The New South, Henry Grady, and Black Codes

Who was Henry Grady?

Henry Grady was a journalist and speaker from Georgia who encouraged the industrialization of the South after the Civil War and Reconstruction. Grady is most well-known for coining the term “The New South” and was known as the “Spokesman of the New South.” Despite his passion for modernizing the region, Grady also believed the “...white race must dominate forever in the South…” because it was a “...superior race…”

Early Life and Education

• Henry Woodfin Grady was born on May 24, 1850, in Athens, Georgia.
• His father, William S. Grady, a successful merchant, fought in the Confederate Army during the Civil War and died from wounds he suffered during the Siege of Petersburg (1864–1865).
• Grady’s mother was Anne Gartrell Grady.
• He graduated from the University of Georgia and studied briefly at the University of Virginia before starting a career in journalism (1869).

Henry GradyPhoto byGeorgia Encyclopedia

Newspaper Career

• Grady started his career writing for the Rome Courier and then joined the Atlanta Daily Herald, where he was a part-owner.
• On March 14, 1874, Grady published the editorial “The New South,” advocating for industrial growth in the post-Civil War South.
• Impressed by his writing, the Atlanta Constitution made him part-owner and managing editor.

Politics

• Grady became the leader of the “Atlanta Ring,” a group of Democrats promoting southern industrialization.
• He helped elect Joseph E. Brown to the U.S. Senate and John B. Gordon as Georgia’s Governor. Brown and Gordon were prominent “Redeemers.”

Grady’s New South Speech (1886)

Known as the “Spokesman of the New South,” Grady delivered a famous speech to the New England Society of New York in 1886. Industrialists J.P. Morgan and H.M. Flagler were in attendance.

Grady suggested the South was justified in fighting the Civil War, saying:

“The South…believes that the late struggle between the States was war and not rebellion, revolution and not conspiracy, and that her convictions were as honest as yours. I should be unjust to the dauntless spirit of the South and to my own convictions if I did not make this plain in this presence. The South has nothing to take back.”

However, he also saw a path forward, where the New South and the North were united in “peace and prosperity.” Grady was optimistic about the outlook on the New South’s potential — a robust foundation, economic variety, and gradual expansion.

Grady and other intellectuals of the Gilded Age envisioned an agrarian society centered on multiple crops and emphasized the New South’s need to follow in the footsteps of the North by embracing industrialization and manufacturing.

Grady envisioned a South where “...supremacy of the white race… must be maintained forever, and the domination of the negro race resisted at all points and at all hazards because the white race is the superior race…”

Redeemers Dominate New South Politics

Following the Civil War, some Southern Democrats opposed the harsh Reconstruction laws that governed the South. Known as the Redeemers, these politicians sought to:

1. Free the South from Northern dominance.
2. Redeem it from a monocultural, one-crop society.

By 1872, Alfred H. Colquitt, John B. Gordon, and Joseph Brown were known as the “Bourbon Triumvirate.”

Political opponents, including Republicans, Independents, and Populists, referred to the Redeemers as “Bourbons” — a derogatory term to suggest that the Redeemers were not forward-thinking.

Critics felt the Bourbons had failed to learn any lessons from the Civil War and sought to reverse the legal and social progress that had been achieved. In pursuit of their political goals, the Redeemers believed the South did not need the government to oversee Reconstruction in any way.

Black Codes and Jim Crow Laws

Southern Democrats responded to the influx of “Freedmen” — newly freed slaves — into society by enacting Black Codes, which severely restricted their rights — including their ability to vote, own property, and enter into contracts.

Freedmen voting in New Orleans in 1867.Photo byWikimedia

Black Codes were mainly implemented from 1865 to 1866. Mississippi was the first to pass them, and the other Deep South States followed, including Georgia.

The harshness of these laws led Radical Republicans to take control of Reconstruction, which included military occupation of the former Confederate States. Despite this, Black Codes were still implemented on a local level, and blacks suffered discrimination and violence.

After Reconstruction ended in 1877, Southern politicians regained control of their state legislatures. More Black Codes were enacted, which are typically referred to as “Jim Crow Laws.”

Building the New South

With the end of Reconstruction, Grady became the champion of the New South, as political leaders sought to modernize the region while ensuring African Americans were restricted to working the same jobs they had when they were enslaved.

• Grady’s promotion of Atlanta led to the city hosting major cotton expositions in the 1880s and 1890s.
• In 1887, Grady helped establish the Georgia Institute of Technology, also known as Georgia Tech.

Criticism of Grady and the New South

• Grady faced criticism for downplaying racial tensions to attract northern investors.
• He used newspaper editorials to paint a romanticized version of the New South and argued African Americans were treated fairly.

Death of Henry Grady

• In 1889, a bill was introduced in Congress that would allow the Federal Government to intervene in elections if black citizens were not allowed to vote.
• Despite being sick, Grady traveled to Washington, D.C., and argued against the bill.
• While the House approved the bill, it failed in the Senate.
• Grady returned to Atlanta, contracted pneumonia, and died, ending his involvement in the development of the New South.

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