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Difficulty: MediumThe New South and Jim Crow

"I attended a funeral once in Pickens county in my State. . . . They buried him in the midst of a marble quarry: they cut through solid marble to make his grave; and yet a little tombstone they put above him was from Vermont. They buried him in the heart of a pine forest, and yet the pine coffin was imported from Cincinnati. They buried him within touch of an iron mine, and yet the nails in his coffin and the iron in the shovel that dug his grave were imported from Pittsburg. . . . The South didn't furnish a thing on earth for that funeral but the corpse and the hole in the ground."

— Henry W. Grady, editor of the Atlanta Constitution, speech to the Bay State Club, Boston, 1889

Which of the following statements best describes a major limit on the realization of the "New South" economic vision described in the excerpt during the late nineteenth century?

  1. A
    The strict enforcement of Reconstruction-era constitutional amendments that protected the voting and labor rights of African Americans.
  2. B
    The passage of federal tariffs and regulations that prohibited Northern businesses from investing in Southern industries.
  3. The Southern economy remained predominantly agricultural, dependent on a sharecropping system that kept many Black and white farmers in debt.Answer
  4. D
    The rapid growth of the Progressive movement, which succeeded in outlawing tenant farming and child labor in the region.

Answer

The Southern economy remained predominantly agricultural, dependent on a sharecropping system that kept many Black and white farmers in debt.
The correct option describes how the Southern economy remained overwhelmingly agrarian, dominated by sharecropping and tenant farming. While promoters of the 'New South' envisioned a diversified, industrial economy that could compete with the North, the reality was that most of the South remained poor and agricultural. Sharecropping locked both Black and white farmers in cycles of debt, preventing the creation of a prosperous, consumer-based industrial economy.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the stimulus document to understand the author's point of view.
The author, Henry Grady, is criticizing the post-Civil War South's lack of self-sufficiency, arguing that the South relies entirely on Northern manufactured goods instead of utilizing its own resources.
This establishes that the excerpt is a promotional argument for the 'New South' vision of industrialization and diversification.
2
Recall the historical reality of the Gilded Age Southern economy.
Despite industrial growth in areas like textiles and iron, the South remained overwhelmingly agricultural and saw the rise of sharecropping and tenant farming as dominant labor systems.
This provides the necessary historical context to evaluate the limitations of the 'New South' vision.
3
Evaluate the options to identify the correct limit on Southern industrialization.
The persistence of the sharecropping system directly limited the economic mobility of Southern agricultural laborers and kept the region dependent on cotton agriculture.
This links the historical reality to the correct choice.

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The New South and Jim Crow
Estimated Time:1m 30s
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The New South and Jim Crow

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