Why The South During The Time Period Of 1877-1920s Was Not Characterized By Racial Equality

Question 1: The south during the time period of 1877-1920 was not characterized by racial equality. This time period was the redemption period where white southerners looked to regain control and to demote the African-American southerners to second-class citizenship. After the reconstruction period ended, the Freedman’s Bureau and the Union troops left the south. This led to the beginning of the Jim Crow laws. The reason the redemption period was so successful was the government officials were friends with big business owners who profited off the cheap labor. Therefore, the government turned a blind eye to the racial inequality in the south. One example of how they did not show racial equality is through political discrimination. Even though

The African-American males, who are looking for work after they had been freed, are now working for the white male. They were not paid fairly at all. One technique white business owners used was sharecroppers. A sharecropper is when a black man is paid based on the output of his work. Another technique they used to show racial inequality through the economy is tenant farmers. The white men that owned business basically got free labor because the African-Americans were paid in room and

The economy also grew through the help of J.P. Morgan. For a while, Morgan was the nation’s banker. In 1893, railroad companies fell into bankruptcy and J.P. Morgan stepped in and personally bailed them out. Morgan served as America’s bank until the Federal Reserve Bank was formed in 1896. The formation of monopolies during the Gilded Age also aided in helping the economy. Monopolies would coordinate with other businesses to set prices and to set policies. One example is the railroad monopoly. Cornelius Vanderbilt controlled several railroad companies and soared into wealth. With a monopoly over the railroads, he was able to cut out the middle man by reducing the power of the individual managers. John D. Rockefeller also controlled a monopoly only his was in oil. He was able to control 90% of the oil industry by playing one rail line against the other then buy the companies out. Another monopoly was through the steel industry, Andrew Carnegie was able to control the steel market by owning all the steps in the supply chain and every step in production. Steel during the Gilded Age was an innovation that was vital in the growth of the railroad network. To build the tracks required steel, and Carnegie capitalized on this opportunity by controlling most of the steel to sell to the railroad companies. In the photo “The Gilded Age,” it depicts that the big business owners became very