...By the mid-1880s African Americans had established a series of agrarian and labor organizations that included the Colored Wheels in Arkansas, the Cooperative Workers of America in South Carolina, the Knights of Labor in North Carolina, and the Colored Farmers Alliance in Texas. Fed by overlapping membership in the black churches, fraternal orders, and mutual aid groups, these rural organizations formed the nexus of black populism. The movement took electoral form in the early 1890s through the founding and subsequent development of the People's Party and through fusion efforts with the Republican Party, which commanded the loyalty of most African Americans. Leading black populists included the Reverend Walter A. Pattillo, state lecturer for the North Carolina Colored Alliance, and John B. Rayner, known as the “silver-tongued orator of the colored race,” who served on the People's Party's state executive committee in Texas. Few black women held official leadership positions but several women did serve in such capacities, including Lutie A. Lytle and Fanny “the Queen” Glass.....
...In the wake of the 1992 election black and white independents around the country sought to create new political alliances that could challenge not only the bipartisan establishment but also ideologically driven politics. Out of these efforts, in 1994 a new national party—the Patriot Party—was formed, bringing together independents from across the political spectrum. Dr. Jessie Fields, a black physician from Harlem who had been active in third-party politics since the late 1980s, was elected vice chair of the new party. The party effectively served as a transitional organization, acting as a bridge between the millions of Perot supporters and preexisting elements of the independent movement that became the Reform Party, a key element of which was the Fulani-organized Black Reformers Network.....
You need a subscription for this site, or you can wait for the upcoming print version which will be published next year: Ali, Omar H. . "Black Politics". Encyclopedia of African American History, 1896 to the Present: From the Age of Segregation to the Twenty-first Century. Ed. Paul Finkelman. Oxford African American Studies Center.
About Dr. Ali:
Considered one of the most dynamic young scholars in the nation today, Dr. Omar Ali specializes in the history of independent political movements. Recently featured on PBS as a commentator in the documentary “Transforming America: U.S. History Since 1877,” he is an assistant professor of history at Towson University in Maryland and the director of research and education at the Committee for a Unified Independent Party (CUIP), a national think-tank and strategy center for independent politics and election reform. An honors graduate of the London School of Economics and Political Science, he received his Ph.D. from Columbia University. His research and analysis on new voting trends and realignments in politics have been published in numerous articles, books, and essays.The author of Black Populism in the New South (University Press of Mississippi) and contributing author to History in Dispute: American Social and Political Movements, 1945-2000 (St. James Press), he has served as a guest editor for Souls: A Critical Journal of Black Politics, Culture, and Society (Spring 2005) and is a contributing editor to The Neo-Independent: The Politics of Becoming. Ali has been invited to speak at colleges across the nation regarding the growth of independent politics. Polls taken by CNN, Gallup, and the Pew Research Center, show that nearly 40% of Americans today self-identify as politically independent (neither Democrat nor Republican).
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