From picking cotton to picking people's brains: the transition of Southern economic focus

When Isabella asked us if there really was a difference between the "Old South" and the "New South", I started thinking. There are some aspects of both stereotypical views of the South that have not changed, but there are many that have. Race has been a big part of the transition from old to new, and equal rights are often perceived to be a part of the new, though I doubt this assumption at times. Race rights changes have seemed to be the identifier of any reincarnation of the South in history books, but the hate and inequalities still linger not just in the South, but in much of the United States. The racism is not as blatant as it was in the "Old South", but it still exists. In this way, I think there is not a difference between the "Old South" and the "New South", but let me describe a transition that I mark as an identifier of a change.

Growing up in North Carolina, much of my early education encompassed NC history. Teachers loved to tell stories about the Wright Brothers, Cape Hatteras, and the Lost Colony, but the more interesting stories looking back on those years were the lessons on NC's change in its participation in the US and world economy. In the times considered the "Old South", NC, like much of the South, based its economy on agriculture (specifically the production of cotton and tobacco). When the South lost the Civil War, these massive plantations that were the backbone of the southern economy were failing because of the lack of manpower due to white men that died in the war as well as the liquidation of free slave labor. The South was in shambles, but it had to rebuild. Today, the backbone of the economy in the "New South" has drastically changed because it has had to change. The Triangle (Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill), is home to excellent intellectual environments including, but not limited to, Duke University, UNC-Chapel Hill, and NC State. In the center of the Triangle, huge contributors to the US and NC economy are based in Research Triangle Park, the largest research park in the US. RTP companies focus on high-tech research and development, and the area makes strides in innovation for the entire technology market. The entire Southern image has not completely changed because of terms like "Old South" and "New South", but in certain aspects of the southern culture in economy, there are drastic differences between old and new.