Son T. Chau Professor McNee HIST 313 April 3rd, 2017 Foner, Chapter 20 "From Business Culture to Great Depression" In its history, the United States had a tradition of welcoming immigrants; however, everything changed when the anti-immigration movement began and spread across the country after the World War I. Indeed, immigrants in the 1920s frequently faced discrimination, fear, and hostility. During this period, immigration to the United States has increased rapidly. From many different countries, people all came, united, and combined their cultural traditions. However, they faced discrimination due to some of them still retained their own cultural heritage and refused to be melted. They often spoke different languages, had different customs …show more content…
In the atmosphere against immigrants, they usually had unfair trials with bias or prejudice of judge. Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, both Italian immigrants, were the best example of such trial. Their lawyer did not try to help them. The lawyer did not collect any witnesses and evidence to defend his clients. Vanzetti claimed his last statement that “I am suffering because I am a radical and... because I was an Italian” (Foner, 148). Also, they were denied entry to the United States or deported if they expressed views and opinions or participated in a radical revolutionary organization. For example, Marcus Garvey, a new immigrant, was deported back to Jamaica when he expressed his radical idea of a separatist movement (Foner, 129). In some states, the anti-immigrant movement was most clear when laws restricting the teaching in foreign languages were passed such as Meyer v. Nebraska court case. Robert Meyer, a Nebraska elementary school teacher, was charged with violating a 1919 act that all instructions must be in English (Foner, 152). In 1921, the movement eventually reached at a federal level when …show more content…
The battle for immigrant rights extended over many fronts from the law restriction on foreign languages education and prohibition the right to express political beliefs to the limitation on European immigration. The right of teaching in foreign languages was guaranteed when Meyer appealed to the United States Supreme Court and won the court case. The Supreme Court declared that the Nebraska’s law violated the Fourteenth Amendment. In the Sacco and Vanzetti court case, both Sacco and Vanzetti were sentenced to death. However, the result led to a great worldwide movement to defend the condemned men (Foner, 146). The court case became a symbol of the Americans’ selfishness that liberals used to protest discrimination. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a good example of the battle over the right to express political beliefs. In 1920, the ACLU organization was established by a group of pacifists to fight for a “rights revolution" and protected general civil liberties (Foner, 141). It also defended the right for immigrants in the United States. The organization disagreed with the federal immigration policy when immigrants were deported or refused admission to the United States because of their objectionable opinions or their radical political beliefs (Foner, 144). In Congress, Meyer London argued against Lucien W. Parrish’s views who supported immigration restriction. Mr. London defended his argument “We sent