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Realities After Reconstruction African Americans living in the southern United States after Reconstruction encountered extreme hardships in everyday life. Race relations between black and white Americans during this time period were highly strained. Segregation started to take place, violent acts brought on by white extremist groups were common, the Jim Crow Laws came into effect, and the disenfranchisement of blacks began. In spite of the many difficult obstacles, leaders of the African American community such as Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. De Bois, and Ida B. Wells, spoke out about racial discrimination and brought various solutions on how to prosper economically and politically with the white race, but socially remain separate at the same time. In the South following reconstruction, the economic growth was at a rapid pace. Industries poured out lumber, coal, steal, petroleum, and tobacco, just to name a few products. Most importantly was the production of cotton. In Tindall and Shi’s, America, the “expansion of the area’s textile production that began in the 1880’s overtook its older New England competitors by the 1920’s” (841). The rate of the industrial revolution taking place was so great in the New S