At the turn of the century, the Democratic Party controlled the South’s regional congressional delegation and created the Solid South, a one-party system of white Democratic dominance.1 Republicans controlled both houses of Congress, and Republican President Theodore Roosevelt was in office. In 1906, President Roosevelt signed the Hepburn Act, which allowed the Interstate Commerce Commission to set the maximum rate for railroads, and the Pure Food and Drugs Act, which became America's first consumer protection agency. These actions gave the federal government more control over regulating the economy and setting prices assigned by private businesses. This increased control led Republicans to question the role states and the federal government should play in privatized industry. 2
In 1917, Georgia's Democratic Party initiated the county unit system voting policy for statewide office elections. Each county was given the same amount of votes in this system, regardless of population. Despite their smaller population, the county unit system gave rural areas a disproportionate amount of power. It was in the rural counties that the Democratic party held the most influence. Population growth in cities, especially Atlanta and Savannah, had a high African American population and later would be the center of Civil Rights activism.3 The county unit system required that any candidate seeking Statewide office needed to appeal heavily to rural voters. This system kept the Democratic party in power in the South for most of the 20th century.4
During World War One and its aftermath, African Americans made a fundamental break with the land and moved to cities in large numbers. The early twentieth century saw the start of the Great Migration, which transformed African Americans from being predominantly rural to urban. Those who left the South sought an alternative to sharecropping, disfranchisement, and racial injustice. They believed the North held better opportunities when it came to labor in northern industries and better access to rights. An African American industrial working class emerged as their population in the northern cities grew. As their numbers grew, so did the restrictions on housing, schooling, and access to public accommodations. Residential segregation in northern cities was reinforced through race riots as they highlighted the “race question” in American society. African Americans responded to the impact of class and racial restrictions by constructing and strengthening their community through the creation of churches, social clubs, fraternal orders, and mutual aid societies. These helped establish new businesses and professional services and launch diverse labor, civil rights, and political organizations.5