Divided Society Flashcards
What was the Immigration Law (1917)?
A law requiring all new immigrants to prove they could read English
What was the Immigration Quota Act (1921)?
A law which limited the number of immigrants to 357000 per year. The number of people coming to the USA from any one country could not exceed 3% of the number from that country already in the USA in 1910. This kept out people from Eastern Europe and Asia as there were few of them living in America.
What was the National Origins Act (1924)?
A law which reduced the Quota to 2% of the population and set the date back to 1890.
What what the changes to the laws regarding immigration (1929)?
The number of immigrants each year was reduced to 150000 and immigration from Asia was blocked altogether.
What caused the revival of the KKK?
The KKK was in decline but the release of a film, The Birth of a Nation (1915) revived membership. The film was set in the 1860s, just after the civil war. It glorified the Klan as defenders of American values against renegade African Americans and corrupt white businessmen. President Wilson had it shown in the White House. He described it as being ‘so terribly true’. With such publicity from prominent figures, the Klan became a powerful political force in the 1920s.
When was membership of the KKK at its highest and how many members were there?
- There were 5 Million members.
What is the main objective of the KKK?
The Ku Klux Klan was designed to terrorise black Americans in the Southern states. Its main objective was to preserve white supremacy after the slaves were freed in the USA with the abolition of the slave trade.
What kinds of people were members of the KKK?
- Native-born, white, American, Protestants.
- the KKK has a uniform which covers people’s whole body and face, and people in the Klan are only referred to by code names, so prominent members of society, such as police officers, judges, mayors or even the president could be members and no one would know.
