Analysis Of The 1920's: Violations Of Civil Liberties

Violations of Civil Liberties During The 1920’s
During the 1920’s, many immigrants in particular, African Americans, migrated from Southern to Northern states in America. Many African Americans settled in Harlem, New York, where at the time multiple American civil rights including women’s rights were being violated by a corrupt government. African Americans suffered discrimination and poverty battling for a better opportunity in life by striking against government organizations and creating unions. Moreover, women disputed against anti-feminists to get the rights they vowed for and were granted the right to vote by the 19th Amendment. Civil liberties in America were suppressed to a certain extent, for instance, immigrants were discriminated,
This came to be known as the Harlem Renaissance and the spark to discrimination towards African immigrants. Native born Americans, clearly showed hatred toward blacks. In addition, in Chicago, July 1919, a white man erupted violence when he caused a teenage Negro, as they were called during this time, to drown in Lake Michigan by throwing rocks at him while swimming. The police refused to arrest anyone causing riots that continued for more than a week. Another threat to African Americans was the rebirth of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) in 1915. This Klan seeked a 100 percent white America therefore they attacked many people but in particular they attacked African Americans to intimidate them. The Klan encouraged nativists and caused fear that the country was being overrun by immigrants so later the Immigration Act of 1924 was established reducing the immigration quota to two percent for each nationality except Asians. Soon after, the Red Scare took place causing the reduction of the Klan’s membership. In response, African Americans began forming organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), and the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA). The NAACP was founded in 1910 to restrain racial violence. It helped create an antilynching campaign to reduce racial murders. The ADL was a work created by a group of Jews in 1913 to put an end to racial discrimination and also worked against the KKK. The UNIA was founded in 1914, by Marcus Garvey when he was deported to Jamaica for mail fraud. This organization’s intended purpose was for Garvey to proclaim his message of a “black nationalist” back in Africa. This movement was known as the Back to Africa Movement. The ACLU was founded in 1920 and was one of the last unions created to help defend constitutional rights, support labor