Progressive Era

Fusion Politics Encyclopedia

During the 1890s, a national phenomenon called Fusion politics united political parties.  In some western states the Populist (or People’s Party) and the Democratic Party united, but in North Carolina the movement, spearheaded by agricultural leader Marion Butler (1863-1938), combined the Populist and Republican parties.  In the presidential election of 1896, the Populist Party found itself ironically backing the Democratic presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan (1860-1925) at the national level, while joining forces with Republicans at the state level.

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Cameron Morrison (1869-1953) Encyclopedia

At times conservative, at times progressive (as defined in the early 1900s), Cameron Morrison rose to political prominence in North Carolina as an ally of Furnifold M. Simmons, Democratic stalwart who dominated the state’s politics in the early decades of the twentieth century.  During the late 1800s, Morrison started gaining statewide fame for leading the “Red Shirts."  But he is most known for being "The Good Roads Governor" (1921-1925) and opposing the teaching of evolution in public schools.  After his gubernatorial career, Morrison served as a United States Senator and Congressman. 

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North Carolina Equal Suffrage Association Encyclopedia

In 1894, the first suffragette organization was founded in North Carolina.  It remained almost inactive until the World War I era, when it became a political influence in the Tar Heel State.  The association had minimal success in convincing the state legislature to grant women suffrage.  

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Furnifold McLendel Simmons (1854-1940) Encyclopedia

A Democratic Congressman and U.S. Senator, Furnifold M. Simmons was born on January 20, 1854 to Furnifold Green, Jr., and Mary McLendel Jerman Simmons of Jones County, North Carolina.  A leader in the "white supremacy" movement during the late 1890s, Simmons played an instrumental role in the disfranchisement of African Americans in North Carolina and served thirty years in the U.S. Senate, where his most notable achievements were obtaining funds for the Intercoastal Waterway and ensuring lower tariff rates and the passage of the Underwood-Simmons Tariff. 

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