The document summarizes how the economy, society, and culture of the American South and West changed after the Civil War. Racism persisted against African Americans and new Jim Crow laws were established to enforce racial segregation. Native American tribes were forced onto reservations and their children were sent to boarding schools. Chinese immigrants helped build the transcontinental railroad but then faced discrimination. The Homestead Act encouraged western expansion and the era of the cowboy drove cattle from Texas to markets in the North and West. Railroads, mining, and ranching transformed the economies while racism, immigration, and conflicts with Native Americans shaped western society and culture.
