Changing Economies in the South 420

• Changing Economies in the South: (420 -421) – Some southern planters lost their lands after the Civil War because they could not pay their debts or their taxes. – Other planters or northern investors ended up with most of these lands.

• Changing Economies in the South: (420421) – Sharecropping: (420) • Whether planters were southerners or northerners, all faced labor shortages. • Few whites or former slaves wanted to work for the low wages planters were willing – or, in many cases, able – to pay • Some planters solved their problems with Sharecropping: under this system a farmer worked a parcel of land in return for a share of the crop, a cabin, seed, tools, and a mule • Sharecropping enabled planters to get their lands worked when they did not have enough cash to pay laborers • By the end of the 1870 s, many poor white southerners and most African Americans in the South worked as sharecroppers

• Changing Economies in the South: (420 -421) – Sharecropping: (420) • Sharecropping had serous drawbacks – Sharecroppers had no income until harvest time – Crop-lien system: a lien is a creditor’s LEGAL claim on the debtor’s property 1. To obtain the supplies the sharecropper needed he had to promise their crops to local merchants who then sold them goods on credit 2. Any outstanding debts were added to their bills the following year

• Changing Economies in the South: (420 -421) – Sharecropping: (420) • In effect, sharecropping made it impossible for sharecroppers to work their way out of poverty or to gain independence. • Former slave, Thomas Hall, judged the sharecropping system to be “little better than slavery. ” • The crop-lien system kept the southern economy tied primarily to one-crop agriculture. Merchants gave credit only to farmers who grew certain crops, most often cotton. • As a result, cotton displaced other crops to such an extent that the South had to import food animal feed from the North

• Changing Economies in the South: (420 -421) – Industrial Growth: (421) • Henry W. Grady, the editor of the Atlanta Constitution, believed that one-crop agriculture kept the South in poverty and economically dependent on the North • The so-called New South, he argued, should manufacture its own goods • Supporters of this New South idea joined with northern and British investors to finance factories and ironworks, while southerners raised the money to build textile mills and other enterprises. • Southern railroads were rebuilt and integrated into northern rail systems

• Changing Economies in the South: (420 -421) – Industrial Growth: (421) • Not everyone benefited equally from industrialization in the South. • Factory owners and investors profited at the expense of poorly paid workers. • Most African Americans could not find any factory work • Some industrial workers were forced to buy goods on credit from the company store and to live in ramshackle company houses • Like sharecroppers, they often found themselves locked in debt

• The Rise of Jim Crow: (421422) – For African Americans, the New South closely resembled the Old South – African Americans were tied to the land through sharecropping and by their exclusion from most factory jobs. – Moreover, Democrats had taken control of the southern state legislatures and stepped up their attempts to strip African Americans of their rights

• The Rise of Jim Crow: (421422) – To deprive African Americans the right to vote, southern legislatures instituted poll taxes – fixed taxes imposed on every voter – and literacy tests – tests that barred those who could not read from voting – Because most African Americans southerners were poor and had been denied an education, these legal barriers effectively disfranchised African Americans – Even literate African Americans often “failed” the test, since white officials decided who passed. – These rules, however, were often waived for poor or illiterate whites – Whites also used violence and intimidation to prevent African Americans from voting

• The Rise of Jim Crow: (421422) – To further deprive African Americans of their rights, state legislatures initiated a series of laws designed to enforce segregation, or separation, of the races – these provisions were called Jim Crow laws, sonamed after a minstrel song that contained the refrain “Jumpjump-jump Jim Crow. – Passed in Tennessee in 1881, the first of these laws required separate railway cars for African Americans and whites

• The Rise of Jim Crow: (421422) – African Americans sued for equal treatment under the Civil Rights Act of 1875, but the Supreme Court refused to overturn Jim Crow Laws. – In the Civil Rights Cases of 1883, the Court ruled that the 14 th Amendment prohibited only state governments, not individuals or businesses, from discriminating against African Americans

• The Rise of Jim Crow: (421 -422) – The Supreme Court upheld segregation in Plessy v. Ferguson, a lawsuit brought in 1896 after African American Homer Plessy was denied a seat in a firstclass railway car. – The Court ruled that “separate but equal” facilities did not violate the 14 th Amendment. – Justice John Marshall Harlan disagreed and said, “Our Constitution is color-blind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens. ”

• African American Life: (422 -424) – Despite segregation, in some southern cities a growing African American middle class began to emerge, made up of doctors, government workers, teachers, and lawyers. – African Americans started businesses, supported churches, and built schools

• African American Life: (422424) – Farmers and Planters: • Despite numerous obstacles, some African Americans were able to purchase farmland in a few cases large plantations • Some African Americans formed cooperatives to buy farmland – In addition of producing crops and providing jobs, the cooperatives often provided for sick members “if unable to care for themselves. ” – Cooperatives sometimes imposed taxes “to provide for the education of the young and the comfortable maintenance of the aged and helpless

• African American Life: (422424) – Industry and Business: (424) • African Americans also formed nonagricultural cooperatives. • African Americans in Baltimore organized the Chesapeake, Marine, and Dry Dock Company • Chesapeake, Marine, and Dry Dock Company: raised and borrowed thousands of dollars to buy a shipyard and marine railway since African Cameras were excluded from dock work • This cooperative hired several hundred African Americans caulkers and carpenters, won government contract, and paid off its entire debt within five years

• African American Life: (422 -424) – Industry and Business: (424) • Some African Americans also owned small businesses such as barber shops, blacksmith shops, general stores, and restaurants. • African American women could sell candy and vegetables in open air markets • Madame C. J. Walker: a leading African American entrepreneur, was one of the first women in the United States to become a millionaire • Sold hair-conditioner treatment for African American women. • She founded Lelia College, a beauty school

• Responses to the Jim Crow Era: (425) – Booker T. Washington: believed that African Americans should concentrate on achieving economic independence, which he saw as the key to political and social equality with whites. – He urged African Americans to seek practical training in trades and professions. – He discouraged them from protesting against discrimination, arguing that it merely increased the whites’ hostility. – Washington secretly provided support to groups fighting Jim Crow laws and radical violence

• Responses to the Jim Crow Era: (425) – Some African Americans disagreed with Washington’s public position calling for cooperation with southern whites. – They argued instead that African Americans should protest unfair treatment. – Civil Rights activist, journalist, and teacher Ida B. Wells – later Wells-Barnett – focused her attention on stopping the lynching of African Americans