I've been reading about the symbolism in The Wizard of Oz and it talks about the Farmer's Alliance and the growing Populist Party in the midwest during the 1890s. Does anyone know if these alliances or the Populist Party itself was popular among farmers and citizens in the O.T. or I.T.?

The Farmer's Alliance was a biggie in the early 1890's with unions all over the place. Some papers donated a large section of their space to the thing.

Doug01 you might be interested in a book called "Mean Things Happening In This Land" by H. L. Mitchell who was a founder of the Southern Tenant Farmer's Union. It has been a number of years since I read it but as I recall it is a good first person account of the Populist/Progressive/Socialist movement in Oklahoma and the surrounding area. As for the popularity of Populism in the twin territories I suspect that it was pretty high. The young state of Oklahoma gave Eugene Debbs the Socialist candidate for president a higher percentage of votes than any other state in the election of 1912. I was also surprised to learn from my grandmother that my Great Uncle Gene's full name was Eugene Debs Citron.

Thanks Tower and Dr. Rigsby for your responses. Dr. Rigsby, I'll try to check out the book you mentioned.