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The Jazz Age Introduction. Social and Cultural Changes in Post-WWI America . Nativism Resurges. During the 1920s, anti-immigrant and racist feelings increased Post-WWI fear of Germans and Communists spread to all immigrants
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The Jazz Age Introduction Social and Cultural Changes in Post-WWI America
Nativism Resurges • During the 1920s, anti-immigrant and racist feelings increased • Post-WWI fear of Germans and Communists spread to all immigrants • Nativism: desire to protect the interests of native-born Americans against those of immigrants • Prejudices and fears exemplified by the experience of two Italian immigrants: Nicola Sacco and Bartholomeo Vanzetti
Sacco-Vanzetti Case • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3SuTTcj2u8 Ben Shahn, 1932
“In all my life I have never stole, never killed, never spilled blood…We were tried during a time…when there was hysteria of resentment and hate against the people of our principles, against the foreigner…I am suffering because I am a radical and indeed I am a radical; I have suffered because I was an Italian and indeed I am an Italian…If you could execute me two times, and if I could be reborn two other times, I would live again to do what I have done already” –Bartolomeo Vanzetti
Pseudo-Scientific Racism • Eugenics: false science that deals with improving hereditary traits • States that human inequalities are inherited and warned against breeding the “unfit” or “inferior” • Led to more support for racist theories and strict immigration control • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaH0Ws8RtSc&list=PLC3807CB42A6306AE
Return of the Ku Klux Klan • Strong supporters of restricting immigration • Targeted groups that represented “un-American” values (African Americans, Catholics, Jews, immigrants, etc.) • Committed to preserving America’s white, Protestant civilization • 4 million members by 1924 • Sharp reduction in immigration disabled the KKK of it’s major issue • Since mid 1920s, the KKK had no major impact on national politics
Controlling Immigration • Emergency Quota Act • 1921: President Harding signed the Emergency Quota Act • Only 3% of the total number of foreign-born people of a nationality already living in the US could be admitted in a year