Tom Watson, Agrarian Rebel

C. Vann Woodward's Tom Watson, Agrarian Rebel (1938) examines the transformation of Tom Watson from a fiery agrarian reformer into a racist demagogue. Woodward interprets this shift as a consequence of the defeat of the Populist reform movement in Southern politics. This work is part of Woodward's broader scholarship, which significantly revised the understanding of post-Civil War Southern history. He explored how the struggles of poor white farmers and agrarian reformers, like those in the Farmers' Alliance, were intertwined with the rise of racism and the disenfranchisement of Black Southerners in the late 19th century. Woodward's analysis highlights the complex interplay of economic hardship, political movements, and social change in the South.12