...the premise of her argument is more or less the same argument made by C. Vann Woodword in Tom Watson: Agrarian Rebel and The Strange Career of Jim Crow, right? I realize his hypothesis is somewhat out of favor these days, but most would agree it's not entirely without merit.

A cynic, especially a Marxist cynic, might argue that it benefits the wealthy elite in both camps to use race-baiting to keep the peasants separated. It's interesting to see the Democrats benefiting from the inverse of the Southern strategy these days.