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Following the collapse of Reconstruction, African Americans created a broad-based independent political movement in the South: Black Populism. Image File history File links AmericaAfrica. ... Image File history File links AmericaAfrica. ... An African American (also Afro-American, Black American, or simply black) is a member of an ethnic group in the United States whose ancestors, usually in predominant part, were indigenous to Africa. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... The Atlantic slave trade was the trade of African slaves by Europeans that occurred in and around the Atlantic Ocean. ... The word Maafa (also known as the African Holocaust or Holocaust of Enslavement) is derived from a Kiswahili word meaning disaster, terrible occurrence or great tragedy. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... 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In the United States, African American culture or Black culture includes the various cultural traditions of African American communities. ... African American studies, or Black studies, is an interdisciplinary academic field devoted to the study of the history, culture, and politics of African Americans. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... In the United States, Historically black colleges and universities (HBCU) are colleges or universities that were established before 1964 with the intention of serving the African American community. ... Kwanzaa (or Kwaanza) is a week-long Pan-African festival primarily honoring African-American heritage. ... African American art is a broad term describing the visual arts of the American black community. ... 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Detail from cover of The Celebrated Negro Melodies, as Sung by the Virginia Minstrels, 1843 The minstrel show, or minstrelsy, was an American entertainment consisting of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music, performed by white people in blackface or, especially after the American Civil War, African Americans in blackface. ... The term black church refers to Christian churches that minister to the African American community. ... The Black Buddhist Community in America is historically the first and only organization to propagate Buddhism specifically among persons of black or African descent in the United States. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Black Jew generally refers to people who are both Black and Jewish. ... 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Beginnings

Between 1886 and 1898 Black farmers, sharecroppers, and agrarian laborers organized their communities to combat the rising tide of Jim Crow laws. As Black Populism asserted itself and grew into a regional force, it met fierce resistance from the white planter and business elite that, through the Democratic Party and its affiliated network of courts, militias, sheriffs, and newspapers, maintained tight control of the region. Violence against Black Populism was often organized through the Ku Klux Klan. Year 1886 (MDCCCLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Sunday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... Year 1898 (MDCCCXCVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... The Jim Crow Laws were state and local laws enacted in the Southern and border states of the United States and enforced between 1876 and 1965. ... Federal courts Supreme Court Circuit Courts of Appeal District Courts Elections Presidential elections Midterm elections Political Parties Democratic Republican Third parties State & Local government Governors Legislatures (List) State Courts Local Government Other countries Atlas  Politics Portal      Further information: Politics of the United States#Organization of American political parties The Democratic... Members of the second Ku Klux Klan at a rally during the 1920s. ...

Goals

Despite opposition, Black Populists carried out a wide range of activities:

• Establishing farming exchanges
• Raising money for schools
• Publishing newspapers
• Lobbying for better legislation
• Mounting boycotts against agricultural trusts
• Carrying out strikes for better wages
• Protesting the convict-lease system and lynching
• Demanding Black jurors in cases involving black defendants
• Promoting local political reforms and federal supervision of elections
• Running independent and fusion campaigns.

Black Populism found early expression in various agrarian organizations, including the Colored Agricultural Wheels, the southern Knights of Labor, the Cooperative Workers of America, and the Colored Farmers' Alliance. However, facing the limitations in attempting to implement their reforms absent of engaging the electoral process, Black Populists helped to launch the People’s Party and used the then left-of-centre Republican Party in fusion campaigns. (Today though, after the Republican Party moved to the right, and the Democratic Party in the South was abandoned by the White Populist Dixiecrats who had opposed integration in the 1960s, most African Americans who vote cast ballots for Democratic Party candidates). Labor Party The Knights of Labor was originally founded as the Noble and Holy Order of the Knights of Labor by nine Philadelphia tailors in 1869, led by Uriah H. Stephens. ... Colored Farmers National Alliance and Cooperative Union was formed in the 1880s in the USA, when both black and white farmers faced great difficulties due to the rising price of farming and the decreasing profits which were coming from farming. ... The Populist Party (also known as the Peoples Party) was a relatively short-lived political party in the United States in the late 19th century. ... The Republican Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States of America, along with the Democratic Party. ... The States Rights Democratic Party, usually known as the Dixiecrat Party, was a short-lived splinter group that broke from the Democratic Party in 1948. ... Federal courts Supreme Court Circuit Courts of Appeal District Courts Elections Presidential elections Midterm elections Political Parties Democratic Republican Third parties State & Local government Governors Legislatures (List) State Courts Local Government Other countries Atlas  Politics Portal      Further information: Politics of the United States#Organization of American political parties The Democratic...

Emergence

The Farmers' Alliance was founded in central Texas in 1877, through the efforts of farmers at self-protection from 'land sharks,' merchants, horse thieves and cattle ranchers. The constitution of the initial Texas order, drafted in 1882, denied membership to blacks on the grounds that the Alliance was a social organization ‘where we meet with out wives and daughters.’^[1] However, the leaders of the Alliance realized that it was impossible to establish a profitable agricultural system while a large black population served as potential competitors and a source of cheap, exploitable labor. A separate, parallel Colored Farmers Alliance was founded in Houston County, Texas in 1886, on the farm of white Alliance member and Baptist missionary R.M. Humphrey. Elected honorary superintendent and serving as the leading spokesman of the Colored Alliance, his role was to openly express views that were denied to its black members under the increasingly restrictive Black Codes. The Farmers Alliance was an organized agrarian economic movement among U.S. farmers that flourished in the 1880s. ... Houston County is a county located in the state of Texas. ... The Black Codes were laws passed to restrict civil rights and civil liberties of African Americans, particularly former slaves. ...

As the Colored Alliance spread east, it absorbed black chapters of agricultural fraternal orders in neighboring states, most notably the Colored Agricultural Wheels in Arkansas, western Tennessee and Alabama. By 1890 the Colored Alliance claimed over 1,200,000 members in every Southern state. The order’s statement of principals was in the vein of Booker T. Washington, promoting economic self-sufficiency and racial ‘uplift’ through vocational training. It urged its members to learn new farming techniques, acquire ownership of their homes and improve their level of education, and founded exchanges in the ports of Norfolk, Charleston, Mobile, New Orleans and Houston through which members bought supplies at reduced prices and obtained loans to pay of mortgages. Official language(s) English Capital Little Rock Largest city Little Rock Area  Ranked 29th  - Total 53,179 sq mi (137,002 km²)  - Width 239 miles (385 km)  - Length 261 miles (420 km)  - % water 2. ... Official language(s) English Capital Nashville Largest city Memphis Largest metro area Nashville Area  Ranked 36th  - Total 42,169 sq mi (109,247 km²)  - Width 120 miles (195 km)  - Length 440 miles (710 km)  - % water 2. ... Official language(s) English Capital Montgomery Largest city Birmingham Area  Ranked 30th  - Total 52,419 sq mi (135,765 km²)  - Width 190 miles (306 km)  - Length 330 miles (531 km)  - % water 3. ... Booker Taliaferro Washington (April 5, 1856 – November 14, 1915) was an American educator, author and leader of the African American community. ... Norfolk (IPA: //) is a low-lying county in East Anglia in the east of southern England. ... Charleston may refer to: Charleston (dance) USS Charleston, the name of several ships of the United States Navy Charleston, novel by Alexandra Ripley Charleston (Texas Navy), a ship built for the Texas Navy In New Zealand: Charleston, New Zealand In Scotland: Charleston, Dundee, an area of Dundee Charleston, Angus, near... Look up Mobile in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... New Orleans is the largest city in the state of Louisiana, United States of America. ... Houston redirects here. ...

The Colored Alliance cooperated with the white Alliance in opposing the graft-ridden Louisiana Lottery and legislation imposing taxes on cottonseed oil, a valuable crop for both black and white tenant farmers. However, the two orders split over a Federal Elections Bill introduced in the House of Representatives by Rep. Henry Cabot Lodge in 1890, authorizing federal supervision of registration and voting. Designed to end the suppression of Southern Republican votes, particularly black votes, the white Populists denounced it as a return to the policies of Reconstruction and the Democrats succeded in making it the central issue of the 1892 Presidential election in the South. Despite efforts by Humphrey and other white spokesmen to downplay the divide, the majority of black Populists supported renewed federal intervention to preserve their civil rights. A ticket from the February 12th, 1889 Louisiana State Lottery The Louisiana State Lottery Company was a private corporation that in the mid-19th century ran the Louisiana lottery. ... Henry Cabot Lodge (May 12, 1850 – November 9, 1924) was an American statesman, a Republican politician, and noted historian. ... For other uses, see Reconstruction (disambiguation). ...

Resistance and failure

In 1891, after a split over the elections bill, the Colored Farmers' Alliance called a general strike of black cotton-pickers to secure a wage increase. The white Farmers' Alliance, whose membership in the South included large numbers of landowners employing sharecroppers, were the most vehement opponents of the proposed strike. The Progressive Farmer, paper of Farmers Alliance President Leonidas L. Polk, urged “our farmers to leave their cotton in the field rather than pay more than 50 cents per hundred to have it picked.”^[2] The leadership of the Colored Alliance lacked the resources to mobilize the vast majority of sharecroppers who were illiterate or semi-literate and lacked alternative sources of income. The Georgia chapter of the Colored Alliance, with a large contingent of landowners, refused to support the strike, viewing it as detrimental to the interests of black farmers who owned or rented their land. A minor strike attempted in the Arkansas Delta was crushed by local vigilantes, resulting in the death of fifteen strikers, including several who were lynched.^[3] This abortive strike led to the rapid demise of the Colored Alliance, which by the mid-1890s was largely moribund. Colored Farmers National Alliance and Cooperative Union was formed in the 1880s in the USA, when both black and white farmers faced great difficulties due to the rising price of farming and the decreasing profits which were coming from farming. ... The Farmers Alliance was an organized agrarian economic movement among U.S. farmers that flourished in the 1880s. ... Leonidas Lafayette Polk (April 24, 1837 - June 11, 1892), or L.L. Polk is an American farmer, journalist and political figure. ... Official language(s) English Capital Little Rock Largest city Little Rock Area  Ranked 29th  - Total 53,179 sq mi (137,002 km²)  - Width 239 miles (385 km)  - Length 261 miles (420 km)  - % water 2. ...

By the late 1890s, under relentless attack – propaganda campaigns warning of a “second Reconstruction” and “Negro rule,” physical intimidation, violence, and targeted assassinations of leaders and foot soldiers – the movement was crushed.

A key figure in the attack on Black Populism was Ben Tillman, the leader of South Carolina's white farmers' movement. Tillman preempted the creation of a Populist Party by organizing his supporters into a seperate wing of the state Democratic Party known as the 'Reformers,' winning the 1890 gubernatorial election. He exploited his role as a leader of the Red Shirts, a paramilitary whose attacks on black militias helped topple South Carolina’s Reconstruction government in 1876, and in his gubernatorial address pledged to personally lead a lynch mob in cases where a black man was accused of raping a white women. His opponents entered into talks with black Republican leaders in the overwhelmingly black-majority counties in the Low Country aimed at generating their support. This led Tillman to push through a new state constitution in 1895, modeled on that of Mississippi, disenfranchising the states' black population. This model of constitutional disenfranchisement would spread throughout the South, being adopted in Louisiana (1898), North Carolina (1899-00), Alabama (1901), Virginia (1901-02), and Georgia (1907-08). Benjamin Ryan Tillman (August 11, 1847 - July 3, 1918) was an American politician who served as governor of South Carolina from 1890 to 1894 and as a United States Senator from 1895 until his death. ... Official language(s) English Capital Charleston(1670-1789) Columbia(1790-present) Largest city Columbia Largest metro area Columbia Area  Ranked 40th  - Total 34,726 sq mi (82,965 km²)  - Width 200 miles (320 km)  - Length 260 miles (420 km)  - % water 6  - Latitude 32° 2′ N to 35° 13′ N  - Longitude... The Populist Party (also known as the Peoples Party) was a short-lived political party in the United States in the late 19th century. ... The Red Shirts of South Carolina were the supporters of Wade Hampton in the South Carolina gubernatorial election of 1876 and the gubernatorial election of 1878. ... For other uses, see Reconstruction (disambiguation). ... The South Carolina Low Country is a term used to describe the states coastal counties, generally south of Charleston. ... Official language(s) English Capital Jackson Largest city Jackson Area  Ranked 32nd  - Total 48,434 sq mi (125,443 km²)  - Width 170 miles (275 km)  - Length 340 miles (545 km)  - % water 3  - Latitude 30° 12′ N to 35° N  - Longitude 88° 06′ W to 91° 39′ W Population  Ranked 31st... Official language(s) de jure: none de facto: English & French Capital Baton Rouge Largest city New Orleans [1] Area  Ranked 31st  - Total 51,885 sq mi (134,382 km²)  - Width 130 miles (210 km)  - Length 379 miles (610 km)  - % water 16  - Latitude 29°N to 33°N  - Longitude 89°W... Official language(s) English Capital Raleigh Largest city Charlotte Area  Ranked 28th  - Total 53,865 sq mi (139,509 km²)  - Width 150 miles (240 km)  - Length 560[1] miles (901 km)  - % water 9. ... Official language(s) English Capital Montgomery Largest city Birmingham Area  Ranked 30th  - Total 52,419 sq mi (135,765 km²)  - Width 190 miles (306 km)  - Length 330 miles (531 km)  - % water 3. ... Official language(s) English Capital Richmond Largest city Virginia Beach Area  Ranked 35th  - Total 42,774 sq mi (110,785 km²)  - Width 200 miles (320 km)  - Length 430 miles (690 km)  - % water 7. ...

In most states, disenfranchising constitutions confirmed the ascendancy of the conservative wing of the state Democratic Party, with its close ties to the railroads and industrialist. At the same time, they addressed the grievances of the hill-country white belt regions that were the main Populist strongholds by eliminating the use of black votes for ballot box stuffing, which the Bourbon machine bosses had used to defeat the Populists and their allies. In North Carolina, disenfranchisement was the culmination of a vitriolic white supremacy campaign waged by the Democrats to unseat the states' Republican-Populist Fusion government in 1898. In Georgia, disenfranchisement became the means of restoring the Populists to the Democratic Party. Former Populist Congressman and Presidential candidate Tom Watson pledged his support to any anti-machine Democrat candidate who promised "a change in our constitution which will perpetuate white supremacy."^[4] There are at least four notable people called Tom Watson Tom Watson, the golfer Tom Watson, manager of Liverpool F.C. from 1896 to 1915 Tom Watson, the British politician Thomas E. Watson, the American Populist leader This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages...

Black Populism was destroyed, marking the end of organized political resistance to the return of White supremacy in the South in the late nineteenth century. Nevertheless, Black Populism stands as the largest independent political uprising in the South until the modern Civil Rights movement. White supremacy is a racist ideology which holds the belief that white people are superior to other races. ... Civil rights or positive rights are those legal rights retained by citizens and protected by the government. ...

See also

This entry is related to, but not included in the Political ideologies series or one of its sub-series. Other related articles can be found at the Politics Portal.

Political Ideologies Part of the Politics series Politics Portal This box:      An ideology is an organized collection of ideas. ...

References: White Populism v. Black Populism

• Adam, Anthony J. 2004. Black Populism in the United States: An Annotated Bibliography. Westport, CT: Praeger. (ISBN 0-313-32439-5)
• Ali, Omar H. 2003 "Black Populism in the New South, 1886-1898," Ph.D. dissertation, Columbia University, New York, NY (UMI Number: 3104783)
• Ali, Omar H., "Independent Black Voices from the late 19th century: Black Populists and the Struggle Against the Southern Democracy," Souls: A Critical Journal of Black Politics, Culture, and Society, Vol. 7, No. 2 (Spring 2005): 4-18.
• Ali, Omar H., "Standing Guard at the Door of Liberty: Black Populism in South Carolina, 1886-1895" The South Carolina Historical Magazine, Vol. 107, No 3 (July 2006): 190-203.
• Du Bois, W. E. B. [1935] 1992. Black Reconstruction in America, 1860–1880. New York: Atheneum. (ISBN 0-689-70820-3)
• Gaither, Gerald H. 1977. Blacks and the Populist Revolt: Ballots and Bigotry in the 'New South'. University, Alabama: University of Alabama Press. (ISBN 0-689-70820-3)
• Goodwyn, Lawrence 1976. Democratic Promise: The Populist Movement in America. New York: Oxford University Press.
• Hahn, Steven. 2003. "A Nation Under Our Feet: Black Political Struggles in the Rural South from Slavery to the Great Migration. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. (ISBN 0-674-01169-4 or ISBN 0-674-01765-X)
• Kantrowitz, Stephen. 2000. Ben Tillman & the Reconstruction of White Supremacy. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina. ISBN 0-8078-2530-1 and ISBN 0-8078-4839-5
• Trelease, Allen. W. 1995. White Terror: The Ku Klux Klan Conspiracy and Southern Reconstruction. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press. ISBN 0-8071-1953-9
• Wood, Forest G. 1970. Black Scare: The Racist Response to Emancipation and Reconstruction. Berkeley: University of California Press.

External links

• Article on Black Populism in the New South