I.
II.
The Populust Challenge
A. Farmers Revolt
1. Sharecropping, declining prices of cotton and other good, and increased
farming rates created discontent among farmers
a) Other countries started producing cotton
2. High Freight Rates
3. Farmers alliance
a) Biggest citizens movement of the 1900’s
b) Proposed plans to fix the farming situation
B. Populists
1. New political Party
a) Attempted to speak to all of the working class
b) Success in idaho, colorado, and the cotton belts
2. Embraced modern tech
a) While still wanting federal regulations
C. Populust platform
1. 1892
a) Influential document
b) Spoke of corruption and inequality in the states
c) Aimed to restore democracy and end corruption
D. Populust Coalition
1. Southern states efforts to unite white and black farmers
a) Still likely quite racist
2. Over 1 million votes in the south for populust representatives
E. Gov and labour
1. Coxey’s army
a) Unemployed men angry about the depression
2. Strike at a train car manufacturing location
a) Crippled rail lines
b) Government stepped in and ordered people back to work
F. Bryan and free silver
1. Bryan was a self funded campaigner
2. Free silver the idea that silver should be added to the valuable pool tied to
paper money
3. Bryan received 6.5 million votes in 1896 election
a) Mainly south and west
The Segregated South
A. Redeemers
1. Populism failed in the south
2. Redeemers
a) Merchants
b) Planters
c) Business entrepreneurs
d) People of power in political positions
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
G.
H.
3. Wanted to undoo reconstruction
4. New Laws increased arrests, decreased education, a return to slavery by
renting out convicts
New South dream
1. Era of prosperity based on industrialization
2. Many people were in poverty
3. Still mainly the exports of pre-war goods
Black Life
1. Some places employed blacks
a) Mines, Iron Furnaces, Tobacco Factories
2. A number of black farmers did aquire land
3. Urban communities became increasingly diverse
a) Black middle class grew
4. Still discriminated against
a) Labor line
(1) No supervisory positions
(2) No white collar work
Kansas Exodus
1. Many AA’s migrated to kansas in search of better opportunities
a) Many didn't have the money to farm
(1) Became unskilled laborers
2. South was a rough place to live
a) Many couldn't leave
b) Not many people would employ black labor
Transformation of Black Politics
1. At the end of reconstruction, Political opportunities became more and
more restricted
2. Black Women
a) Also fought for women's rights
(1) On the prospect they were just as respectable as their
white counterparts
T. Booker
1. Atlanta Compromise
a) Urged blacks to abandon agitation for civil rights
b) Tried not to combat segregation
c) Idea was, if they stopped fighting for civil rights more employers
would open up
Elimination of Black Voting
1. Poll Tax
2. Literacy test
3. Grandfather Clause
a) The new requirements didn't exist if your grandfather could vote
b) Eventually invalidated by Supreme Court
Law Of Segregation
I.
1. PLessy V Fugerson
a) SC gave approval for separate facilities for the races
b) Separate But Equal
c) Case snowballed racial segregation
2. Many places were segregated
a) Waiting rooms, Schools, Hospitals, Toilets, Cemeteries
b) Even taxis
3. Other groups like asians & natives were also affected
Lynching
1. People who fought to challenge the system were publicly hanged
a) Lynching
2. Many whites would band together to lynch someone (linch mob)