The Wealth that Divided the Nation: Educational Uplift in the Farmers' Movement of Gilded Age America
Abstract
Drawing on scholarly journals and monographs, in this article I will contend that the approach to education of the Grange and the Farmers' Alliance, two major agricultural organizations, was very modern and efficient. They considered education as the most potent instrument that would eventually help to resolve the wealth gap problem in the United States.
This chapter surveys the period of the roughly two decades from the beginning of the 1870s until the emergence of the People's Party in the early 1890s. The first part uncovers the reasons that caused many farmers to barely make ends meet and later spurred them to join these two organizations.
The second part of the article deals with the formal and informal education programs conducted by the Grange and the Alliance.