u/MrRaven101

Hello r/Zimbabwe. I'm an alternate history writer who's been doing a bit of writing about African history, and in studying Zimbabwean history, I have accumulated a few questions about Zimbabwe and her daily life. I mean all of these with sincere curiosity.

1. What is life like in Zimbabwe? I am born and raised in the United States, and hearing a lot about how Mugabe ruined everything and that Zimbabwe is a basket case makes me wonder about what it's actually like to live there. Is it hard? How do people talk about and interact with the government? I've heard it's a beautiful place.
2. What do people think of figures like Nkomo, Sithole, Chitepo, and Muzorewa? In studying Zimbabwean alternate history, these four figures tend to come up, usually as alternatives to Mugabe. What's public opinion on them? I'm particularly curious about Nkomo and Muzorewa's reputations.
3. What is Zimbabwe's relations with her neighbors? Is it positive? What do people think of them? How does interstate travel work?
4. What is the economy like? I've heard stuff about hyperinflation and lack of food, but there's only oh so much I can gauge from statistics. Is the job market good? Is food available regularly? Are goods expensive?
5. What is the community like? Are people friendly? Do they get along well with each other? Do people keep to themselves or are really social?

Sorry if any of these questions are stupid or obvious, I'm not good with asking questions about stuff like this.

In 1867, William H. Seward (of Alaska purchase fame) attempted to get the United States to purchase Greenland for $5.5 million in gold. This proposal got far enough to produce a federal report on Greenland's resources in 1868, and backroom negotiations to purchase both Greenland and Iceland from Denmark. Seward never sent the proposal to Congress, however, thanks to the wild unpopularity of the incumbent Johnson administration (which Seward was affiliated with) and the failure to pass a purchase of the Danish West Indies. What if this went differently?

Suppose that someone other than Johnson is president in 1867-1868, or something else that could make Seward's proposal come to life. I know this is a very cliche topic (and perhaps a bit topical at the moment), but there's very few threads for this particular proposal (most center around WWII).

There are obvious ramifications to this question. First of all, the South loses its best commanders, the center of its industry, and its capitol city (thus, a shorter war). Second, states like Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina likely don't secede. Third, West Virginia never splits off. But what ramifications does it have on reconstruction and Virginia politics?

Well, here is my guess: reconstruction may be a bit less effective, West Virginia is a bit more neglected, and Virginia becomes a major swing state since 2008. There's not much I can predict based off my limited knowledge of Virginia politics, but that's my best guess.

The most obvious things are

1. The South loses its center of industry, its best commanders, and its capitol city
2. Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina probably don't secede
3. West Virginia never becomes a state

The real question is how would this effect reconstruction, civil rights, Virginia in the long-term, and the length of the Civil War.

Suppose that Abraham Lincoln chooses a radical Republican as his VP in 1864 instead of a Democrat, and that VP alongside the Grant administration leads to a successful Reconstruction. That entails voting rights for freedmen, a successful implementation of the '40 acres and a mule' promise, the Confederates are not pardoned, and the Black Codes are struck down in their infancy. What long-term ramifications does this have on Southern politics and industry?

First, I'll talk about economics. I imagine that with significantly less sharecropping and the rise of freed black businessmen (also maybe some federal funding for industrial development), the South could see moderate industrialization starting in the 1880s. By 1910 I can see states like North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and New Orleans becoming industrial centers for textiles, rail, steel, and shipping, respectively. Mississippi, Arkansas, and Florida would lag behind a bit, remaining largely rural whilst South Carolina and Virginia have diverse economics split between agriculture, shipping, textiles, and manufacturing. Tennessee would become a rail hub, and Texas would be dominated by the cattle and ranching business with decently strong oil and rail industries. New Orleans could become a cultural capital for freedmen, and a regional capital of industry alongside cities like Charolette, Birmingham, Atlanta, and Richmond. If any of this is wrong or unlikely, please let me know.

Second, I'll talk about politics. States like South Carolina, Mississippi, and Louisiana were black-majority in the 1870s and 1880s, with states like Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Virginia having 40% of their population being freedmen. I can predict that, immediately following reconstruction, the black-majority states would become Republican strongholds up until the 1890s, where the freedmen have integrated enough economically (the development of a healthy middle class) wherein the black vote would no longer be monolithic. States like Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee become key swing states. State and local politics would be an absolute mess, but I can see numerous black representatives and governors arising in the 1870s. South Carolina most definitely gets a black governor around this time, and it would be interesting to see major cities like New Orleans and Birmingham have black mayors. I have no names for who these could be.

Third, the parties themselves. The Democratic Party would be permanently tarnished by the Civil War, and with no Johnson administration and no Solid South they'd become irrelevant in national politics by 1876. They'd be usurped by the Liberal Republican Party in 1872 and 1876, which has a fair shot at winning the latter election. The Liberals supported classical liberalism, states' rights, low tariffs, immigration, and civil service reform whilst the Republicans supported economic interventionism, a strong federal government, high tariffs, nativism, and the spoils system. This party system would last until roughly 1896, at which point the liberals would likely lose dominance as the agrarian progressive Populist Party steals their spot as the opposition. This is a rough list, but here is my proposal for a list of presidents during this party system: Ulysses S. Grant (Republican, 1869-1877), Winfield Scott Hancock (Liberal, 1877-1885), James G. Blaine (Republican, 1885-1893), Grover Cleveland (Liberal, 1893-1897).
There would be an interesting development after the Cleveland administration. Cleveland leaves office extremely unpopular after the Panic of 1893, Pullman strike, and the decline in popularity for laissez-faire capitalism. I can see the Liberal Party already struggling in 1892 against the Republicans and rapidly growing Populists; the latter makes significant inroads into the South in states like Mississippi and South Carolina. I can imagine that an election between Republican candidate William McKinley, Liberal candidate Grover Cleveland, and Populist candidate William Jennings Bryan could result in a victory for Bryan in 1896, and re-election in 1900; with his presidency he ushers in the fourth party system and the Progressive Era.

Thoughts? I need some help figuring out the political makeup of the South and the plausibility of this timeline.

I listened to IN A PERFECT WORLD today and there were quite a few hits on the album. Songs like "BABY, I TRIED" (aka "COSBY"), "VIRGIL", and "THE KING OF SOUL" (aka "JARED") were pretty good, despite their downright horrible lyrics. I really hope Kanye reuses these beats for his next few projects, just like how he moved "ALL THE LOVE", "PUNCH DRUNK", and "SISTERS AND BROTHERS" to BULLY. It's a surprisingly good album all things considered, very personal and well-produced. I'd say that, give it a bit more work and rewrite the lyrics, it would be better than BULLY. I see a lot of potential in these songs, and would love to hear them in the future. Did y'all hear any hits from this era?