The 'New South'
Some industry, but not a new economy
- Despite the industrialisation of some segments of the Southern economy — a change promoted by Southern leaders who called for a "New South" — agriculture based on sharecropping and tenant farming continued to be the primary economic activity in the South.
- Despite and continued to be make this a continuity claim wearing the language of change.
- The phrase "New South" is in quotation marks in the CED, which signals a slogan rather than a description.
The primary economic activity in the South continued to be...
'Despite' and 'continued to be' make this a continuity claim.
Plessy marked an end
- The Supreme Court decision in Plessy v. Ferguson that upheld racial segregation (known as Jim Crow) helped to mark the end of most of the political gains African Americans made during Reconstruction.
- Helped to mark the end is careful — the Court confirmed a process 5.11 described as progressive, rather than starting it.
- Most of the gains, not all — the CED keeps the qualifier, and 5.11 explained why the amendments survived on paper.
The CED says Plessy v. Ferguson...
It confirmed a process 5.11 called progressive.
Three pressures, and continued struggle
- Facing increased violence, discrimination, and scientific theories of race, African American reformers continued to fight for political and social equality.
- Three pressures — violence, discrimination, and scientific theories of race — and the third is intellectual, which 6.9's Social Darwinism supplies.
- Continued to fight is the main clause; the pressures are the subordinate one, and that ordering is the CED's choice.
A change, a continuity, or a pressure?
Sort each element of the "New South".
Select all three pressures African American reformers faced.
The third is intellectual — 6.9 supplies it.
"New South" is in quotation marks in the CED — it is a slogan, not a finding. Despite industrialisation of some segments, agriculture based on sharecropping and tenant farming continued to be the primary economic activity in the South — measure the programme against what continued.
A phrase in quotation marks in the CED should be treated as...
So measure the programme against what continued.
Continuity and change together
- The objective is continuity and change in the "New South", and this subtopic's two bullets give one of each.
- Change: some industrial segments, a promotional programme by leaders, a Supreme Court ruling.
- Continuity: sharecropping and tenant farming as the primary activity, and reformers still fighting.
In the CED's sentence, 'continued to ____' is the main clause and the pressures are subordinate.
That ordering is the CED's choice.
Writing about a slogan
- When the CED puts a phrase in quotation marks, treat it as a claim made at the time, not as a finding.
- So the strongest answer explains what the "New South" programme wanted and then measures it against what continued.
- That gap — programme against outcome — is the subtopic's whole argument.
A region can build mills and still be a place where most people work land they do not own on terms they do not set. Counting the mills tells you about ambition; counting the tenancies tells you about the economy.
Despite the industrialisation of some segments of the Southern economy — a change promoted by Southern leaders who called for a "New South" — agriculture based on sharecropping and tenant farming continued to be the primary economic activity in the South. Plessy v. Ferguson... upheld racial segregation (known as Jim Crow) [and] helped to mark the end of most of the political gains African Americans made during Reconstruction, and facing increased violence, discrimination, and scientific theories of race, African American reformers continued to fight for political and social equality.