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... ed people culminated in 1924 act. Calvin Coolidge, the then President, observed when he signed the law: America must be kept American. However the quota systems did not place any restrictions on immigration from the Western Hemisphere, and consequently from immigration from Mexico and French Canada soared during the 1920 s. The fact that the US Government was now officially acting on the wide spread fear and dislike of those from ethnic backgrounds reflected the national mood of the twenties. During the 1920 s the Federal Government did little to alleviate poverty and socio-economic disadvantage amongst its ethnic minorities.
However at this time few Americans would have expected it to intervene in the way it does nowadays. There were rare instances where President Warren Harding spoke out against racial segregation, for example in Birmingham, Alabama, heartland of the racist South. However some cynics have argued that he did so primarily to win the electoral support of northern blacks. One historian even claimed that Harding had been inducted into the Ku Klux Klan in the White House during his presidency. Moreover the various administrations throughout the twenties seemed to condone racial discrimination. A half-hearted attempt to introduce an anti-lynching law in 1921 was defeated, with Southern Senators using filibustering tactics to prevent the legislation from being passed.
Despite acknowledging the issue of lynching in his first address to Congress in 1923, Coolidge subsequently did not act on the problem. Moreover, on the 18 th August 1925 the Ku Klux Klan was able to stage a 40, 000 man parade down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington D. C with no intervention from state officials. Furthermore the segregated facilities in government buildings introduced in the first decade of the century remained unchanged. The fact that the American government during the twenties was seen to be continually ignoring and avoiding issues related to ethnic minorities did not help to improve the hostile attitudes of its people. The growing spirit of intolerance erupting throughout America can be witnessed none clearer than in the wartime revival of the secret society, the Ku Klux Klan.
The newly re-modelled organisation of the Civil War days claimed to be fighting to protect native white Protestants from the alien elements within. They argued that the American way of life was under threat not only from the Negroes but also from Catholics, Jews and all immigrants. It emphasised the notion of 100 % Americanism. Its appeal was mainly sited in the Southern states, where the majority of black people lived, where the powerful idea of white supremacy went unquestioned. The Klans appeal also spread to the western and northern states, where Catholics and Jews became the targets. Throughout the 1920 s the Klans membership saw an increase, estimates at the time ranged from 3 - 5 million and profits rolled in from the sale these memberships, regalia, costumes and rituals.
The burning cross became their symbol. The Ku Klux Klan used intimidation, threats, beating and even murder in their quest for a purified America. Klan members, between 1920 - 27 it has been estimated, carried out the lynching of 416 Blacks in the Southern States. Research by writers at the time indicated that most of the victims were innocent or were only accused of minor offences.
The Klans influence reached its peak in the state of Indian where the Grand Wizard, David Stephenson was politically powerful. It was also alleged that in 1924 the Klan helped elect governor in Maine, Colorado and Louisiana. There is little doubt that while not all would go to the extremes of the Klan in terms of violence, many in rural America supported its ideology. However the Klan did not receive as strong a following in the larger cities of the north. Despite this, the support and more importantly the tolerance that many American people showed for the Ku Klux Klan during the twenties serves as evidence to show that attitudes towards ethnic minorities had been very much altered. The racial discrimination towards ethnic minorities during the twenties can also be seen in the job opportunities available to them.
Blacks, Mexicans, and the recent immigrants clustered as the bottom of the wage scale. All were usually the last hired and the first fired and performed menially jobs. Mexicans were employed as cheap labour on Californian farms. Wherever the minorities worked the native Americans saw them as a threat to their livelihood, as they normally accepted jobs that the whites did not want. Despite emancipation from slavery after the Civil War, the former slaves remained at the bottom of the social scale in the southern states, where most blacks lived. They lacked economic independence, since they largely worked in white-owned land.
Many poverty stricken Blacks migrated from the south to the north during the twenties, to fill the demand for unskilled labour in the North. This however led to resentment from the white workers who saw them as competitors. To add to their problem, Blacks were subject to discrimination at work too. Memberships to unions remained low throughout the twenties.
Although the American Federation of Labour officially prohibited racial discrimination, the independent unions within the AFL did discriminate against Black. Some had constitutional clauses limiting membership to whites only; others followed a de facto exclusion policy. The historian Hugh Brogan refers to black peoples problems: Trapped on a treadmill of poverty, poor education and discrimination, blacks faced formidable obstacles. During the 1920 s various groups of ethnic minorities were discriminated against through the act of segregation. Most commonly associated with Blacks, who were separated from whites in most public areas including trains, parks and even cemeteries, also extended to other minority groups. Orientals living in America were compelled to attend segregated schools.
Catholics, shunned by the Protestant majority in organised sport, formed a separate high-school athletic conference early in the 1920 s but was not allowed to merge with the public system until forced legislation to do so in 1966. Jews continued to be discriminated against in the twenties. They were casually excluded from large parts of American society. Attempts to restrict Jewish admission to law school began in the twenties, arising from resentment of their success in various careers. It was at this time that the expression Five oclock anti-Semitism entered the language.
It meant that people would work with Jew during the day (if they must), but wouldnt dream of socialising with them in the evenings. In can been said that the 1920 s were marked considerably by racial tensions between the ethnic minorities and those who upheld white Anglo-Saxon values. Grievances regarding ethnic minorities, that had been simmering throughout the native American population decades before, got stronger and came to be recognised. Tolerance for racist views in the media, literature and in organisations like the Ku Klux Klan. Similarly the hostile attitude of the Federal Government during the twenties did not set a good example for its people regarding ethnic groups. The racial prejudices that had been ingrained throughout American society in the 1920 s would only subside with the passage of time.
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Research essay sample on Racial Discrimination In America During The 1920s
