Civil Rights Violations during the ‘20s

Objective: Assess the reasons for the palmer raids, red scare, communism in America, KKK, and Immigration Quotas

APK

• During Industrialization there was a need for immigrants to do work

• Worry that they would ruin American “way of life”– Nativists– Melting Pot v Salad Bowl

• Civil liberties – individual rights

Importance

• After Sept 11 there was a movement of hatred against who?

• Rights were taken away in the name of security– Wire tapping– Obtain library records or check out books

Importance

• According to Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer, what was "eating its way into the homes of the American workman, its sharp tongues . . . licking the altars of the churches"?– 1. Communism.– 2. The philosophy of nativism.– 3. The hopelessness of poverty.– 4. Governmental abuse of civil rights.

Vocab• Harass

– to annoy persistently• Isolationism

– abstention from alliances• Communism

– goods are owned in common and are available to all as needed • Quota

– a fixed number or percentage of minority group members• Dominate

– 1to exert the supreme determining or guiding influence on• Anarchist

– a person who rebels against any authority, established order, or ruling power

Nativism

• After the war people turned to isolationism – Isolationism also lead to a strong nativist

movement

• Keep America for Americans became the new attitude for Americans– Anti-immigrant feelings started in 1880s– Gentleman’s Agreement, Chinese Exclusion Act,

Anti-German/Austro Hungarian during the war

Nativism

• Most immigrants were unskilled and took jobs that offered low wages

• After the war fewer non-skilled jobs were available – Don’t need immigrants in the US– Believed labor unions and immigrants were

communist • Main Communist color is red = RED SCARE

Quota System

• Congress decided to limit immigrants from the South & Eastern Europe

• Emergency Quota Act set up the Quota system– Established maximum number of people from

each foreign country– Limited to 2% of countries population in 1890– 1920 only 150,000 people from any country

KKK

• Anti-Immigrant sentiment offered people the chance to harass groups that were not like them

• KKK – Ku Klux Klan – devoted to 100% American– White male persons, native born gentile citizens

• Believed – keeping blacks “in their place”– Destroying Saloons– Opposing Unions– Driving Roman Catholics, Jews, foreign born people out of

the country

KKK

• Recruited members to the clan• Dominate in the South• Controlled state politics– Allowed criminal activity– Also lead to the downfall of the clan

Red Scare

• Communism caused Russia to pull out of WWI• Become leery of anything that pushes people

to be equal– Get rid of capitalism because there is competition

• Communist Party formed in America– Quickly made up of 70,000 people– Including members of labor unions

Red Scare• Nicola Sacco & Bartolomeo Vanzetti – Italian immigrants and anarchists– Dodged the draft in WWI

• Arrested on charges of robbery & murder– Witness said criminals appeared to be Italians– Had good alibis and bad evidence– Judge made prejudicial statements– Found guilty and sentenced to death– Gov of Mass denied a stay and they were

electrocuted• 1961 bullet was from Sacco’s gun but no proof he

pulled the trigger

Palmer Raids

• US Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer – Wanted to protect America from Communism

• 1919 hunted down, anarchists, socialist, Communists– Ignored civil rights to arrest people who assumed to

the “enemy”– Invaded homes– Put people in jail with out cause– Didn’t allow legal counsel

• Failed to find evidence of conspiracy– No bombs either

Importance

• According to Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer, what was "eating its way into the homes of the American workman, its sharp tongues . . . licking the altars of the churches"?– 1. Communism.– 2. The philosophy of nativism.– 3. The hopelessness of poverty.– 4. Governmental abuse of civil rights.

Closure

• In the 1920’s, the growth of the Ku Klux Klan and the establishment of immigration quotas reflected a re-emergence of American belief in– 1. nativism.– 2. socialism.– 3. imperialism.– 4. internationalism.

Importance

• According to Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer, what was "eating its way into the homes of the American workman, its sharp tongues . . . licking the altars of the churches"?– 1. Communism.– 2. The philosophy of nativism.– 3. The hopelessness of poverty.– 4. Governmental abuse of civil rights.

Closure

• In the 1920’s, the growth of the Ku Klux Klan and the establishment of immigration quotas reflected a re-emergence of American belief in– 1. nativism.– 2. socialism.– 3. imperialism.– 4. internationalism.