Green Corn Rebellion Essay

GREEN CORN REBELLION

The Green Corn Rebellion was a short-lived uprising against the United States federal government. The rebellion was unique to Oklahoma and it spanned three counties: Pottawatomie, Pontotoc and Seminole. It consisted mainly of poor white men, but it also included African Americans and Native Americans as well. The cause, outcome and historical significance are all important factors of the Green Corn Rebellion. This small rebellion rarely makes it into the history books, but it had a great impact on the Socialist Revolution, which began around 1910 and continues even today. Many people consider World War One, which began in 1914, as the beginning of the Socialist Movement.

There are several causes of the Green Corn Rebellion,

Socialism is nothing more than communism with a different name. They believed that everything from where you attend church to the items you buy at the store should be regulated by the community as a whole. In the early 1900s, before the Socialist Revolution began, the Working Class Union was popular with many Oklahomans. The Working Class Union sought labor reforms, old-age pensions, free school textbooks, and the abolishment of rent, all of which were important to the working class. According to the Encyclopedia of the Great Plains, by the time of the United States’ entry to World War One, the Working Class Union held thirty-five thousand members from Oklahoma, half of the state’s male population at that

These farmers thought that the Socialist party could help them using such organizations as the Renter’s Union. They soon learned that to receive help of any kind from the Socialists, they would first have to join the Industrial Workers of the World. The Industrial Workers of the World, however, only admitted wageworkers. Since these men had no jobs because of the war, the Working Class Union continued to hold the membership of many Oklahomans.

All these ideas were simmering in the hearts of farmers throughout the summer of 1917. One thousand five hundred men met at the farm of John Spears in Sasakwa, Oklahoma on August 3. These men included whites, Africans and Indians, all united by a common cause. They devised a plan. Two days later, they would march to Washington D.C. in protest of the war and the Conscription Act. They intended to overthrow the government in Washington and replace it with the Socialist Party. On the way, they planned to live on barbecued beef and green corn, which gave the rebellion its