Introduction Summary and Analysis

Southern history can be seen in four segments: 1) the "old" South of plantations and slavery, supported by law, church, schools, and press, 2) the new order of Reconstruction, occupation and a changed federal Constitution, 3) the third regime, following Reconstruction, which was the longest, characterized by the regime of "Jim Crow," and 4) the newest phase, comprising the demise of Jim Crow and the renewed ardor of the federal government and civil rights leaders to establish racial equality. Each segment of Southern history has been inextricably bound to the relationship between the races, specifically the legal and social status of blacks, and this work is essentially a study of the third segment - the rise and entrenchment of Jim Crow.

In 1877, the Great Compromise ended Reconstruction in the South. Federal troops and occupational government officials walked out, leaving the plight of the Negro to...