ABSTRACT
The South had been a distinctly different region throughout American history and, indeed, had made a serious effort to set itself up as a separate nation based on slavery and the production of primary agricultural products. Industrialization in the South had a late start and was confined to basic industries that relied on Southern resources and low-wage labor. Industrial employment was concentrated in cotton goods and lumber and timber products. The economy of the South up to the 1940s was based on primary products, low-wage labor, and an associated cultural isolation. Labor shortages caused by the size of the wartime military production and migration to the North produced a significant increase in wages on the farm. Miami was a special case of a southern urban area, and it shows up in housing. The economy of the South clearly was in transition, but in 1950, it was still an economy dominated by primary products and low wages.
