Segregation: Southern Poverty

Figure 1.--The photo shows John Malcolm Patterson during his 1958 campaign for Governor in Alabama. Four years aftr the Supremme Court Brown vs. Topeka/Bord of Eduction' decison, desegregation had become a major issue throughout the South. Patterson's campaign was clearly aimed only at white citizens because he was a staunch defender of segregation and so few blacks were yet able to vote in Alabama. In this photo, he is speaking with a group of children outside a grocery store in a small town or rural area. Of the six children, five are barefoot. Segregation not only supressed black living conditions, but also white wages and living conditions.

The states with segregated systems were the poorest in the country. These were primarily the 11 states of the Civil War Confederacy. The question is why were they the poorest states. A factor was the Civil War (1861-65) which was fought almost entirely in the southern states. This surely was a factor after the War. But it does not explain why the southern states were still so poor a century after the War. There were fundamental underlying factors--primarily but not exclusively related to slavery. 1) Wealth: Slavery created great wealth for the small number of cotton plantation owners. It did not benefit the general population--both black slaves and free whites. Slavery lowered the wages that the white working-class could demand. And it left a lasting impact, even after Emancipation (1863). 2) Family Farms: Before industrialization, the family farm was the backbone of the northern agricultural economy. And thanks to the attention to the economic benefits to the population and attention to public education, Northerners were better prepared to promote and benefit from industrialization. It is no accident that Henry Ford came from a farm family. 3) Human Development: Slavery restricted the ability of the substantial slave population to develop their full human potential. Jim Crow laws after the Civil War continued to restrict the aspirations of the large black population. There were also restrictions in the North when blacks began migrating from the South, but they were less severe. Restrictions on human development inevitably adversely impact the economy. Reconstruction following the Civil War failed to create a system offering opportunity to blacks. 4) Education: The southern states had the weakest system of public education. This was also in part impacted by slavery. Freed blacks were educated in poorly funded separate schools. Whites were also impacted. Because white wages trailed behind national averages, so did educational achievement. Most of America's great universities developed in the northern free states. 5) Failing Agriculture: The South's agricultural economy was primarily based on two plantation crops, first tobacco and then cotton. Both were crops that leach the fertility of the soil. Which mean that productivity gradually declined. This is part of the reason why the Southern planters before the Civil War were so intent on creating new slave states further north and west. 6) Racism: Racism was a remnant of slavery. The belief in inherent black inferiority was a widely widely held belief throughout the country, but most fervently held in the southern slave states, because of slvery and the South was where most blacks lived until the Great Migration began (1910s). Rascist beliefs were so fervently held in the South that they overrode fundamental American principles that led to the country's success like basic civil rights, equal opportunity, fairness, equal justice before the law, Judeo-Christian belief in human dignity, democracy, and capitalism. 7) Industrialization: The Southern states were primarily agricultural which again impacted wages and earnings as well as educational achievement. Industrialization primarily developed in the North. This is what turned the United States into the world's richest country. Again slavery was a factor. When slavery was an important part of the economy, there was less impetus to industrialize. Industrializaion primasrily meant reducing he cost of manufacture. Thus where slavery was present, labor costs (a major cost in most indstrial processes) were already reduced to a minimum. 8) Health: The South consistently ranked among the worst states on health and wellness indicator. Southern state reported higher rates of chronic diseases and shorter life expectancy compared which also had economic consequences.

Created: 11:42 AM 10/26/2025
Last updated: 11:42 AM 10/26/2025