Name: Group Work!

20’s Society

Reasons for the Palmer Raids

● Palmer raids done by the Justice Department to capture and arrest radicals.
● 4 million workers go on strike
● US Post office finds [38 bombs] sent to politicians.
● 1919 – 1,000’s of communists and anarchists were charged, hundreds deported.
● No evidence that communism was going to spread, but [fear of radicals] everywhere.

After World War 1, America became

● Xenophobic & Isolations, Nativist & Intolerant
● Isolationist – the policy of [staying out of world problems] (We did not join the League of Nations)
● Nativist – favoring [native, born, white protestants]
● Xenophobia – the fear of [immigrants]
o Chinese Exclusion Act
o The Red Scare (1919) – people afraid of communists in the US
o 1924 National Origins Act – [set limits] (quotas) on immigration from South and Eastern
European countries (Communism)

Sentence Summary: [America wanted to stay out of world problems and did not join the league of nations,
also being scared of immigrants.]

The Sacco & Vanzetti Trial

● 2 Italian immigrants accused of robbery and murder
● “Looked Italian” with big mustache
● Had [radicals beliefs], were convicted without
[witnesses or evidence]
● Executed in 1927

Intolerance – Rise of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK)

● Anti - [Black, Jewish, Catholic, and Immigrant]
● Membership rose in the 20’s, 4-5 million
● Sold membership door to door ($10)
● Lynching, cross burnings, boycotted Jewish businesses

Reactions: 1920’s Civil Rights Groups

● NAACP – opposed [lynching and segregatiom]
● American Civil Libertie Union (ACLU) – defends people whose [civil rights are violated] (Sacco
and Vanzetti)
● Jewish Anti-Defamation League (ADL) – fought against anti-Semitism (Hatred of Jews)

Sentence Summary: [There were many horrors such as the sacco and vanzetti trial, and the KKK which
led the US to react.]

Social Ideas Clash

● Social and Cultural issues divide America
 ● Modernism accepted [change and new science discoveries over traditional ideas of religion] over
traditional ideas of religion.
● Fundamentalists believed [bible was the literal truth] and answers were found there.
● Scopes Trial – about the [teaching of evolution in schools]
● Called the “money trial”, Clarence Darrow defended Scopes while William Jennings Bryant
defended the Bible.

Top 5: [KKK, xenophobic, isolationist, communism, nativist]

Summary: [After WW1, The US became isolationist and navitist. There were many horrors such as the
sacco trial, and the KKK which led to reactions from the US, ex: NAACP, ACLU, and ADL. Social ideas
also clashed and megan to divide America. ]