Divided Society Flashcards
What did the Jim Crow Laws mean for African Americans in Southern States?
In the southern states they had Jim Crow Laws. Black Americans could not serve on juries. Schools for black Americans were far worse, and were underfunded. A literacy test, run by each state, determined whether you could vote. If you did not have property in a southern state, you could not vote.
What did the KKK do?
KKK white supremacist group targeted black people, Roman Catholics, Jews, and immigrants. Predominant in the south. 5 million members in the mid 1920s. 1920s the KKK was responsible for 400 lynchings. KKK members held positions in legal administration in politics. Politicians also did little so as not to lose votes.
What was life like for African Americans in the North?
African American Experience in the North: Jim Crow Laws did not exist here. Although African Americans received more jobs in the north, they often had menial jobs. 60% of black American women in Milwaukee worked as domestic servants. Wages of black Americans were lower than white Americans for the same jobs. Car factories often operated under an all-white employment policy. By 1933 over half of black Americans in the north were dependent on government support.
Who were the NAACP and what did they do?
Improvements: NAACP had 90,000 members by 1919. Civil Rights group that used legal action to improve the lives of black Americans. Supported cases against lynching and segregation.
UNIA was led by Marcus Garvey and had 1 million members by 1921. Black nationalism - a focus on black separatism, did not want to work with white people. Black Star steamship company aimed to take black Americans back to Africa.
What was Immigration like in the USA?
The USA had an open door policy to migration. By 1920 more than 40 million people had arrived. Between 1900 and 1914 13 million who arrived were from eastern Europe, Italy, Greece and Russia. American populations dislike the new religions (Catholicism, Orthodox Christianity, Judaism), they also blame immigrants for crime, violence and disease.
How were immigrants treated?
Immigrants were blamed for taking jobs, being a burden on society. Americans believed that immigrants did not support America, associated with organised crime (italians and mob violence); they also associated immigrants with Communism.
How did the US Congress restrict immigration?
Literacy test in 1917. Emergency Quota Act 1921 restricting the total number of immigrants to 357,000 per year, this was then extended to 3% of the 1910 population and could be accepted after 1921. National Origins Act 1924 reduced the maximum number of immigrants to 150,000 per year and cut the quota to 2% of the 1890 population. Restricts immigration particularly from Asia, south and eastern Europe.
Hostility towards Migrants
Red Scare comes in the wake of the Communist Revolution in Russia in 1917. People believed that a communist coup might happen. 1919 there was a general strike in Seattle, for which the Communists were blamed. Bombs planted in Wall Street in September 1920 were blamed on Communists. Palmer Raids were government ordered raids on left-wing accused members of government and citizens. 6,000 people were arrested and held in a prison without a trial, 556 were deported on flimsy evidence.
Sacco and Vanzetti case
Two Italian immigrants. Both were anarchists, avoided serving in WW1, they spoke little English. In April 1920 the paymaster of a shoe factory was attacked and shot by two thieves. The paymaster died but described his attackers as foreigners with oily skin.
Sacco and Vanzetti were arrested and found with antigovernmental pamphlets and guns in their car. Defence team had 107 witnesses alleging that they had seen both men elsewhere during the crime; the prosecution’s 61 witnesses said they had seen the men committing the crime. The jury believed the 61 witnesses and they were convicted and executed (even though a man named Celestino Madeiros later admitted to the crime).
Organised crime and prohibition
January 1918 18th Amendment made it illegal to manufacture, transport and sell alcohol in the USA. 1919 Volstead Act set down in more detail the punishments for breaking the new law. It resulted in thousands of speakeasies opening, 1929 32,000 in New York. Increased alcohol-related deaths from 98 in 1920 to 760 in 1926. Corruption increased, bribing of police officers, judges. Increased violence from organised crime. 1926-1927 there were 130 murders in Chicago.
Why did prohibition fail?
Failed because of a lack of public support. President Harding reputedly flouted the law. Alcohol was readily available. Prohibition Agents were underpaid, making bribes easier. Congress reported on widespread corruption under President Harding, the Ohio Gang included members of his administration, with links to organised crime.
When and How did Prohibition end?
Prohibition ended in 1933 with the 21st Amendment. The Wickersham Commission, set up by President Hoover had declared Prohibition unenforceable. Deaths from unregulated alcohol were increasing. Cost of enforcement was 13.4 million dollars.
