashley and Cooper Rivers and near Edisto and Stono - in 1884 Charles Drayton established a phosphate company on his former plantation which generated profits for his family int he late 19th and early 20th centuries

who were the workers in the southern textile mills

- poor whites from southern agriculture areas; widows with children often moved to theses towns and the children worked in the mills - until 1960s mill owners rarely hired blacks - black men cleaned up and lifted heavy bales of cotton - black woman had jobs in villages cooking and cleaning for whties

new south lumber mills

- saw mills processed hard woods (oaks) and soft woods (southern yellow pine) - steam powered mills increased output- technology- circular saws, dry kilns, crosscut saws - local southerners often operated saw mills processing 300,000 board feet per day - lumber was used for telegraph lines, houses, furniture and railroad ties - in 1900 one of the largest saw mills in world was the Atlantic Lumber Company in Georgetown SC

1890 Mississippi plan- voter discrimination

- the 1890 Mississippi constitution included a clause which denied blacks the right to vote - the purity clause in this constitution states "to restore purity to the governance of the state of Mississippi blacks must no longer be allowed to vote" - in 1867 supreme court decision Williams vs Mississippi upheld the 1890 Mississippi plan

new south historiography

- the book "an old creed fro the new south" draws on post civil war diaries challenging that slavery debates ended with emancipation - southerners still subjected blacks to punishment - continuity existed between the old south and new south and the south did not change as quickly as historians once thought

Plessy vs Ferguson

- the legality of Jim crow was tested int his supreme court decision of 1896 - it established "separate but equal" facilities for whites and blacks - segregation was now constitutional - it was not over turned until 1954 - de jure segregation was now legal and led to additional segregation provisions in the south

new south leaders' views regarding blacks

- the new south vision was for white Protestants men only - southern leaders sought to restore white supremacy and states' rights after reconstruction - in fact the new south industrial class often came from the old conservative elite

tobacco industry in the new south during the late 19th and early 20th centuries

- the tobacco industry in the south brought great prosperity and led to the growth of urban centers such as Durham, Winston Sale, (both in N Carolina) and Richmond, VA)

technology that impacted tobacco industry in late 19th century

- thousands of inventions were produced concerning the processing of tobacco - warehouses, machine shops and research facilities were established in Durham - the Bull Jack machine filled bags with tobacco and attached labels to bags - John Dalton invented the bow tier which automatically tired bad strings of Bull Durham brand- replacing young tie boys - most important the cigarette rolling machine (1881 James Bonsack) did the work of 48 hand rollers and led to the unprecedented growth of Duke Tobacco industry

tobacco advertising

- tobacco industry boomed because both technological innovation and advertising - in 1870s color lithography revolutionized advertising - major tobacco companies used the popular culture of 19th century to appeal to mass audiences and included traded cards in every box of cigarettes - cards featured images of famous athletes, actresses and native Americans - some companies provided presents for those who collected certain number of tobacco tabs

industry in the new south

- while the south was mostly agrarian in the late 19th century and early 20th centuries southern industries expanded - in fact industrial production grew faster in some areas of the south than nationally - railroads ports communication system and factories expanded the south