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CHAPTER 17
The South and the West Transformed
1865–1900
This chapter begins by discussing the economic and agricultural changes that resulted in a New South, as
well as race relations in the region, then moves on to a discussion of the transformations taking place in
the New West in terms of migration, economic changes, and relations with the Native Americans.
CORE OBJECTIVES
1. Analyze the ways in which a “New South” emerged in the late nineteenth century.
2. Describe the crop-lien system that emerged in the South, and explain how it shaped the region after the
Civil War.
3. Explain how and why white southerners took away African Americans’ right to vote and adopted “Jim
Crow” segregation laws at the end of the nineteenth century.
4. Identify the various groups of migrants to the West after the Civil War and the reasons they went there.
5. Describe the experiences of miners, farmers, ranchers, and women in the West in the late nineteenth
century.
6. Evaluate the impact on Native Americans of the federal government’s policies in the West after the
Civil War.
7. Describe how the South and West had changed by 1900.
CHAPTER OUTLINE
1. The Myth of the New South
A. Developing a Textile Industry
B. The Tobacco Industry
C. Other New South Industries
D. The Redeemers
2. The Failings of the New South
A. Southern Poverty
B. The Crop-Lien System
C. Falling Cotton Prices
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3. Race Relations during the 1890s
A. Disenfranchising African Americans
B. The Spread of Racial Segregation
C. Mob Rule in Norton Carolina
D. The Black Response
i. Ida B. Wells
ii. Booker T. Washington
iii. W. E. B. Du Bois
4. The Settling of the New West
A. The Western Landscape
B. The Migratory Stream
C. The African American Migration
D. Western Mining
5. Life in the New West
A. The Cattle Boom
B. Farming on the Plains
C. Commercial Farming
D. Miners in the West
E. Mining and the Environment
F. Mining Boomtowns
G. Women in the West
6. Western Indians
A. The Indian Wars
B. Indian Relocation
C. Grant’s Indian Policy
D. Custer and the Sioux
E. The Great Sioux War
F. The Last Resistance
G. The Ghost Dance
H. Attempts to Aid Indians
7. The End of the Frontier
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LECTURE IDEAS
1. Sharecropping opens a window for a discussion about the intersections of class, ethnicity, and econom-
ics after the Civil War. Give an overview of the sharecropping system and its economic, social, and po-
litical consequences. Helpful references include:
2. The story of the Exodusters helps to emphasize the long story in African American history of people
seeking a better life by moving. This is a theme that a later lecture ought to cover with the Great Mi-
gration. At the same time, this story also illustrates that the “promised land” nature of a mythic Ameri-
3. Students are generally familiar with some aspects of the American Civil War (1861-1865). However,
they tend to have little knowledge of the Indian Wars, the Great Sioux War, and the events leading to
the Ghost Dance Movement. This is somewhat fascinating, especially considering they span the early
1865 through the early 1890s. In an effort to help begin to fill this gap in knowledge, develop one or
two lectures focusing on the conflicts among Native Americans and U.S. troops during this time, dis-
cussing what led to them, the federal government’s efforts to subjugate the Western Indians, and the
wars’ legacy. The lecture should attempt to cover as many points of view on the subject as possible to
afford the students an opportunity to consider the motives and perspectives of all involved. Useful re-
sources include:
• Bill Yenne’s Indian Wars: The Campaign for the American West (2005)
4. An analysis of western art from the 1860s and 1870s, including Albert Bierstadt’s The Oregon Trail
from 1869 and John Gast’s American Progress, helps students connect the dots between the imagined
American West of the late nineteenth century and the version from Hollywood that emerged later. This
5. To help prepare a lecture on the role of women in the farmers’ frontier, see the following titles:
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IN-CLASS ACTIVITIES / FLIPPED CLASSROOM SUGGESTIONS
1. The 1890 census is invariably cited as the origins of Frederick Jackson Turner’s frontier thesis, but few
actually go back to that or other censuses to make their own sense of the data they offer. Indeed much
of the 1890 census was lost in a 1921 fire in the Commerce Department building (source:
http://www.archives.gov/research/census/1890/1890.html). However, parts did survive, and some are
2. Cowboys are still remembered for the songs they sang. A selection of these song lyrics can be found at
the website for the PBS series The West (http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/resources/archives/five/
songs.htm). Ask your students to read and analyze the lyrics. What theme or themes do the cowboy
3. Outside of class, have students conduct an online search for maps that illustrate United States railroad
development between 1860 to 1890. Examples of outline maps include the following:
In class, ask the students to share their observations about railroad development based on the maps that
they found. Ask the students what these maps indicate about the development of the United States dur-
4. The historical record on Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. Du Bois have suffered historical biases
since the era of their leadership. To provide students with a general understanding of the two noted
black leaders during the late nineteenth century, you might ask students to watch Robert J. Norrell’s
lecture titled “Souls of Black Leaders: The Rival Strategies of Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. Du
In this in-class activity, students will outline and debate the merits of the different approaches
Washington and Du Bois took in responding to racism during the late nineteenth century. Ask the stu-
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• In what ways did the priorities and demands of the two leaders diverge and overlap?
• How did each of them feel about the strategy of “ceaseless agitation”?
• Where did each of them stand on separatism versus assimilation?
• In what ways did they view the purpose of education differently?
• What role did “quiet efforts” play in the black response to racism?
• In what ways might black figures of the time have felt pressure to take a more conservative ap-
proach and advise African Americans to begin “at the bottom”?
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Where is the West, and what are its defining characteristics? Is it a geographical or cultural region?
2. What are the main myths and stereotypes of the South and West? How important are those myths and
stereotypes to understanding the historical trajectory of each region?
3. Was the West during the late nineteenth century more rural or urban? Where did the majority of the
people live in the West, and what were their primary occupations?
4. How do the historical realities of an urban West compare with Hollywood’s version of the region?
5. What are the most important environmental factors to understand when learning about the South and
West during the latter part of the nineteenth century?
6. What was it about the context of the late nineteenth century that inspired an increasing willingness to
offer criticisms of U.S. policies toward Indians like those found in Helen Hunt Jackson’s Century of
Dishonor or those of the president himself?
7. If you had to teach this period, what term would you use for the southern leadership of the so-called
New South—Redeemers, Bourbons, or something else? What is the political baggage associated with
using one term or another, and how does your awareness of that baggage affect your decision?
8. Was the development of the sharecropping system in the post–Civil War South necessary? That is,
were there any viable alternatives, considering the condition of the southern economy after the Civil
War?
9. If you were an African American during this period, were your prospects better in the West than
South? What were the advantages and disadvantages of migrating to the West as opposed to staying in
the South?
PRACTICING CITIZENSHIP
This chapter is about two regions of the country that changed significantly in the years immediately fol-
lowing the Civil War. As the South attempted to industrialize after slavery, and as trains crisscrossed the
mining and cattle country of the West, some people seemed to profit, whereas others suffered economic
hardship. Who were the winners, and what did they gain? Who were the losers, and what did they lose?