Ethnic Prejudice - Sacco & Vanzetti

Question 1

What was the Open Door Policy?

Answer 1

• Introduced in the late 1800s and encouraged immigration
  
  • 1920: Over 40 million people immigrated to the US
  • Push factor: escaping poverty, Pull factor: hope of equality of opportunity

Question 2

Describe the immigration process.

Answer 2

1. Most immigrants travelled by sea.
2. As many as 5000 could arrive per day
3. Undergo several medical tests - diseased were either kept on Ellis Island for months or deported
4. Were given literacy tests to ensure their usefulness to society

Question 3

Describe anti-immigrant attitudes.

Answer 3

1. Politicians would often declare their intolerance publicly i.e President Coolidge: ‘ America must be kept for Americans’
2. 1920: Many Americans disapproved of the Open Door Policy b/c they feared its economic, social and political impacts.
   • Economic: Taking jobs American thought were theirs and drove down wages b/c so many immigrants were competing for jobs. Many were also illiterate and were thought to be burdens on society

• Social: Overcrowded slums were associated with crime and violence.
• Political: Immigrants were thought to be unpatriotic and were feared to hold dangerous extremist and radical views like anarchism and communism. The trauma of WW1 and the Red Scare heightened this tension.
  3. Increase in attacks led by the KKK

Question 4

What effect did the anti-immigrant attitudes have on American society?

Answer 4

Slowed the emergence of ethnic and racial diversity

Question 5

Outline the Sacco and Vanzetti case.

Answer 5

1. Sacco and Vanzetti Italian anarchist immigrants
2. April 1920: A man and his armed guard were attacked by two men and shot, and paymaster his described his attackers as slim foreigners with olive skin before he died.
3. May 1920: S and V were arrested and tried at the height of the Red Scare
4. Public opinion was aginst them b/c of their political ideology and ethnicity.
5. 107 witnesses gave S and V an alibi but were ignored b/c many of them were immigrants too.
6. The prosecution’s 67 witnesses with frequently changing testimonies were believed.
7. August 1927: Given the electric chair.

Question 6

Why was the Sacco and Vanzetti case so controversial? What did it show about American society? What was the verdict fuelled/influenced by?

Answer 6

1. The case was really about a visceral hatred for immigrants and was fuelled by anti-immigrant and anti-communist hysteria.
2. May 1921: Judge Thayer was prejudiced against them, ‘ Did you see what I did to those anarchistic bastards?’
3. The American justice system was corrupt and prejudiced.
4. Became a warning to other immigrants.