Immigrants suffering

• Many Americans began to fear that Russian immigrants might bring socialist ideas with them, known as the 'Red Scare'
• Palmer Raids

  1. Attorney General Mitchell Palmer organised raids on Russian social clubs and meeting houses

  2. Thousands were rounded up and deported

  3. Later, it emerged that only around 550 had strong evidence against them
• In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, millions of immigrants from Europe arrived in the USA in search of a new life of freedom and opportunity
• Immigrants faced mistreatment by some of their American neighbours, who were openly racist and believed immigrants to be inferior to them intellectually and culturally
• Acts passed to reduce high immigration levels from south-eastern Europe

  • 1917: literacy test - only good English-speakers got in
  • 1921: quota system - only a certain percentage of each group was allowed in
  • 1924: quota system - only an even smaller percentage of each group was allowed in
• The mistreatment immigrants suffered wasn't universally extreme for all immigrants across the whole decade
• Many immigrants faced problems
• Activists' actions during the 'Red Scare'


  • Distributed pamphlets calling for revolution
  • Organised strikes and demonstrations
  • Violence started with bombs going off in various cities across the country and a bomb on Wall Street killing 38 people
• Restrictions on immigration were implemented due to public pressure
• The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) was set up in 1920 to defend many immigrants against charges they faced and arrange the return of those deported unfairly
• Forms of discrimination faced by immigrants


  • Official discrimination
  • Unofficial discrimination
• For many immigrants, their tough life in the US was still an improvement on what they had left behind. Italians faced unemployment, Irish faced the potato famine, and Russians faced communist purges. However, many found good jobs in booming industries and set up new businesses, achieving the 'American Dream'.
• Racial tension increased as immigrants from south-eastern Europe (Italy, Romania, Russia etc) with different languages, beliefs, and cultures arrived, leading to tensions between different groups.
• Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were Italian socialists accused of robbing $15,000 from a shoe factory in Massachusetts in April 1920 and killing two workers in the process. Despite inconclusive evidence, they were found guilty during the 'Red Scare' and sentenced to death in July 1921. They were executed by electric chair on 23rd August 1927, causing horror among many Americans.
• Immigrants also faced mistreatment by some of their American neighbours. On the east and west coasts, many were openly racist. They believed immigrants to be inferior to them intellectually and culturally. This prejudice caused them to discriminate against them.
• The hardship immigrants suffered wasn't universally extreme for all immigrants in all areas of the US.
• Types of discrimination

  • UNOFFICIAL DISCRIMINATION
  • Private discrimination
• Protestant Germans

  Looked down on the Catholic Italians who looked down on the Orthodox Russians
• Unofficial discrimination

  Was as widespread and severe as it was due to the official discrimination (e.g. Palmer Raids) sending out the message that it was acceptable to mistreat immigrants
• Forms of discrimination faced by immigrants

  • Housing: poor quality, high rents
  • Employment: unskilled jobs, low wages
• Locations of immigrant settlements

  • New York Little Italy, China Town