Lewis Porter Featherstone (July 28, 1851 – March 14, 1922) was an American planter and farm activist who served for one year as a Labor Party U.S. Representative from Arkansas from 1890 to 1891.
By 1892, constantly under attack for supporting efforts to preserve the right of blacks and poor whites to vote, Featherstone was one of the Union Labor members who joined the Populist Party, and served as platform committee chairman at the state party convention, which adopted a resolution (introduced by a black delegate from the St. Francis County delegation) calling on Arkansas "to elevate the down-trodden sons and daughters of industry in all matters ... irrespective of race or color."
Featherstone was the head of the Arkansas delegation to the Populist national convention in Omaha.
After the defeat in 1892 of the Arkansas Populists, Featherstone abandoned politics as populism faded, and Arkansas Democrats reasserted their political dominance by means of laws that disenfranchised many black and poor white voters.
[4] This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress