Racial and Political Intolerance
in the 1920s.
BY: WEST, KISSY, DANIELLE & ZACK
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Red Scare
Main Idea
Important
Facts
(Dates/
People)
KKK
Monkey
Trial
Vanishing
Americans
Immigration
Nearly 9 million people immigrated to the US from
1901-1910
Immigrants were mostly Jews, Eastern Europeans,
and Italians. They were looked down on by more
established immigrants like Germans and Irish.
Red Scare
After the Bolshevik Revolution, Americans feared
immigrants would bring radical ideas to America
In 1919 400,000 workers went on strike, which at
the time was seen as a sign of Communist influence
American suspicions were not entirely false, as
Anarchists did distribute pamphlets, and bombs
went off in multiple cities.
Sacco and Vanzetti
Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were arrested
for armed robbery and murder in 1920.
During their trial, it was discovered they were
anarchists. The trial became more about their
radical beliefs than their crimes
They were convicted based on weak evidence and
executed in 1927.
Sacco and Vanzetti
Questions
What effect did immigration have on the Red Scare?
Why were Palmer’s purges initially so popular?
What does the Sacco and Vanzetti trial show about
prejudices in the 1920’s?
Immigration Quotas
In 1924 because of the fear of radicals the
government restricted immigration.
They created a system that primarily only let
immigrants from north-west Europe(British, Irish, &
German) in to the U.S.
Before more than a million immigrants a year wer
coming in the U.S. between 1901 and 1910 and by
1929 only 150,000 per year were coming into the
U.S.
The Experience of black Americans
The first black people were brought to America as
slaves by white settlers in the seventeenth century.
When slavery was ended in the nineteenth century
there was more black than white people in the
southern United States.
The whites feared that the blacks would gain power
so they placed many laws restricting their freedom
such as they couldn’t vote, denied access to good
jobs, and good education.
The Ku Klux Klan
They were a white supremacy movement.
Used violence to intimidate black Americans.
Was declining in numbers until the film The Birth of a Nation
was released in 1915.
The film showed the KKK as being good and defending decent
American values against renegade black people and corrupt
white businessmen.
President Wilson supported the movie by saying how true it
all was which led to political figures in the klan.
After the KKK started to grow again blacks faced fierce racism
and were lynched without trial if suspected of a crime.
Soon most blacks left the rural south and went to the big cities
of the north.
Klan meeting of the KKK
Questions:
Which part of Europe did the U.S. allow into the
country as immigrants?
What was the purpose of the Ku Klux Klan?
Mitchell Palmer
In 1919, one of these bombs almost killed Mitchell
Palmer, the US Attorney General.
Palmer then appointed J Edgar Hoover to handle
“purges.”
From 1919-1920, Hoover notified 10,000 supposed
radicals that they would be deported.
Palmer saw his purges were popular, and tried to
build popularity to run for president. However, it
was discovered that only 556 of Hoover’s cases had
any fact to them.
Improvements on black society
Growing Black middle class in the north
Better chance of jobs and education in north
(Howard University)
‘Black Capitalist’ Movement
Harlem Renaissance: celebration of music and
creativity in black society.
Blacks entered Politics: WEB DuBois founder of
NAACP, campaigned to end racial segregation laws.
Marcus Garvey UNIA, urged blacks to be proud of
their race.
Improvements of black society
Problems with Black Society
Blacks lived in poverty in the north. Poorer housing
with higher rent.
Suffered prejudice from whites.
Poorer education than whites.
Blacks migrants from south were blamed by middle
class black in the north for intensifying white racism.
Questions:
What was celebrated at the Harlem Renaissance?
Who was the founder of the Universal Negro
Improvement Association (UNIA)?
Vanishing Native Americans
Almost disappeared as an ethic group in the 19th
century- 1.5 million to 250,000 in the 1920s
Those who survived were forced to leave their
traditional way of life and live on reservations
Vanishing Native Americans
Vanishing Americans
12 thousand had served in the armed forces in World
War One.
Changed white attitudes towards them for the better
However, the census in 1920 and a survey proved
that Native Americans were living in poverty:
They had lower life expectancy, bad health, poorer
education and poorer paid jobs.
Continue
Native Americans were extremely discriminated
against. They were loosing land quickly:
Mining companies were legally able to seize their
land. Others gave up on trying to live their way of life
traditionally, giving land to others in search of other
jobs.
1924: they were given citizenship and were able to
vote.
1934- New Deal introduced reforms to laws relating
to Native Americans
Monkey Trial
Focus of ill-feeling between the rural and urban
areas of the United States: rural areas were
completely religious, urban areas believed Darwin’s
theory of evolution
Rural areas were Protestants and were
Fundamentalists- led by William Jennings Bryan
Urban areas taught Darwin’s theory to the children
Monkey Trial
Bryan passed a law forbidding schools to teach
Darwin’s theory in six states.
John Scopes deliberately broke this law to be
arrested and put a case up against fundamentalism
in the court system.
In July 1925 both sides had good lawyers and went to
court in Tennessee. Traditionalists joined the battle
Scopes was convicted of breaking the law but Bryan
was proved to be ignorant and confused about
religion and science- anti-evolution lobby never
recovered.
Monkey Trial
Review:
Why were Native Americans loosing a lot of their
land?
Why was 1924 a turning point for Native Americans?
What was the cause of ill-feeling between the urbans
and rural areas?
What was the outcome of the Monkey Trial?
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