Liberty & Justice For Some: Two Centuries of Independent Black Leaders & Movements
September 21, 2021
Here’s a seemingly inexplicable historical event: How did the anti-slavery Republican party take the White House in 1861, only six years after its formation?
Thanks to the work of our special guest, Dr. Omar Ali, historian at UNC-Greensboro, we know this accomplishment is largely due to the earlier work of the abolitionist Liberty Party beginning in the 1840s and later continued by the Free Soil Party, which worked against the extension of slavery to new territories and states.
Dr. Ali, author of In the Balance of Power: Independent and Third Party Black Politics in the United States, emphasizes the importance of looking at least twenty years prior to events to fully understand them. By this method, he argues, we see that the Civil Rights movement gained political leverage as an independent mobilization outside the two party structure in the 1950s and 60s. Thus, Dr. Ali notes, the movement’s subsequent alliance with the Democratic Party was met with criticism by another independent voice, Malcolm X, who saw black political dependency on white-led parties as problematic.
In this Purple Principle episode, “Liberty & Justice for Some,” we find that the history of independent and third-party black political mobilization is rich, significant, and long-running, with notable modern accomplishments as well. These include Mayor Harold Washignton’s defeat of Chicago Democratic machine candidates in the 1980s and Lenora Fulani’s 1988 independent campaign for President on all 50 state ballots, an achievement that laid the groundwork for Ross Perot’s 1992 independent run.
In this age where our two-party structure appears to have a solid lock on politics, it’s important to highlight periods when independents and third parties have had significant impacts. And at a time when issues of race and identity continue to polarize our politics and society, it’s even more vital to understand the fluid nature of these issues over the longer run.
Tune into Season Two, Episode 15, “Liberty and Justice for Some,” for an in-depth discussion with Dr. Ali on the history of black independents and third parties, as well as archival audio of many important voices in this throughline, including Frederick Douglass (courtesy of James Earl Jones), W.E.B DuBois, Jesse Jackson, Lenora Fulani, and others.
Original Music by Ryan Adair Rooney
Show Notes
Our Guest
Additional Resources
Frederick Douglass, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” July 5, 1852.
Frederick Douglass. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
W.E.B. Du Bois. Library of Congress.
W.E.B. Du Bois. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Jesse Jackson and the Rainbow Coalition, 1984 and 1988. Digital Public Library of America.
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Transcript
Omar Ali
There were some key people like Frederick Douglass, famously who were actually not in favor of creating a political party. He thought that the Constitution was rigged. He thought that political parties were not the way to agitate for change.
Robert Pease (co-host)
That’s our special guest, Dr. Omar Ali, professor of history at UNC-Greensboro and the author of In the Balance of Power: Independent Black Politics and Third Party Movements in the United States. I’m Robert Pease, and on the Purple Principle today, a much-needed history lesson on independent action outside the two-party structure that has fostered change and progress.
Jillian Youngblood (co-host)
I'm Jillian Youngblood. And I’m so on board to learn more about these third party movements. I grew up in the South, and we learned a lot about the Civil War and Reconstruction but I don’t know how much we ever learned much about things like the Liberty and Free Soil Parties.
Robert Pease (co-host)
And these groups spawned the formation of the anti-slavery Republican Party in the 1850s. And Jillian, I actually took a ton of American history classes in high school and college, but none of them emphasized this independent nature of black leadership in the way Dr. Ali does regarding Frederick Douglass.
Omar Ali
He was won over and he saw the value of creating a third party that was anti-slavery. And using it as one of a number of tactics or thinking about it as a tool to engage the political system.
Jillian Youngblood (co-host)
No memorization required for today’s history class. It’s a painless and fascinating trip from the period of abolition to more contemporary civil rights featuring Rob’s interview with Dr. Ali and a bit of archival work here at the Purple Principle.
Robert Pease (co-host)
There is no existing audio of Frederick Douglass himself giving the speeches that reverberated widely in his time. But there is a reading by James Earl Jones of the Douglass Speech, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”
[Archival Audio Excerpt, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July”]
Jillian Youngblood (co-host)
Other major figures in this story of independent viewpoint and mobilization include W.E.B. DuBois, Malcolm X, Harold Washington, and Lenora Fulani. But let’s start by getting acquainted with Dr. Omar Ali, author of In the Balance of Power.
Omar Ali
Well, let me first say thank you for inviting me to be on this podcast and creating a space like this where people can have conversations that are not overdetermined by the two-party framework. So I deeply appreciate the name of the podcast and providing folks a space to do so. And what the book basically does is it tells a story of the ways in which African Americans have had to effectively insert themselves into the dominant political structures of society by creating independent political organizations, associations, networks, and parties in some instances to advance civil, political, and economic rights of African-Americans, and joined at times poor working white people and other groups of people to advance democracy in America.
Robert Pease (co-host)
Let's start with some of the major figures familiar to most of our listeners. you briefly mentioned Frederick Douglass, who had a remarkable transformation from looking at slavery as a religious issue and then becoming more and more involved in politics. So, tell us about the transformation of Frederick Douglass.
Omar Ali
Well, I think all leaders with a deep and abiding commitment to the people and in this case, I think Douglass identified most obviously closely with African Americans, but I think he was pro-people in general. He evolved because he saw some of the limitations of whatever tactics he was deploying. Like, he moved from the idea of moral suasion, which was the idea that you could basically, through teaching one's own story and that of others who had been enslaved and relying on religious doctrine, you could morally sway people to do the right thing. And that he saw as limited: ultimately it took armed revolution in the form of the civil war for slavery to be overthrown. And so, yes, there were some people who saw the light, if you will, and decided to free their own slaves, but they were just a handful of people. The vast majority of slave owners did not want that to go away.
Robert Pease (co-host)
Well, tell us a little bit more about W.E.B. Dubois, who obviously embraced several different ideologies as a means towards perhaps some progress on civil rights, perhaps didn't see the success in his lifetime that came soon afterwards.
[Archival Audio Excerpt, W.E.B. DuBois]
Robert Pease (co-host)
But he certainly was a fascinating figure. Tell us about him, about his journey in this.
Omar Ali
Like Douglass, he began to see some of the limitations of his organizing, which went from, you know, effectively using the pen and to tell the stories of tragedies and document the lives of black people, to joining major parties, or a wing, or forming coalitions that ultimately would create challenges to the two major parties, is what I want to say. And then effectively abandoning it and saying, well, you know, the two party system isn't going to work and nor are these third parties, and he left ultimately, but he laid the groundwork for many others to understand some of the broader history.
Robert Pease (co-host)
Well, let's jump ahead to the civil rights era, and you do talk about Malcolm X, who gives a speech, I believe it's called the “ballot or bullet” speech.
[Archival Audio Excerpt, “The Ballot or the Bullet,” Malcolm X]
Robert Pease (co-host)
And so he expresses concern over dependence on the Democratic party, which is a theme through your book, that if you want real leverage, you don't really want to be so loyal to a party that they don't have to do anything for you.
Omar Ali
Absolutely. In his famous “the ballot or the bullet” speech, he talks about how any kind of dependency is problematic, and really identifies both parties as limitations on the freedom of African Americans. And so he was a critical early voice.
Jillian Youngblood (co-host)
That’s our special guest today, Dr. Omar Ali, prolific author on the African diaspora. He’s discussing some of the most notable independent black intellectuals in U.S. history – Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. Dubois, Malcolm X, and others. Which makes us wonder about the broader forces at work here, the movements behind these leaders that represented certainly thousands – perhaps hundreds of thousands – of Americans.
Robert Pease (co-host)
In this part of the interview, we dig deeper into that movement's history, beginning with the abolitionist Liberty Party that played a spoiler role in the 1844 elections but also spawned the antislavery Republican Party that was formed only a few years before bringing Abraham Lincoln to the White House in 1861.
Omar Ali
Well, I think it was the philosopher Fred Newman, with whom I worked for a number of years, who was himself a leader of independents, who shared with me an insight when I was finishing up my doctoral dissertation, which is that you need to look at at least 20 years before the formation of any organization to really see what it means. And so the Liberty party really is formed as a result of the anti-slavery movement, which is really a second wave of abolitionism, the first one being sort of at the time of the American Republic formation.
And so the Liberty party, it was created as a tactic to engage the political establishment. I think that they did not have any illusions of necessarily winning, although, you know, in some cases they were close, but they were trying to create a public conversation around the issue of slavery.
Even though a person like Thomas Jefferson, did confide in some of his fellow planners that if there is a just God, we're in for it, because he saw that there was a morality to slavery as well. So it wasn't like people were completely clueless, but it wasn't a public issue yet. And so the abolitionists had to make it a public issue. So a way to make it a public issue was to form a third party, call them the Liberty party, and try to advocate for an anti-slavery platform.
Robert Pease (co-host)
So the Liberty party competed in several elections, I believe 1840, 1844, but then things got a little complicated seemingly when the Free Soil Party was formed as more of a moderate or an incremental or more pragmatic approach. So tell us about the formation of the Free Soil Party and their position, which wasn't fully for abolition. It was for – as I understand it – anti-extension or the extension of slavery to new states.
Omar Ali
The Free Soil Party, like you're saying, was not outright an abolitionist party. It was in some ways. I mean, I think people saw it as a way of increasing the size of the camp of people who ultimately could undermine the system of slavery. And so the idea was to not allow the new territories that would come into the Republic to become states that allowed for slavery. And they advocated for this position, which at the time was quite radical relative to everything. And many people who weren't willing to abolish slavery outright or see it abolished believe that there was something fundamentally wrong with it. And the argument brought people who were not anti-slavery but didn't like the idea of their free labor – that is paid labor – to be degraded by having people who worked alongside them who were slaves. And so it was an interesting mix of a coalition, as politics oftentimes brings strange bedfellows.
Robert Pease (co-host)
So, both the Liberty and the Free Soil parties work extremely hard, but I guess do not really have electoral success. And yet kind of amazingly, as we look back, the Republican party is formed as the anti-slavery party in 1854, and six years later, it wins the White House. So what was the contribution of the Liberty and the Free Soil parties to the rather rapid success of not an outright abolitionist party, but certainly an anti-slavery party?
Omar Ali
I mean, in some ways you can think of the Free Soil and Liberty parties as having to develop and then cultivate a network, which would grow in time and create a movement, which would lead to the formation of the Republican party. I mean, it's all about movement formation, building networks. And so the Republican party was the beneficiary of those who had been working 10-15 years prior to that to establish this idea of a third party that was either directly (depending on the wing of the party) against slavery, or certainly was not going to try to extend it. So, in some ways, it was a continuation of the same phenomenon.
Robert Pease (co-host)
So it's remarkable to look back now at how quickly a third party became a major party. It's almost inconceivable now that that could happen in the same way. I guess the two parties have had a lot of time to entrench their power.
Omar Ali
Absolutely.
Robert Pease (co-host)
But post Civil War and Reconstruction, there's another interesting party that you talk about that maybe a lot of people are not so familiar with – the Greenback Labor party.
Omar Ali
So this is a movement that kind of continues this idea of the sanctity and the importance of free labor, and that this is something that all people should have the right to, to exercise their own labor under their own agency. And so it's part of that early labor movement. And now we're talking about people that are more in urban centers, even though a lot of their base is actually rural still. So this is a shift towards networks that will be given expression in the form of the Knights of Labor and other labor associations.
Robert Pease (co-host)
So, again, another party was formed in the 1890s, the People's party. This is a time when Democrats in the South are really suppressing, disenfranchising black voters; turnout is going down and yet somehow the People's party is able to have some success in local elections in South Carolina and Texas.
Omar Ali
So when we look at African Americans in particular, you have Emancipation, you have Reconstruction, which really begins in 1863. So two years before the Civil War ends, is the reconstruction of the infrastructure in the Northern part of the South, where the Union is in control. And also the political institutions and Reconstruction will be enforced till about 1877 when it collapses under pressure of Democratic Party interests. And it's in this period where you have African Americans trying to figure out what to do. They don't just sort of call it quits because they can't, they're not in that privileged position to do so. So they have to keep figuring out ways to keep pushing for, again, basic civil, political, economic rights.
And so they form, through the churches, leadership that will take the form of various agricultural associations. And you have white farmers who are doing something similarly. And so you have organizations that are like called the Granges and other groups that will come together in the 1880s. And as far as African Americans are concerned, the umbrella organization was called the Colored Farmers Alliance, which started in Texas, but really spread throughout the South.
And so they decided to go into the electoral arena. And together with white independents who were not happy with the Democratic party in the South, which was the dominant party in the South – it was the party of white supremacy. They come together and form what's called the People's Party, or the populists, and they field candidates. And it's in this period of time that you actually have this coalition made up of African Americans, many of them had been slaves just years prior, coming together with white southerners, many of whom had been Confederate soldiers, and they actually take over parts of the south and you see a pushback by the paramilitary organizations that are tied to the Democratic party, most famously the Ku Klux Klan.
And you see a rise of lynchings and terrorism in the Black community, but also directed towards white sympathizers. And that movement will come to an end by 1898 in North Carolina with the Wilmington riots, but across the South by 1900.
Robert Pease (co-host)
Well, then let's talk a little bit about the Progressive era and it's always hard to summarize an era, but it does seem looking back that from a civil rights standpoint, it's a little disappointing. I mean, you have these broad-minded, progressive individuals like Robert LaFollette and Teddy Roosevelt. And they're approached by the leaders of the African-American community, like W.E.B. Dubois and he's kind of rebuffed by the Progressives.
Omar Ali
Yeah, it's true. It seems dumb. I mean, I'm just saying, but I think that racism is so deeply entrenched in the American psyche that I think it was hard for labor leaders to, in some ways, see African Americans fully as their brothers and sisters, if you will. And in some ways the analysis, well, we're just going to organize all workers and not attend to this issue of race. They didn't attend to issues of gender. So in some ways there they were white male leaders of their times.
Jillian Youngblood (co-host)
That’s our special guest today, historian Dr. Omar Ali, author of In the Balance of Power. And there’s an important point in there that really bears repeating. The Liberty and Free Soil Parties, which I bet many of us didn’t hear much about in school – they really paved the way for the anti-slavery Republican Party, formed in 1854.
Robert Pease (co-host)
Which then overwhelms the Whigs, who had been a major party for decades.
Jillian Youngblood (co-host)
So there is this ebb and flow in our party politics over time, or at least at that time.
Robert Pease (co-host)
The major parties seem so deeply entrenched today. But there have been independent-minded black politicians who’ve challenged that dominance not too long ago, such as Presidential candidate Lenora Fulani and Chicago Mayor Harold Washington.
Jillian Youngblood (co-host)
Washington managed to defeat the Democratic machine that kept the Richard Daley dynasty in the Chicago Mayor's office for, get this, not two or three terms, but between the father and the son 11, count em, 11 terms total over four decades.
Robert Pease (co-host)
Let's talk about three of the more modern campaigns by either Black independent candidates or, in one case, an insurgent Democratic candidate, Harold Washington.
[Archival Audio Excerpt, Harold Washington]
Robert Pease (co-host)
In the 1983 Democratic primary for the mayor’s office, Washington was able to defeat the candidate supported by the Democratic Party that controlled Chicago politics. So tell us, how was he able to do that?
Omar Ali
Well, I think It all comes down to base building. I think that sometimes the base building can only take you so far. He was a great organizer and the people around him really had built an independent base of support, mostly among African Americans, but also among other groups of people as well. And he was saying things that challenged the established partisan system in Chicago and was able to pull this off and was seen as sort of like a model for something that could possibly be done on the national level. Unfortunately, he died, and that effort was carried on in part by the work of a new generation of independent black leaders, namely Dr. Lenora Fulani, who had been working with Jesse Jackson to try to urge him to go the course of independents and run in the Democratic party primary. But then if he didn't get the nomination as an independent – ultimately he stayed with the Democratic party and she said, well, if he's not doing that, let me run as an independent so we can build a movement that would bring together not just African Americans, have them be so dependent on the Democratic party, but people from across America.
Robert Pease (co-host)
Well, the Jesse Jackson campaign in ‘88, I think a lot of people may have forgotten how competitive he was, how electrifying his speeches were at that time.
[Archival Audio Excerpt, Jesse Jackson]
Robert Pease (co-host)
And certainly Obama credited him later on. But 20 years before Obama, here was a national figure competing very successfully. Why do you think he decided not to run as an independent? And do you think in hindsight he might've had some success?
Omar Ali
I don't know if he would have had some success, but he would have helped to build the movement of independents. I think that he got wooed back into the fold of the Democratic party. In some ways there's a parallel where I think that he thought that he was more powerful than was the case. I'll just say this about president Obama, who had built an independent base among Americans, and literally his base was made up of Democrats obviously, but some Republicans, disaffected Republicans and independents. But he essentially gave over his entire database to the Democratic party because he thought that his Obamaness, the magic of Obama, the extraordinariness of this person, his abilities, would be able to sort of maintain itself beyond the party. But the parties are very powerful, not only economically, but culturally.
And basically three roads were being sort of carved out. One was, stick with the Democratic party, because at that point they had gotten some black elected officials in the office. Form an all-Black political party or form a multi-racial third party. And ultimately Jackson spoke vehemently about the importance of a Black party, but he would ultimately side with the Democratic party. And again, very powerful forces. I mean, many of the great heroes like John Lewis and many others had been independents on the streets, the civil rights movement was not a Democratic party movement or Republican movement. It was an independent movement. That's what it was. And it was effectively co-opted by the Democratic party.
Robert Pease (co-host)
Well, let's talk a little bit about Lenora Fulani. It's really remarkable, and I'm not sure, again, our young listeners know that she was able to get on the ballot in all 50 states.
[Archival Audio Excerpt, Lenora Fulani]
Robert Pease (co-host)
Of course she wasn't allowed on the debate stage. But she very well may have laid the groundwork for Perot's bigger success four years later when he got 19% of the vote. So tell us about Lenora Fulani and how she kind of laid the groundwork, not only for a third party run, but possibly for Obama and some other candidates.
Omar Ali
I mean, Fulani was part of that sort of that tradition or expression of independent Black leadership that goes back to Frederick Douglass and Dubois and Harold Washington, which was to create something independent of the two major parties and do that by bringing people together. Her voice is one of a progressive sort of politics, but it's also one that includes space for people who only want to agree that the process needs to be opened up. So interestingly, when we think about the American revolution, it was a revolution that was talking about the political process, which is not something that we talk about today in politics today; we talk about, where do people stand on education? Where do they stand on law enforcement, where do they stand on the different things like these policy positions, but not the process itself? But she was saying, no, I have a progressive sort of outlook on the world, but I will work with anyone who wants to challenge the limitations of our electoral process here to make it more inclusive.
Robert Pease (co-host)
Well, that's great. Maybe we should end with a Fulani quote. I'm not sure if I'm getting this right. And maybe you can add a little bit of context to it, but I believe after her campaign, she was asked, was it toughest to be a black or a female candidate?
Omar Ali
I love that quote. I love that. So she said that basically, she was asked, was it more difficult, Dr. Fulani to run as an African American, as a Black candidate, or as a woman? And she responded, actually being independent, because it was just incredible. And the reason why is because the laws have been designed to exclude independents, regardless of color, race, whatever. But it's the overall culture that, again, to go to the political scientists, has been buttressed by the political science establishment, with few exceptions, to make it seem like the only way you can function politically in this world is through parties and through ideology. But it's a challenging time culturally in America, beyond the economic sort of hardships that many people are going through. But we have to push back on that, to be more philosophical, to be more playful, to be more open to work with people who we don't agree with on many issues, but we might agree with on the issues of process and inclusion, that's an important thing. And that's the founding of this country. No taxation without representation is a call to arms around the political process, not just around the narrow idea of taxation; it's about representation and inclusion. So I think that that is at the heart of the best of what our country has to offer the world. And we should bring that out more.
Jillian Youngblood (co-host)
That was Dr. Omar Ali, historian and author of In the Balance of Power: Independent Black Politics and Third Party Movements in the United States. A really informative book and, with all due respect, an refreshingly easy read compared to many a history tome.
Robert Pease (co-host)
That’s true Jillian, Dr. Ali writes as he speaks. Authoritative but accessible. And he’s raised awareness of some really important movements and issues for indie-minded Americans of all races, really. First and most importantly, the insight that the Civil Rights movement of the 20th century was an independent mobilization outside the two-party system.
Jillian Youngblood (co-host)
And that the two major parties so constantly ignored racial issues throughout our early history that Black Americans felt they had no choice but to form other groups and parties. And sometimes pull reluctant intellectuals like Douglass and Dubois into the political fray.
Robert Pease (co-host)
For those who’d like more on this topic, we have a longer length interview with Dr. Ali available to our Patreon supporters. There are links to our Patreon and other social media channels in our show notes.
Jillian Youngblood (co-host)
But next time on the Purple Principle, we’re going to journey, if only by microphone, to the great state of Kentucky, home to world renowned whiskey, horse races, and the hugely successful podcast, Pantsuit Politics, where smart meets spiritual in respectful conversation...even about things political.
Sarah Stewart Holland
We really formulated the grace-filled political conversations as a subtitle to our book. And we were trying to capture the environment we'd built over years at Pantsuit Politics where we do use the word grace a lot. And what we were trying to do is put the focus on the connection that we hold with one another.
Beth Silvers
But grace is often about giving it when you don't receive it. And so we try really hard to say, this is an exercise, not to convince everyone to agree with us or even to adopt our style, but to set an expectation for ourselves in terms of what values we bring into our political conversations
Jillian Youngblood (co-host)
We’ll be speaking with the creators and hosts of that show, Sarah Stewart Holland and Beth Silvers, who’ve put forth over 500 episodes and written a few books in their spare time that you wouldn’t think they’d even have, including “I Think You’re Wrong But I’m listening.”
Robert Pease (co-host)
Right or wrong, we hope you’ll listen to that episode, check out our Patreon page, connect with us via our website and social media, and stay purple in these red vs blue times. This has been Robert Pease and Jillian Youngblood for the Purple Principle team: Alison Byrne, Producer, Kevin A. Kline, Sr. Audio Engineer, Emily Holloway, Digital Strategy; Dom Scarlett & Grant Sharrett, Research Associates; Emma Trujillio, Audio Associate. Original music composed and created by Ryan Adair Rooney. The Purple Principle is a Fluent Knowledge production.
