The Alliance was the predecessor of the Populist Party which represented Farmers in the revolt of the 1890's. They started out as a social and economic organization, i.e. organizing buyers and producers cooperatives but became more involved in politics. The Alliance grew increasingly dissatisfied with the Republican and Democratic Parties and started the Populist Party as a result. The two main parties accused the Populist of being "revolutionaries and anarchists" etc. etc. In the South the Democrats accused the Populists of being for "race equality" and used race baiting to defeat them. The Democrats nominated William Jennings Bryan in 1896 after he gave the "Cross of Gold" speech at the convention. After being cooped by the Democrats the Populist Party disappeared. Some of its leaders, such as Tom Watson, became racist Democrats and helped solidify the one party South on a whites only basis. C. Vann Woodward has a good chapter on the Southern alliance in Origins of the New South 1877-1913 by LSU Press and Larry Goodywn wrote a good book but I can't remember the title. Carey Rogers who used to read this stuff in college -----Original Message----- From: Terry Smith <seeme@snowhill.com> To: KYJacksonPurchase-L@rootsweb.com <> Date: Wednesday, December 01, 1999 7:51 AM Subject: [KYJP-L] F.A.& I.U. >Hi All, > >Great granpa FIELDS from Ballard Co, was a member of the >Farmer's Alliance & Industrial Union back in the 1890's. I have >some documentation on the membership, but nothing else. Was >wondering if anyone could shed some light on this oganization & >what their function might have been. Also, if there might be some >records housed somewhere for them that could be viewed or >copied. > >Thanks, Terry > > > >==== KYJacksonPurchase Mailing List ==== >Check out the Jackson Purchase Images Page at http://www.rootsweb.com/~kygraves/temp/JPL.htm >for landowner survey maps of portions of the Jackson Purchase, plus other images. Check it often - it changes as new material >is added. >