Hollis Watkins thinks it was difficult to intimidate these people once they had been activated because they were used to cooperating with one another. They habitually shared tools and exchanged labor. They had made a success of a cooperatively owned cotton gin. White gin-owners had been unable to put them out of business even by undercutting their prices. Most of those active in the movement were also members of the cooperative gin. Watkins feels it was the fact that these country people had such a sense of solidarity among themselves that made Holmes County special.
