Black Farmers' Strike

The Colored Farmer's Alliance organized a Black Farmers' Strike to take place from September 12- November 1, 1891 across the Southern cotton states. Although calls to strike sent from Alliance headquarters in Houston claimed that “The biggest agricultural strike in the history of the world is imminent' and that its “organization has been perfected through colored alliances' with participants numbering “more than half a millions with thousands being added every day throughout the southern states', the strike never materialized. Southern cotton pickers largely ignored, or didn't know about, the proposed strike. In 1891, the Colored Farmers' Alliance was at its peak with 1,200,000 members, and while it represented an important phase of agrarian protest, the Alliance deteriorated rapidly after 1891.