Editing People's Party (United States) (section)

=== Women and African Americans ===

Due to the prevailing racist attitudes of the late 19th century, any political alliance of Southern blacks and Southern whites was difficult to construct; however, shared economic concerns allowed some transracial coalition building.<ref>Goodwyn (1978), pp. 121–122</ref> After 1886, black farmers started organizing local agricultural groups along the lines the Farmer's Alliance advocated, and in 1888 the national [[Colored Farmers' National Alliance and Cooperative Union|Colored Alliance]] was established.<ref>Goodwyn (1978), pp. 118–120</ref>

Some southern Populists, including Watson, openly spoke of the need for poor blacks and poor whites to set aside their racial differences in the name of shared economic interests. The Omaha Platform, appealed 'to reason and not to prejudice'.<ref name="Clanton 1991" /> The motto of the Alliance was: 'Equal rights to all and special privileges to none'.<ref name="Clanton 1991" /> Tom Watson, one of the key founders of the People's Party in the state of Georgia in early 1892, was the first  white Southern leader that acknowledged the aspirations of black farmers, appealing for justice . He believed that blacks and whites had been conditioned to hate each other, assuming that upon that hatred  the keystone of the arch of financial exploitation is rested.<ref name="Theodosiadis 2025">{{Cite book |last=Theodosiadis |first=Michail |title=Ancient Greek Democracy and American Republicanism: Prometheus in Political Theory |date=28 February 2025 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |year=2025 |edition=1st |location=Edinburgh |pages=254–5 |language=English}}</ref> Moreover, the Populists followed the [[Prohibition Party]] in actively including women in their affairs. But regardless of these appeals, racism did not evade the People's Party.<ref name="Theodosiadis 2025" /> Prominent Populist Party leaders such as [[Marion Butler]] at least partially demonstrated a dedication to the cause of [[white supremacy]], and there appears to have been some support for this viewpoint in the party's rank-and-file membership.<ref>Hunt (2003), pp. 3–7</ref> After 1900 Watson himself became an [[Thomas E. Watson#Shifting racial views|outspoken white supremacist]].