23.
Grover and His Scarecrow
Source:
American Nonconformist (Winfield, KS), September 15, 1892
A third coalition the Populist attempted was to bring together was that of impoverished black and white farmers in the South. Populist Congressman Thomas E. Watson of Georgia told both groups that "the accident of color can make no difference in the interests of farmers. . . you are kept apart that you may be separately fleeced of your earnings." Racism, however, proved to be a major obstacle to cooperation. It was difficult for white southerners to leave the white man's party less than two decades after the end of Reconstruction. Blacks had similar trouble abandoning the GOP. In addition, black leaders feared losing their positions of power in the Republican Party. There is evidence that where white Populists protected blacks (physical safety was their primary concern in this era), they supported the People's Party. Republican Party loyalties, racism, election fraud, intimidation, and even murder prevented Populists from receiving the majority of black votes. Despite direct appeals for interracial cooperation by Populist leaders, many white southerners still joined the People's Party. Democrats, however, defeated Watson for reelection in 1892 and 1894 through such outrageously fraudulent means that even prominent Democrats denounced them.
For
more on blacks and the Populist Party, see:
Cantrell, Gregg. The Limits of Southern Dissent:
The Lives of Kenneth and John B. Rayner. Urbana: U of Illinois Press, 199*.
Gaither,
Gerald H. Blacks and the Populist Revolt: Ballots and Bigotry in the New
South. University: U of Alabama P, 1977.
For
more on violence and corruption directed against the Populist party in the
South, see:
Goodwyn,
Lawrence C. "Populist Dreams and Negro Rights: East Texas as a Case
Study." American Historical Review. 76(5):1435‑1456. December
1971.
Miller,
Worth Robert. "Harrison County Methods: Election Fraud in Late
Nineteenth-Century Texas." Locus 7: 111-28. Spring, 1995.
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For
more on Populism and disfranchisement, see:
Kousser,
J. Morgan. The Shaping of Southern Politics: Suffrage Restriction and the
Establishment of the One-Party South. 319 p. New Haven and London: Yale UP,
1974.
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