“The
challenges inherent in creating the alliance sought by the Populists were
formidable, as race prejudice ran the highest among the very white populations
to which the Populist appeal was specifically addressed—the depressed lower
economic classes. Nevertheless, the Populist movement initially enjoyed
remarkable success in the South, fueled by a wave of discontent aroused by the
severe agrarian depression of the 1880s and 1890s. The Populists took direct
aim at the conservatives, who were known as comprising a party of privilege,
and they achieved a stunning series of political victories throughout the
region. Alarmed by the success of the
Populists and the apparent potency of the alliance between poor and
working-class whites and African Americans, the conservatives raised the cry of
white supremacy and resorted to the tactics they had employed in their quest
for Redemption, including fraud, intimidation, bribery, and terror.
Segregation laws were proposed as
part of a deliberate effort to drive a wedge between poor whites and African
Americans. These discriminatory barriers were designed to encourage lower-
class whites to retain a sense of superiority over blacks, making it far less
likely that they would sustain interracial political alliances aimed at
toppling the white elite. The laws were, in effect, another racial bribe.
The agricultural depression, taken
together with a series of failed reforms and broken political promises, had
pyramided to a climax of social tensions. Dominant whites concluded that it was
in their political and economic interest to scapegoat blacks, and “permission
to hate” came from sources that had formerly denied it […].”
No comments:
Post a Comment