The+Origins+of+the+New+South

=Natalie Melo= = Topic 13 : ﻿The Origins of the New South = **During Reconstruction:** a) Reconfiguration of southern agriculture: sharecropping and crop lien system
 * **sharecropping** = plantation owners divided lands so that blacks could rent or share part of the plot
 * gave blacks a sense of physical independence, but in reality they weren't since they seemed to still be dependent on whites for money
 * blacks got land, house, few tools, seed, + sometimes mule -- whites got large share of crop, giving the blacks hardly any to sell for themselves
 * **crop-lien system** = farmers depended on local country stores, but didn't have a consistent amount of $ so they relied on credit -> gave crop lien (claim) in return for the loans
 * many (especially blacks) ended up going into cycle of debt that was difficult to get out of
 * farmers dependent on cash crops (especially cotton) to get out of debt -> bad for small farmers
 * general decline in South agricultural economy b/c of soil exhaustion

b) Expansion of manufacturing and industrialization
 * south was beginning to promote the once-hated northern virtues of industry
 * textile manufacturing increased greatly
 * r ailroad development + expansion
 * south became less dependent on the north when it came to manufacturing, but the north still produced way more $
 * **"convict-lease"** system = convicts used as chap labor for private companies

c) The politics of segregation: Jim Crow and disfranchisement
 * **Plessy v. Ferguson** (1896) : separate but equal - legalized racial segregation
 * poll tax, property qualification, + "literacy"/"understanding" test - all limited blacks from voting
 * **Jim Crow laws** = legal segregation
 * rise of **lynching**


 * Sources:**
 * 1) Alan Brinkley's American History textbook
 * 2) []