Was American Society Intolerant in the 1920’s?
American society was undergoing vast changes in the early twentieth
century. The world was changing and America was not to be left behind.
The twentieth century brought with it to America the consumer age and
although technology was becoming more advanced was society really
progressing with the times and becoming as ‘civilised’ as people liked to
believe? In the past America had been a very intolerant society with
slavery being one of its key industries and although it operated a ‘melting
pot’ open door policy was the white, Anglo Saxon, Protestant (W.A.S.P)
society really as open minded as they liked to believe about the diversity
of other cultures?
The aim of this essay is to try and explore how tolerant American society
really was, looking into the key areas of racism, political intolerance and
religion.
In the 1920’s, political intolerance in America rose drastically, not only
with the re- formation of racist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan, but also
with congress passing immigration laws and events such as the Palmer
raids. Before the 1920’s America operated a ‘melting pot’ policy, which
meant that anyone was welcome to immigrate to the U.S.A and they
would be welcome. People would melt different cultures together to form
an ‘American’ culture. However this was not working, as although people
migrated, they did not ‘melt’ their cultures together and instead carried
on following the traditions that they were brought up with. American’s
such as the W.A.S.P’s began to feel threatened by immigrants and began
to see them as cultural and political threats. They particularly felt the
threat of Communism and Anarchism, as they were not only very
politically right wing, but also because these two groups of people went
against the ‘American Dream’ and it’s theory that your own hard work
will make you successful. As a result of these fears, the Republican
government brought in immigration controls in the 1920’s called the
Quota Acts. These were laws that controlled the number or people
allowed into the country per year and were designed to hit smaller
immigrant communities very hard. They were also racist laws as they
discriminated against eastern and southern Europeans and the quotas
themselves completely excluded Japanese and Chinese people. The
Russian revolution in 1919 created a world spread fear of Communism
and panic gripped America and the though of Communism spreading
there. With thousands of immigrants pouring in, the fear was that they
would bring socialist ideas with them and Communism would take over.
Anti-communist feelings spread the nation, resulting in Palmer raids,
where General Palmer ordered all socialists to be rounded up and
deported. This was known as the Red Scare. It continued for quite a while,
however the fact that basic civil liberties had been withdrawn from people
accused of socialism, created a massive uproar within the general public
and made Palmer unpopular. One of the most famous cases of civil rights
being removed from immigrants is the Sacco-Vanzetti case. They were
two anarchist men accused of robbery and even though there was
evidence in their favour, they were still found guilty and hung despite
large protests from huge crowds. This case shows how intolerant many
people in America were, particularly to new ideas and theories, however
the demonstrations from the public also prove that their were plenty of
people who were open to new ideas and still wanted what the ‘American
Dream’ proclaimed; equal rights for all.
Racism was always an issue in American society, with black people until
late in the nineteenth century being enslaved to the white population.
After slavery was abolished, many white people resented not being able to
keep coloured people under control and hated their new found freedom.
Although they were lawfully equal to
white people, they were still
discriminated against, especially by groups such as W.A.S.P’s and the Ku
Klux Klan. America was divided on the issue of black people and whilst
most people in the north accepted the fact that black people were to be
treated humanly, those in the south did not. This was probably because
southerners had relied heavily on slave labour to carry out the heavy
agricultural tasks that their trades produced. As a result of slavery being
abolished, they now had to pay people to carry out these tasks. As a result
hostility between black and white people in the south was very high and in
1919 all southern states passed the ‘Jim Crow Laws.’ These laws
originated from the Black Codes that were enforced before black people
were lawfully given equal rights. The ‘Jim Crow Laws,’ segregated black
people from white, in schools, restaurants, hospitals on buses and in other
public places. The laws varied from state to state, from placing curfew
times on black people to working conditions, but they generally all had the
same purpose; to ‘put blacks in their place’ and to ensure that in social
hierarchy white people remained on top and blacks at the bottom. On top
of the ‘Jim Crow Laws,’ black American’s who lived in the south also had to
combat with the Ku Klux Klan. A racist organisation who not only disliked
black people, but also Catholics, Jews, homosexuals and those who
supported the Republicans. They dressed in white robes, had secret
identities and their own leaders and even language. Their membership was
very widespread with over four million members nationwide by 1924 and
any crimes they committed were over looked, as most judges, police and
juries were white and therefore members of this extreme activist group.
The klan got their way and punished those they didn’t like by using extreme
violence such as lynching and terror tactics to get people to do as they
wished. However after 1925 they did begin to go into decline as a result of
‘se lf- inflicted wounds.’ The klan’s leader raped a woman during an
overnight train
journey, ruining their reputation, as this directly went
against their belief’s of ‘defending the purity of Christian womanhood.’
This proved their policies to be lies and therefore resulted in loss of
support. This shows that although American society was intolerant, it was
not only intolerant of people different from themselves, but also those that
lied and cheated such as the klan and strayed away from Christian
practices.
In the 1920’s, cultural was becoming more diverse as a result of lots of
different people from different areas of the world living in the same
country. As well as cultural diversity there was also religious diversity and
although the main religion of America was Christianity different
denominations of the religion was as common as bread and butter. As
religious diversity became more widespread, the idea that the religion was
not as important as it used to be also became rather common. Church
attendance was drastically falling and Christian revivalism became a hot
area for many media stars such as Billy Sunday and Aimee McPherson to
make millions. New techniques were introduced to draw people to church.
Billy Sunday turned Evangelicalism into consumer products, using loud
sermons, blended political theory and cultural conversation to attract
crowds. He appealed particularly to the Ku Klux Klan, as he had a
conservative nature and believed in the restoration of pure religious faith.
Aimee McPherson on the other hand was a radio preacher. She made
Christianity less scary for the population and talked about a loving God as
opposed to the wraths of hell. Her youthful ways and good humor drew
young crowds in and she fused fundamentalism with Hollywood glamour
and sex appeal. The revivalism movement received a lot of support in
America within the l920’s, this was as a result of people’s open attitudes
towards change and the way aspects of life such as religion could be made
more interesting by the new liberalist attitude society and the media had
developed. However, Christian fundamentalist groups such as W.A.S.P still
believed in strict Protestant, moral behavior and refused to accept much of
the new way of life and new discoveries and theories that were around.
Many did not accept philosophies such as the theory of evolution and in
some states schools were banned from teaching these new ideas. However
one man, John Scopes went against this and taught the theory in his
lessons and this resulted in the monkey trials, in which Scopes was put on
trial and the theory of evolution was put up against the creation theory.
Scopes was found guilty, which proved to the world that America was still
intolerant of different people’s attitudes and they did not want to accept
change. Religion and God were still an important part of their lives even
though they were a very developed country.
In the l920’s, American society was filled with diversity. Not only in the
way of culture and religion, but also opinions, both political and racial.
Although there were extremist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan who
opposed any type of diversity such as homosexuality, there were also
those who campaigned for liberal rights of others, such as the people who
fought for Sacco and Vanzetti when they were put on trial.
Political intolerance was at its peak point, as the Quota Acts were
introduced during this period in American history. These not only
discriminated against small ethnic groups, but also completely excluded
East Asians such as the Chinese and Japanese. The Red Scare may have
swept America, but once society began to be attacked as a result of the
fear of Communism via the Palmer Raids, people began to protest against
this, showing that although socialist views were not accepted, American
society was not prepared to allow the government to withdraw civil rights
from anyone. Society began to accept new ideas and crazes that swept
the nation such as the rise of Hollywood and the Media. New ideas were
accepted within American society, such as equality, however much of the
old such as religion still an important part of life was. When it comes to
assessing whether or not American society was tolerant in the l920’s, I
think that you have to look at the different areas of society individually. In
the north new ideas were more easily accepted as it was mainly industrial
areas, and although racism was common here it wasn’t as bad as in the
south where ‘Jim Crow Laws’ were enforced. The south of American was
mainly rural areas and therefore traditionalists tended to live here and
wanted America to remain filled with a W.A.S.P society and their morals
and values. However the times were changing and although the north was
becoming more tolerant to try and keep up with the rest of the world, the
south was not. America was fairly intolerant of new ideas in the l920’s,
however when it came to civil rights especially in the north of the country,
many wanted to abide not only by the law but also by religion.