AHC: Less severe Jim Crow that ends earlier

[Lost the game]

How might this transpire? Is it possible that the Populists, who attempted a coalition in North Carolina between the poor whites and blacks in that state, to succeed elsewhere? Obviously keeping Woodrow Wilson out of the White House is a must. Are there any other things that may have happened? Perhaps a more radical 1920s may have had this effect? Perhaps a populist coalition of poor white and black farmers wins an election and the Governor responds by refusing to honor the results of that election, leading to some sort of overthrow of that governor, and the Feds decide to not get involved? Then from there this movement spreads until it takes control of the South?

 

[water123]

Have a coalition of poor sharecroppers, Appalachian rural folk, and African Americans form anti-Klan groups and maintain solidarity against a monolithic Planter elite?

 

[Mikestone8]

Have a coalition of poor sharecroppers, Appalachian rural folk, and African Americans form anti-Klan groups and maintain solidarity against a monolithic Planter elite?

By about 1900 the Planters lost power in most states w/o such an alliance. The poorer whites were strong enough not to need one.

 

[hammo1j]

US joins Ww1 earlier so more black troops.

A MLK type figure arises. Were there such figures, and did they fail because they were ahead of their time?

 

[manav95]

The Socialist Party makes significant inroads in the South among poorer whites and causes them to rethink their alliance with the planters. The South makes efforts to industrialize earlier and textile mills arrive in the late 1800s as opposed to the 1910s-1920s. Also farm prices remain higher due to several poor global harvests, allowing Southern whites to make more money off cotton, corn, tobacco, and other stuff. With the existence of a stronger white middle class/industrial working class, they begin to resent the dominance of white planters/businessmen. The racial barriers begin breaking down as Socialists/populist Democrats seek to enfranchise the black population to overthrow the conservative planter dominance.

 

[Lalli]

US joins Ww1 earlier so more black troops.

A MLK type figure arises. Were there such figures, and did they fail because they were ahead of their time?

You would need lesser racist president firstly before you can get black soldiers to WW1.

 

[Mikestone8]

The Socialist Party makes significant inroads in the South among poorer whites and causes them to rethink their alliance with the planters. The South makes efforts to industrialize earlier and textile mills arrive in the late 1800s as opposed to the 1910s-1920s. Also farm prices remain higher due to several poor global harvests, allowing Southern whites to make more money off cotton, corn, tobacco, and other stuff. With the existence of a stronger white middle class/industrial working class, they begin to resent the dominance of white planters/businessmen. The racial barriers begin breaking down as Socialists/populist Democrats seek to enfranchise the black population to overthrow the conservative planter dominance.

By the time the Socialist party came to prominence in the Progressive Era, hadn't the Planter class mostly lost control of the South anyway?

 

[Osakadave]

Less sever Jim Crow would require a pre-1900 POD, as many of the laws were in place before the turn of the century (Plessy V Ferguson was 1896, remember.).

US joins Ww1 earlier so more black troops.

A MLK type figure arises. Were there such figures, and did they fail because they were ahead of their time?

There were - Booker T Washington, Marcus Garvey, WEB Dubois, A Philip Randolph (my personal favorite), and many others. Very complex reasons why they didn't do more - different approaches, power imbalances, etc., etc.

 

[manav95]

By the time the Socialist party came to prominence in the Progressive Era, hadn't the Planter class mostly lost control of the South anyway?

Well the South was still pretty stratified and had a rigid social structure. The elites always played the poorer whites against blacks, allowing both Jim Crow and their power to remain dominant. The Southern whites could change if they saw a strong economic incentive from allying with blacks to challenge the capitalist order and racial disenfranchisement

 

[raharris1973]

How might this transpire? Is it possible that the Populists, who attempted a coalition in North Carolina between the poor whites and blacks in that state, to succeed elsewhere? Obviously keeping Woodrow Wilson out of the White House is a must. Are there any other things that may have happened? Perhaps a more radical 1920s may have had this effect? Perhaps a populist coalition of poor white and black farmers wins an election and the Governor responds by refusing to honor the results of that election, leading to some sort of overthrow of that governor, and the Feds decide to not get involved? Then from there this movement spreads until it takes control of the South?

Earlier immigration restrictions lead to an earlier dispersal or great migration out of the south as people move north in search of jobs.

Shrinkage of the African-American proportion reduces fears of black rule and also, causes concern about labor drain from the south. Both allow a lightening up, while racial demoguery is less salient to the white public. The economic success of some blacks in the north makes it clear that there is an opportunity cost in turning off African-American investors.

 

[jerseyguy]

Keeping Huey Long alive for longer than OTL would plausibly improve things. Both blacks and whites benefitted from Long's educational spending and economic populism during his tenure as Governor of Louisiana.

Long was relatively enlightened on racial issues for his time in the '30s, so it would be interesting to extrapolate the effects of Long's political machine lasting longer in Louisiana or spreading to more of the South on the politics of Civil Rights. Enfranchising black voters could be a strategic move to strengthen his political machine and crowd out electoral opposition to his policies.