Racial Intolerance, Anti-immigrant Attitudes, and the Red Scare

Topic: Prosperity, Depression and the New Deal (1919-1941) The Post-World War I period was characterized by economic, social and political turmoil. Post-war prosperity brought about changes to American popular culture. However, economic disruptions growing out the war years led to worldwide depression. The United States attempted to deal with the Great Depression through economic programs created by the federal government.

Content Statement: Racial intolerance, anti-immigrant attitudes and the Red Scare contributed to social unrest after World War I.

Expectations for Learning: Describe how racial intolerance, anti-immigrant attitudes and the Red Scare contributed to social unrest after World War I.

The Great Migration The relocation of more than 6 million African Americans from the rural South to the cities of the North, Midwest and West Migrated north to Escape poverty Get jobs in factories making war items Escape discrimination

Racial Tensions After the war, whites came home African-Americans had moved into their neighborhoods African-Americans had taken their jobs Leads to discrimination/violence

Race Riots and Lynchings Discrimination continues Bloody race riots Thousands of lynchings took place In the South, Jim Crow laws continued

Rise of the KKK was due to the ever changing of a traditional America 1925: Membership of 5 million 1926: Marched on Washington Attack on urban culture and defends Christian/Protestant and rural values

KKK Against immigrants from Southern Europe, European Jews, Catholics and American Blacks Sought to win U.S. by persuasion and gaining control in local/state government Violence, internal corruption result in Klan’s virtual disappearance by 1930 but will reappear in the 1950s and 1960s

Nativism The policy of protecting the interests of native-born or established inhabitants against those of immigrants Most native born people objected to immigrants’ religious beliefs and felt that new religions would undermine America’s democratic institutions Immigrants would also accept lower wages to work jobs

Emergency Quota Act of 1921 Newcomers from Europe were restricted at any year to a quota, which was set at 3% of the people of their nationality who lived in the U.S. in 1910

Immigration Act of 1924 The quota was pushed down to 2% and the origins base was shifted to that of 1890, when few southeastern Europeans lived in America

Quotas Only 150,000 immigrants per year Barred Chinese, Japanese, and Asians

Immigrants and Intolerance An increase in immigration to the U.S. from southern and eastern Europe preceded World War I Nativism after the war was reflected in the passage of immigration quotas Intolerance toward immigrants, Catholics and Jews was exhibited by groups such as the Ku Klux Klan

Postwar Reaction The end of war did NOT bring peace to Europe Europe was torn apart and had many problems People revolted against their governments In the U.S. the end of the war led to fear of foreigners and radicals

Postwar Reaction The end of the war saw a large amount of labor strikes Many immigrants lost their factory jobs immediately after the war

The Red Scare Fears brought on by strikes and race riots, were often blamed on foreigners 1917 - The Communists are victorious in the Russian Revolution In 1919, now the Soviet Union, begins to export revolution around the world Americans blame revolutionaries for the troubles here

The Red Scare A time of great upheaval U.S. “scared out of their wits” “Reds” as they were called “Anarchists” “Outside Foreign-Born Radical Agitators” (Communists)

The Palmer Raids Hysteria grows when a series of bombings occurred in the spring of 1919 The Post Office intercepted several packages addressed to leading politicians and businessmen, that were set to explode when opened One bomb exploded outside the home of the attorney general, A. Mitchell Palmer Palmer sets up an anti-radical division of the Justice Department

The Palmer Raids J. Edgar Hoover was appointed to direct what becomes the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) November 1919, the first attacks, known as the “Palmer Raids” were made on private homes of suspected Communist sympathizers and on the headquarters of labor and radical organizations

The Palmer Raids January 1920, More than 6,000 radicals were arrested as a result of the Palmer Raids Civil liberties were violated as citizens and aliens alike were denied legal counsel and held without specific charges

Sacco - Vanzetti Case – May, 1920 The case began with the arrest of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti for murder and armed robbery in Massachusetts Although the evidence against them was inadequate, they were presumed guilty because they were anarchists Anarchism - the idea that all forms of government are bad and should be done away with

Sacco - Vanzetti Case The judge was openly prejudiced This case illustrates what hatred and prejudice can do The men were convicted, sentenced to death, and despite worldwide protests, they were executed in 1927 Many decades later they were posthumously exonerated by the Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis

Summary Video