It would be several generations before North Carolinians again witnessed the interracial cooperation that marked the race for governor in 1896. After a heated struggle, the Fusionists nominated Daniel Russell, a broad-faced, fleshy white man of nearly 300 pounds, for governor. Though many of the African-American delegates had favored another candidate, Russell swore his support for black advancement.

"I stand for the Negroes' rights and liberties," he declared. "I sucked at the breast of a Negro woman. I judge from the adult development the milk must have been nutritious and plentiful," Russell joked, mocking his enormous girth. "The Negroes do not want control. They only demand, and they ought to have it, every right a white man has."

Campaign fliers from the 1896 election reveal the Fusionist effort to appeal to black voters. "To the Colored Voters of Union County" reminded African-Americans that "two years ago the Republicans and Populists of North Carolina united and made one grand struggle for liberty," and that only this defeat of the Democrats enabled blacks to vote again. "THE CHAINS OF SERVITUDE ARE BROKEN," the interracial alliance reminded black citizens in an appeal to race pride. "NOW NEVER LICK THE HAND THAT LASHED YOU."

Such appeals brought black voters out in a gesture of audacious hope that the interracial democracy born in Reconstruction, but dead for 20 years, could be revived. An estimated 87 percent of eligible black voters went to the polls in 1896, and Russell was elected.