Thread by @historysmith

Tonight is the #HATM Wicked party... and since Wicked is an adaptation of The Wizard of Oz, I'm going unload my version of the Oz allegory on you all.

Strap on your 🧹 this is going to be a long thread...

[General caveat: I am a generalist and defer to actual experts on populism, the 1890s, and Frank Baum.]

1st - there is no historical record that Frank Baum intended the original Wizard of Oz stories (1st published in 1900) as an allegory for contemporary political events
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Baum was a journalist prior to Oz, he was from the midwest where the Populist movement was strongest, he wrote about politics during the era, and some of his other Oz stories seem to allegorize other political movements (suffrage, for example).

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Baum never clearly owned up to Oz as an allegory - but observers have pointed out the linkages and it became a popular theory that the allegory was intended.

Regardless, the allegory creates an incredibly engaging set of parallels that make it a brilliant teaching tool. #HATM

Before we hit on the allegory, I run my students through an overview of the era. My lecture seeds the ground with references to historical people and events which appear as allegory in Oz.

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Disclaimer: As this is allegory - and unsubstantiated allegory at that - your mileage may vary as to the interpretations.

There are no right/wrong answers here... just a fun historical thought exercise.

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First up, we bring on Kansas badass Mary Lease.

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Lease was an early organizer whose work led to the start of the Populist Party. In 1890s she was organizing as part of a widespread farmers' revolt in Kansas - farmers faced declining prices, rising freight charges, and general collective farming hardships.

Dorothy?

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With some surprising success the 1890 midterm elections, the People's Party (Populists) met again in 1892 in Omaha, Nebraska to field their first national campaign.

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The Omaha Platform ended up being the blueprint for the next 30 years of progressive reforms even though the Populists themselves would #Spoilers mostly flame out after 1896.

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The Omaha Platform included
- direct elect Senators
- govt ownership of RRs
- graduated income tax
- 8-hour work day for govt emps
- Postal savings banks
- abolition of Pinkertons
- Secret ballot
- Unlimited (free) coinage of silver
- Pres/VP term limits

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The Omaha platform was the result of the merging of farmers and industrial labor unions. Both desired to challenge the monopolistic hegemony of Gilded Era big business.

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"Unlimited silver" was an ongoing issue for farmers. They wanted an increase in the 💰 supply to inflate the prices for their goods. Since 💰 at the time was backed by gold, they proposed adding silver at the ratio of 16oz silver for every 1oz gold... did you catch that???

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It is generally understood that Dorothy's companions represent different people/factions from this time.

The Scarecrow as the farmers;

The Tin Man as industrial labor.

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The Cowardly Lion is often derisively said to represent the Populist/Democratic Party nominee of William Jennings Bryan (both parties nominated him in 1896). This is considered to be a representation of Bryan's dovish views on the later Spanish American War.

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Munchkins may be the common people oppressed by eastern banks - Wicked Witch of the East - and natural western hazards such as drought - Wicked Witch of the West killed by 💦🤷‍♂️

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The Wizard parallels the Rep Party candidate of William McKinley - who ran a "front porch campaign" and was never seen on the campaign trail, represented only by surrogates... the man behind the curtain, if you will.

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The kicker is the slippers.

Dorothy gets the slippers from the Witch of the East (banks?), and then uses the secret power of the slippers to lead her party down the Yellow Brick Road to Oz.

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Nowadays, we commonly think of the slippers from the 1939 technicolor musical... and the Red Ruby Slippers that sparkled upon the golden road.

But in Frank Baum's original 1900 story, the slippers were.......... SILVER.

-Cue gasps of 😲from high school students😁

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Side note...

In the 1939 film, the ballon which brought the Wizard to Oz, and on which the accidently departs without Dorothy, is from the "Omaha State Fair."

Remember... Omaha 👆👆

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As to the flying monkeys... I'll leave that up to #HATM to determine the correct allegorical match.

If you are interested in reading more about the possible allegorical connections, the Wikipedia article is a good starting point, both for summary and links.

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en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political…

And if anyone with JSTOR access would be willing to pirate a pdf of "Silver Slippers and a Golden Cap: L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and Historical Memory in American Politics," well, I wouldn't turn it down. 😬

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