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Immigrants In The 1920's

Decent Essays

Prior to the 1920s, President Theodore Roosevelt led the Americans under the progressive wing, by eliminating political corruption, improving societal matters and regulating the economy. After a decade of this stable economy, the roaring twenties transformed into a period of cultural dynamism that included mass culture, hyper-emotional patriotism and debates over American morals and its national identity. The era transformed through industrial growth with a high consumer demand. However, leading after the era of wealth and excess, the Great Depression negatively affected the majority of the citizens leaving them unemployed, homeless and desperate for change. Ultimately, the nativist groups and restrictions on immigrants were not entirely abolished …show more content…

Before World War I, Americans were afraid that the radical liberalists, and international migrants would promote anarchism throughout the U.S; therefore, the government implemented more restrictions on freedom of speech and the new communication systems like the Espionage Act and the Sedition Act in order to avoid this approaching issue.Additionally, President Wilson’s anti-hyphenate sentiments increased his doubts over the Americans of foreign birth since he feared they would betray the U.S during WWI. So too, The Palmer Raids in 1919 were a cause of the divided loyalties presented by the immigrants. After WWI, this discontentment continued by the National Origins Act which was aimed at limiting the number of immigrants coming to live in America- specifically southern and eastern Europeans. Throughout 1929 and 1939 President Hoover’s pressure over the Great Depression influenced him to continue this nativist sentiment and forced as many as two million Mexicans out of the U.S without due process- making them the scapegoat to the economic decline in the Mexican Repatriation. Despite the Ku Klux Klan’s lesser public violence after the 1920s, their anti-immigrant sentiments were still present in fear of overpopulation and increasing competition with the European immigrants. Lastly, in 1942 relationship between the Mexicans and Americans subtly improved since President …show more content…

Not long before the emergence of the Harlem Renaissance were the African Americans (hereinafter AA) mandated strict racial segregation seen with a lesser value than the white southern men. The Jim Crow Laws enabled the AA to ride the same railroads, drink from the same water fountains and obligated them to take a literacy test. The idea of being separate but equal was established in 1896, nearly half a century before the Jelly Roll Morton and the distinctive Jazz styles that emerged. This new Black identity was triggered by the Great Migration along the 1920s and the Harlem Renaissance became the hub of the new black community, whom were no longer seen as an inferior race. Louis Armstrong, one of the most popular AA entertainers, along with many others shifted the music from collective improvisation to a solo performance. His skin color was no longer seen as a the major defining factor, and his superior talent led him to the upper echelons of American society. These intellect and production of literature, art and music challenged racism and stereotypes- ending the old view of the blacks- and established a new black

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