The Case Against the All White Party in Texas

selectively.” (Laney 11) Other laws and practices, such as the white primary, attempted to evade the 15th Amendment by allowing private political parties to conduct elections and establish qualifications for their members. As a result of these efforts, in the former Confederate states nearly all black citizens were disenfranchised and removed by 1910. The process of restoring the rights stolen by these tactics would take many decades.

The Populist Movement began in the late 1800s with the Farmer’s Alliance. The Farmer’s Alliance aimed to improve economic conditions, including low agricultural prices and loss of land as a consequence (Foner, 510). In the 1890s, the Farmer’s Alliance grew into the Populists or the People’s Party. The evolved party appealed to a larger audience, specifically the working or “producing” classes (Foner, 511). Two of the Populists’ main focuses were lower mortgage interest rates and the

This article focuses on the rise and fall of the “black-white coalition” of populist advocates in Grimes County, TX. The period of Reconstruction gave black people opportunities and power. For instance, during this time, blacks in Grimes County successfully formed a Republican organization. Despite white-supremacists of the Democratic party seeking to end the group, black Republicans managed to retain local power and send legislators to Austin, even after the period of Reconstruction ended. A few years later, a meeting was held in Grimes County in which candidates from black and “lily-white” Republican groups, and Independent Greenbackers were nominated for county offices. Among the candidates was Independent Greenbacker Garrett Scott. Unlike other candidates, Scott had a willingness to publicly associate with blacks. In fact, the article mentions that Scott undermined the idea of white solidarity. After winning the election for county sheriff, Scott became political allies with black district clerk, Jim Kennard. The two worked together to create the black-white coalition that became the People’s Party. The People’s party did well up until 1898. However, the coalition did not sit well with the men of the democratic party. The Democrats, led by J.G. McDonald, came together and held a covert meeting in which they planned to take back county offices that populists filled. This was the first of many meetings of the White Man’s Union. The union made their debut once the spark of

Texas has always been an individualistic state. Since the Alamo to the decision to leave the Union and stubbornly retain traditions, morals, and ideas to this day. After the Civil War, Texas went under radical reconstruction. This was a military rule in which Texas functioned under a military government that made a constitution that made the government more centralized, provided compulsory school attendance, and guaranteed a full range of rights for former slaves. By far, this constitution was a great stride forward in civil rights and made the government more efficient. However, white Southerners were extremely angered by this because of their racist attitudes and stubbornness. When reconstruction ended, white Texans quickly took back the

“The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark piece of federal legislation in the United States that prohibits racial discrimination in voting.” In the 1880’s poll taxes and literacy requirements that afterward advocated African Americans to vote. Meanwhile Klan violence frightens from police and employers, blacks were still “protesting”about voting rights. As a result, there were over two dozen blacks serving in state congress across some

As the state elections of 1898 approached, the Fusion party was not thriving as well as it had been, when preparing for the last election. The Democratic party was preparing to defeat the Republicans in the election and were being led by Furnifold Simmons, the party chairman. He did a great deal of organizing and campaigning in an attempt to have Democrats regain power over the city. Simmons worked hard to prevent “negro denomination”, a fear that many white segregationists had at the time, they worried that if African Americans gained too much power in government, eventually they would take over. In reality, African Americans only wanted a say in how they were governed and wanted to be treated equally under the law. To conquer this fear that many white Democrats possessed, they planned to take over the government and run any influential African Americans out of town, to somewhere that they would no longer influence and encourage people to stand up for equal

In “Populist Dreams and Negro Rights: East Texas as a Case Study,” Lawrence Goodwyn keys in on the triumphs of the People 's Party in Grimes County, Texas. I discovered Populism in Grimes County is the narrative of an interracial alliance that had its beginning in Reconstruction and persevered for more than an era. I resolved why the long post-Reconstruction period emerges as the social request that has been composed progressively along racial lines; the time period encroached as a brief gleaming light in parts of the South. I learned how some white Southerners have generally been a spread for the district 's skepticism and other issues. Goodwyn establishes a viewpoint about the possible results for a greater number of individuals voting in a free society. I understand that the variables of pressure and coercion caused an end to influence at the polling stations; there was corruption occurring with vote counts. The Grimes County story significantly describes this disappointment; however in the understanding, it gives into the hidden legislative issues of black disfranchisement and the accomplishment of a solid single-party political environment in the American South it is not one of a kind.

Black voting fell off sharply in most areas because of threats by white employers and violence from the Ku Klux Klan.The reading and writing ability test did not just keep out the 60 percent of voting-age black men (most of them ex-slaves) who could not read. It left out almost all black men because the clerk would select complicated technical passages for them to understand. Very differently, the clerk would pass whites by picking simple series of words that make sense and that have a subject and a verb in the state constitution for them to explain.Mississippi also puts into law a "grandfather clause" that allowed registering anyone whose grandfather was qualified to vote before the Civil War. Obviously, this benefited only white person (who

One would be surprised somewhat to find out that its early membership was principally African American, however, the leadership remained majority White. They were organized into two factions with one being conservative and the other side being radical. “Even though the Democratic candidates for president continued to carry the state in each of the seven elections after Texas was admitted to the Union, there would still be pockets of Republican strength during the time. This was because African Americans were allowed to vote and they primarily voted for the Republican candidates”. (footnote pg 43). During this time the Republicans would win in several of the Texas counties. There came a time in the election of 1869 where many people who sustained the Confederacy were not permitted to vote, thus, opening up the window for Republican candidates to take control. Mainly due to the African American vote, Texas was able to not only elect E.J. Davis to office but also elect two Republicans to represent the state in the United States senate upon readmission to the union in

The paper The Political Legacy of American Slavery shows that current political attitudes in counties across the American South have roots that can be traced back to the origins of slavery in 1860. The focus is on whites who are currently living in counties in the American South that had high numbers of slaves in 1860 are more likely to identify as a republican, oppose policy that has to do with blacks, and visibly show racial resentment towards blacks. The hypothesis of this paper is “today’s Black Belt is more politically conservative than other parts of the south in part because of its history of chattel slavery” (Acharya, Blackwell, & Sen, 2016, p. 622).

As individuals, we turn towards political parties to identify with a group that has the most in common with our own values and principals. Each political party’s agenda focuses on the primary interests affiliated with that party and is motivated to enact its beliefs and interests through legislation by electing officials into government. Texas is a large state with four political parties: Republican, Democratic, Green Party, and Libertarian. Each political party has a basic fundamental ideology and platform on current issues. The two major political parties in Texas and in the nation are the Republican and Democratic parties.Texas is a conservative state where the Republican Party has known success as the leading political party in

While the turn of the century marked a period of economic and demographic change in Texas, the Democratic Party remained a constant power. The Shiner Gazette, a local newspaper, shows a snapshot of a rural Texas town in 1908. An agricultural community, Shiner was dominated by the Democratic Party and primarily populated by Czech and German immigrants who farmed cotton and corn (Ramsey). By adapting the party platform to appeal to farmers and utilizing the White Primary to limit the access of African American voters, the Democratic Party was successful in maintaining Democratic supremacy, as clearly shown in the Shiner Gazette. Several pieces of evidence showing the effective strategies of the Democratic Party can be found in these 1908

The Republican Party seems to be increasing the gap between rich and poor, discriminating against others, pursuing self-interest over the common good and just downright corrupt.

Texas is a state that has always been recognized for its size and politics. Elections are a huge part of democratic societies that are intended for citizens to choose their public leaders and approve the policies set by candidates. Political parties and interest groups also play a key role in shaping opportunities for public participation. Most Texans and historians know that the Democratic Party’s historical dominance is important to state politics. It is less likely that people are not aware of the consequences of the one-party system for public participation and democracy in Texas. Like many of the rim South states, the white elitist belonged to the Democratic Party which stemmed from the end of Reconstruction until the late 20th

From 1890 to 1908, many southern states passed new constitutions and laws that put up barriers on voter registration—such as poll taxes, and educational or gender requirements-- making it hard for African-Americans to register to vote. Also during this time, the Democratic Party was white-dominated and they held a huge voting block within Congress. Meanwhile, the Republican Party, known as the 'Party of Lincoln', contained many African-Americans. In 1924, African-Americans were allowed to attend Democratic Conventions for the very first time. And although they were allowed to attend these conventions, African-Americans still continued to be identified with the Republican Party, because this was the party that helped grant their freedom. The Republican Party soon diminished when the Democratic Party took over, because blacks were not allowed to vote.