Chapter 17 Notes
The Sacco-Vanzetti Case
-April 15th, 1920 two men named Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo robbed and
murdered an owner of a shoe store in Massachusetts.
-Since Sacco and Vanzetti were anarchists (people who oppose all forms of
government) and they were foreign immigrants, many people thought they were
guilty.
-They also reported that Sacco had a gun similar to the murder weapon and the
bullets used to kill the store owner matched Sacco’s gun.
-Sacco and Vanzetti were found guilty and were sentenced to death. They were
executed on August 23, 1927
Return of the Ku Klux Klan
-The Ku Klux Klan is a group that wants to restrict immigration in the US.
-The Old Klan used threats and violence to intimidate newly freed African
Americans but the new Klan targets other groups such as Jews, Immigrants,
Catholics, and other groups who claim to be un-american.
-William J. Simmons founded the new Klan in Georgia, in 1915. He was a former
preacher who wanted to preserve americas white.
-The Klan attracted few members in 1920 until Simmons used a professional
promoter to attract nearly 4 million followers.
-In the late 1920’s the Klan began to decline and politicians backed by the Klan
were voted out of office.
Controlling Immigration
-In 1921 President Harding signed the Emergency Quota Act. The act restricted
annual admission to the United States to only 3 percent of the total number of
people in any ethnic group already living in the nation.
-In 1924 the National Origin Act made immigration restriction a permanent policy
and the law set quotas at 2 percent of each national group represented in the US
Census of 1890.
-The new quotas favored immigrants from northwestern Europe. Although
subsequent legislation made some changes in immigration laws, the National
Origins Act set the framework for immigration for the next four decades.
Hispanic Immigration
-Due to the reduction in competition with European immigrants for jobs,
employers needed laborers for agriculture, mining and railroad work.
-Since the National Origins Act of 1924 exempted natives of the Western
Hemisphere, Mexicans were able to fill the need of cheap workers.
-Large groups of Mexicans were already immigrating to the Us due to the
Newlines Reclamation Act of 1902, but as the demand for cheap labor steadily
increased Mexican immigrants crossed the border in record numbers.
-By the end of the 1920’s, nearly 700,000 had immigrated to the US.
Harlem Renaissance
-1920’s thousands of African Americas joined in the Great Migration from the
south to the cities in the north.
-The writers include: Claude Mckay who was the 1st important writer in Harlem
Ren. Langston Hughes was a prolific, original, and versatile writer known for
being a leading voice. Zora Neale Hurston was a women publisher of the 1930’s
who wrote of spirited portrays of rural African American culture.
Jazz, Blues and Theater
-Louis Armstrong was a New Orleans native who moved to Chicago in 1922 and
introduced jazz
-Cotton club was the most famous night club which only served whites
-Bessie smith was a famous singer who “symbolized soul” known as the
Empress of the blues
-Blues was a soulful style of music that evolved from African American spirituals
-Shuffle along was the first musical performed by African Americans
African Americans and 1920’2 politics
- 1919 1,300 African American veterans marched through manhattan to Harlem
- Black vote in the North
a. The African american population in the north grew increasing their voting
power
b. Most African Americans voted for the republicans
c. Oscar Depriest- the first African American congress member from the
North
- The NAACP (battles injustice
a. NAACP was the National Association for the Advancement of colored
people
b. Battles against segregation
c. Lobbied public officials and worked in the court systems
d. Lobbied against lynching in 1922
-Black Nationalism and Garvey
a. Marcus Garvey was a dynamic black leader from Jamaica
b. Captured the imaginations of millions African Americans with his “Negro
Nationalism”
c. Glorified Black culture and traditions
d. Founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA)
e. In 1920 he told his followers they would never find justice or freedom in
America
f. In 1927 President Coolidge deported Garvey back to Jamaica