Immigration in the 1920s USA

Why immigration?
1. To get away from war and poverty
2. Jews fleeing persecution
3. Many italians fleeing poverty- intended to make money and send it back home to their families
4. Most from: Great Britain, Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy
Attitudes to Immigration
1. America used to have an open-door policy
2. 1921 Emergency Quota Act- restricted immigration to 3% of all immigrants
3. 1924 Immigration Act reduced immigration to 2% and set a 150,000 limit/year
4. 1900-1920 -- 1.5 million immigrants emigrated from Europe to America
Challenges that immigrants faced
1. High levels of prejudice against eastern europeans and italians
2. Immigrants were often poor and un-skilled
  1. They lived in poor, high-crime areas
3. Some didn't bother to learn the language
4. Often brought bad influences and political ideas- ex: italian mafias and eastern europeans bringing communism
Sacco and Vanzetti case
1. April 1920- $15,000 stolen + 2 men killed in an armed robbery
  1. May 1920- Sacco and Vanzetti ( italian immigrants and anarchists) were found in the car the police thought was used for the crime and with 2 guns with matching bullets
    1. No clear evidence but case became more against their radical political ideas
      1. Prosecution used racism
        They were sentenced to death

Resumen del Recurso

	Creado por g-jacqmin hace más de 9 años