Black Populism In The 19th Century

V. Historical Case Study: Black Populism (Late 19th Century)

The rise of black populism in the late 19th century is a prime contributor of democracy that was questioned and rebuilt in a better fashion. Until black populism came about, the kind of democracy that flourished in United States was Southern democracy, which drew most of its support from white people who were plantation owners and/or former slave owners, the “elites” of then-America, who were also, quite frequently, white supremacists. Black populism rose as an attempt to rise against the white elites and reform existent democracy, since Southern democracy hardly granted the proper rights of citizens to African Americans — who were born into slavery but then were granted citizenship …show more content…
Populism in a democratic society is exactly that criticism, what is necessary for the improvement of the current state. The negative connotation of the term populism is derived from misunderstanding of the term due to the shallow portrayals by the media and some scholars. Is populism truly a threat to democracy? If we take a look at the heart of populism, which asserts anti-elitism and anti-establishment, we can easily gather that, in reality, populism is a necessary critic and auditor of a democratic society. This is true not only in the theoretical sense, but also has proven to be true throughout history. Therefore, when there is a rise in populism within our society, it does not mean that democracy is about to fall down, but is rather a sign that we must fix the existing system. Those signs help us reevaluate features within our society that we might have assumed as “obvious” or what we might have overlooked. Simply put, populism encourages the democratic system to constantly evolve and actively correspond to the world’s ever-changing socioeconomic and cultural atmosphere, so that democracy can continue to thrive. Populism is imperative to democracy, for it gives democracy, the much needed,