The Populist movement of the late nineteenth century represents one of the largest third-party challenges in American history. Throughout the South widespread drops in crop prices led to agrarian revolt, which contributed to the movement's popularity. Yet, in the largely rural state of Louisiana, despite the political group's focus on empowering distressed farmers, this challenge proved far less successful. In Donna A. Barnes's The Louisiana Populist Movement the question of ineffectuality makes an intriguing political case study of the Pelican State and Populism.
Emerging in the 1890s...
The Populist movement of the late nineteenth century represents one of the largest third-party challenges in American history. Throughout the South...
The years after the Civil War brought struggle to the Southern farmer as the economic mainstay of the South--cotton--steadily dropped in price. Prompted by hard times, farmers in Lampasas County, Texas, gathered in 1877 to discuss what could be done. From these modest origins emerged the National Farmers Alliance and Industrial Union, later known as the Southern Farmers Alliance, a powerful protest movement that played an important role in the formation in 1892 of a new political force, the People's party. In the "solid South," particularly in Texas, large numbers of voters abandoned the...
The years after the Civil War brought struggle to the Southern farmer as the economic mainstay of the South--cotton--steadily dropped in price. Pro...