New South, New South Democracy or New South Creed is a slogan in the history of the American South first used after the American Civil War. Reformers used it to call for a modernization of society and attitudes, an integration more fully with the United States as a whole, and rejection of the economy and traditions of the Old South and the slavery-based plantation system of the prewar period. The term was coined by its leading proponent, Atlanta editor Henry W. Grady, in 1874, and sought to modernize the South while maintaining white supremacy through Jim Crow laws and disenfranchisement.

In the mid-20th century, the meaning of the term evolved as the Civil Rights Movement challenged segregation and white dominance. The dismantling of Jim Crow laws, economic diversification, and increasing urbanization led to a more inclusive and economically competitive South. This period saw the emergence of African American political power, the growth of cities like Atlanta, Charlotte, Nashville, and Houston, and the rise of industries beyond agriculture.

The original use of the term "New South" was an attempt to prescribe an attractive future based on a growing economy. The industrial revolution of the Northern U.S. was the model. The prewar South was heavily agrarian. Following the American Civil War, the South was impoverished and heavily rural; it was mainly reliant on cotton and a few other crops with low market prices. Economically, it was in great need of industrialization. With slavery abolished, African Americans were playing a different role in the New South. Henry W. Grady made this term popular in his articles and speeches as editor of the Atlanta Constitution. Richard Hathaway Edmonds of the Baltimore Manufacturers' Record was another staunch advocate of New South industrialization. The Manufacturers' Record was one of the most widely read and powerful publications among turn of the 20th-century industrialists. Historian Paul Gaston coined the specific term "New South Creed" to describe the promises of visionaries like Grady, who said industrialization would bring prosperity to the region.

The classic history was written by C. Vann Woodward: The Origins of the New South: 1877–1913, published in 1951 by Louisiana State University Press. Sheldon Hackney, a Woodward student, hails the book but explains:

Of one thing we may be certain at the outset. The durability of Origins of the New South is not a result of its ennobling and uplifting message. It is the story of the decay and decline of the aristocracy, the suffering and betrayal of the poor whites, and the rise and transformation of the middle class. It is not a happy story. The Redeemers is revealed to be as venal as the carpetbaggers. The declining aristocracy are ineffectual and money hungry, and in the last analysis, they subordinated the values of their political and social heritage in order to maintain control over the black population. The poor whites suffered from strange malignancies of racism and conspiracy-mindedness, and the rising middle class was timid and self-interested even in its reform movement. The most sympathetic characters in the whole sordid affair are simply those who are too powerless to be blamed for their actions.

The New South campaign was championed by Southern elites often outside of the old planter class. Their hopes were to make a fresh "new" start, forming partnerships with Northern capitalists in order to modernize and speed up economic development of the South. From Henry Grady to Black leader Booker T. Washington, New South advocates wanted southern economic regeneration, sectional reconciliation, racial harmony, and believed in the gospel of work.

The rise of the New South, however, involved the continued supremacy of whites over blacks, who had little or no political power once Reconstruction was over. Federal troops were withdrawn from the South as a result of the Compromise of 1877, and Jim Crow laws were put in place to suppress black rights. For example, Grady stated in an 1888 speech about the New South, "The supremacy of the white race of the South 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 ... [This declaration] shall run forever with the blood that feeds Anglo-Saxon hearts."

The economic woes of the Great Depression dampened much New South enthusiasm, as investment capital dried up and the rest of the nation began to view the South as an economic failure. World War II would usher in a degree of economic prosperity as efforts to industrialize in support of the War effort were employed. In the southern mountains, the Tennessee Valley Authority built dams, which generated employment and electricity that affected numerous residents and manufacturers alike. Other Southern industries, such as mining, steel and ship building, flourished during World War II, and set the stage for increased industrialization, urban development, and economic prosperity in Southern ports and cities in the second half of the 20th century.