The new-south

Georgia Georgia and the American Experienceand the American Experience

Chapter 9-10:Chapter 9-10:

The New South and the The New South and the Progressive EraProgressive Era

Study Presentation Study Presentation

©2005 Clairmont Press

The Bourbon TriumvirateThe Bourbon Triumvirate

• Wanted to keep the power of the government in the hands of White Southern Democrats!!!

Joseph E. Brown – a.k.a. Sweet

Chin Hair”

• Governor of Confederate GA during the Civil War

• Brown served as a U.S.

senator from 1880 to 1890 •Industrialist who became one of GA’s first millionaires

Alfred Colquitt•Elected governor of Georgia in 1876

• Advocated for the industrialization of GA

•Planter who represented the “old planters” in GA

• Governor of GA from 1886 to 1890

• Served multiple terms in

the US Senate

John B. Gordon

• Democrats controlled Georgia’s government after Reconstruction.

• Powerful Democratic leaders, known as the “Bourbon Triumvirate” were Joseph E. Brown, Alfred H. Colquitt, and John B. Gordon.

• Their goals were:

– expand Georgia’s economy and ties with industries in the North; Reduce war debt

– maintain the tradition of white supremacy.

• Criticized for not accomplishing:

• Improvements for poor

• Improvements in education

• Reform for factory working conditions

• Prisons– Bourbon Triumvirate profited form prison labor

The Bourbon Triumvirate

The greatest hype man The greatest hype man the South has ever known! the South has ever known!

Announcing…

HENRY GRADY!!!

• Known as the “spokesman of the New South”

• Henry Grady was a speaker and newspaper editor. He used his position as the editor of the Atlanta Constitution to promote his political beliefs, such as antiliquor laws and white supremacy.

• Grady described Georgia as a place which could have competitive industry and more efficient farming.

• Grady envisioned improved race relations in a “New South” which left its antebellum past behind.

• He hoped that downplaying racial tension would encourage Northern industries to move to Atlanta

• To draw attention to Atlanta’s industrial/farming abilities, Grady hosted the International Cotton Expositions.

Henry Grady

Because of Grady’s accomplishments for GA, Grady hospital and Grady County were named in his honor.

WELCOME TO beautiful Piedmont Park in Atlanta, GA - Sept. 18 - Nov. 18,

1895

Brought to you…well partially, by Henry Grady and folks who want a better future for GA!

Stroll the grounds of Piedmont Park with friends and family!

FRIENDLY TO ALL BLACKS!

The International Cotton ExpositionIn the late 1800s, fairs and expositions were an important way for cities to attract visitors who, in an era before radio and television, were eager to see new technological marvels on display. These events provided civic leaders with a showcase to lure visitors, who were urged to come and do business in the host location.

• Watson was elected to Congress in 1890. He shocked Georgians by quitting his party, joining the Populists, and founding a newspaper called the People's Party Paper.

• The Populist Party mainly appealed to white farmers, many of whom had been impoverished by debt and low cotton prices in the 1880s and 1890s. Populism directly challenged the dominance of the Democratic Party, and as a result Populists sought out the black votes as well.

• Tom Watson worked for Rural Free Delivery bill to deliver mail to rural areas for free

Tom Watson and the Populists

• Watson was elected to Congress in 1890. He shocked Georgians by quitting his party, joining the Populists, and founding a newspaper called the People's Party Paper.

• The Populist Party mainly appealed to white farmers, many of whom had been impoverished by debt and low cotton prices in the 1880s and 1890s. Populism directly challenged the dominance of the Democratic Party, and as a result Populists sought out the black votes as well.

• Tom Watson worked for Rural Free Delivery bill to deliver mail to rural areas for free

Tom Watson and the Populists

Rural farmers! Get ya’ mail here! Delivered

free of charge! Brought to you by

Tom Watson!

Rural Free Delivery Bill

The Atlanta Race Riot of 1906• By the 1880s, Atlanta had become TOP DAWG!• The city's overall population soared from 89,000 in 1900 to 150,000 in 1910; the black population was approximately 9,000 in 1880 and 35,000 by 1900. • Such growth increased job competition among black and white workers.• Such conditions caused concern among elite whites, who feared the social intermingling of the races.• The emergence of black elite also added to the racial tension.

The Atlanta Race Riot of 1906

• Occurred Sept. 22-24, 1906 in downtown Atlanta

• White mobs killed dozens of blacks, wounded scores of others, and inflicted considerable property damage.

Rebecca Latimer Felton – prison reform activist, journalist, and 1st

woman to serve in the US Senate

The Decline of the Bourbons and Rebecca Latimer Felton

• A tireless advocate for the poor and lower middle class

• A leader in the suffrage and temperance movement in GA

• Wrote for The Cartersville Courant and later took a job as a columnist with the Atlanta Journal.

• Worked w/ husband to reform the convict lease system.

•Served as the first woman to serve in the US Senate after Tom Watson died.

Prison ReformPrison Reform

• 1908: end of convict lease system

• Work camps and chain gangs replaced the lease system– Black-and-white uniforms– Chained together– Poor food & housing– No preparation for life after prison

• Progressive legislators created the Juvenile Court System

The Trial of Leo FrankThe Trial of Leo Frank

"The Ballad of Mary Phagan"

Little Mary PhaganShe left her home one day;

She went to the pencil-factoryTo see the big parade.

She left her home at elevenShe kissed her mother good-by;

Not one time did the poor child thinkThat she was a-going to die.

Leo Frank he met herWith a brutish heart, we know;

He smiled, and said, "Little Mary,You won't go home no more."

--- as reproduced by F.B. Snyder in The Journal of American Folk-Lore, 1918

The Trial of Leo FrankThe Trial of Leo Frank• 1913: Leo Frank accused of killing a 14-year-old

employee, Mary Phagan in Atlanta• Mr. Frank was a Jewish man from New York• Little evidence against Mr. Frank, but he was

convicted and sentenced to death• Governor Slaton changed death sentence to life

imprisonment• Armed men took Frank from the prison, and he

was lynched• White supremacist Ku Klux Klan reborn as a

result

What I saw and learned What I saw and learned when I was your age… when I was your age…

The County Unit SystemThe County Unit System• 1917: Neil Primary Act created “county unit system” • Plan designed to give small counties more power in state

government in primary elections– Under this system, the 8 most populated counties had 6

county votes each (total of 48), the next 30 most populated counties had 4 county unit votes (total of 120), and the remaining 121 counties had 2 county unit votes (total 242).

– The largest 38 counties had 2/3 of voters, but the other 121 counties together could decide the election.

• People could be elected to office without getting a majority of votes

• Declared unconstitutional in 1962

The County Unit SystemThe County Unit System

• Funding to provide elementary education for all children in Georgia grew slowly from 1868-1895.

• Teachers were paid a little more than farm hands and had little or no training.

• Normal schools were started to train more teachers.

• The “school year” was only three months long which allowed children to work on farms or in factories.

• The state constitution of 1877 did not allow for school beyond 8th grade and segregated black and white students.

Education in the New South Era

The Progressive MovementThe Progressive Movement

Goal: Progress!

Society Business Government

•fight poverty

•improve working conditions

•votes for women

•prison reform

•outlaw alcohol

•break up large corporations

•regulate businesses

•decrease corporate power in government

•greater voice of “the people”

•more voters

•did not seek to increase participation of blacks in elections

Labor UnionsLabor Unions• Low wages in factories (10¢ per hour)

• Labor Unions organized workers– Strikes could halt work in the factory– AFL – American Federation of Labor

• Georgians didn’t support unions – factories were often in small communities where people knew each other

• Mill towns: factory owner owned the workers’ houses – workers feared losing their homes

Child Labor LawsChild Labor Laws• Progressives increased regulation to

protect child laborers– Minimum wage– Compulsory school attendance laws– Laws protecting children against work in

dangerous places and using dangerous equipment (for example: mines)

– In Georgia, most child workers in cotton fields or textile factories

– In the North, child workers were in “sweatshops”

Temperance MovementTemperance Movement• WCTU: Women’s Christian Temperance

Movement – wanted to end production and use of alcoholic beverages

• Carrie Nation – famous for raiding saloons with a hatchet and making speeches against alcohol

• Progressives in Georgia restricted alcohol sales near schools and churches, and allowed counties to vote to be “wet” or “dry”

• 1919: 18th Amendment banned manufacture, sale, transport of alcoholic beverages in USA