Immigration In The 1920s

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Having survived the atrocities of World War I, the population of the United States embarked on a newer never before experienced pathway in the 1920s. With over 100 million people now living in the United States, the numbers of immigrants coming into the country was again on the rise (Pop Culture:1920, 2015). The number of immigrants frightened the Americans and sent them into a state of anti-immigrant hysteria called nativism (Tindall & Shi, 2013). Although many citizens conveniently disregarded that their ancestry dated from earlier immigration, the Emergency Immigration Act of 1921 was passed by Congress in 1921 to limit and restrict the number of immigrants allowed annually into the United States (Tindall & Shi, 2013). The Emergency Immigration Act was passed because many population groups believed the newer groups of immigrants were foreign radicals …show more content…

In an attempt to protect the country from the perceived radicals of southern and eastern Europe, the numbers of immigrants allowed into the country was strictly limited as opposed to the numbers that were allowed into the country from northern and western European countries (Tindall & Shi, 2013). The dynamics of the country was changing as many groups of the diverse population embarked on an era of modernization and liberalism, while the previous political traditionalists wished to remain conservative and limit any attempts to expand societal cultures.

The traditionalists and pro nativism groups, who were opposed to foreigners, revived the white vigilante group, the Ku Klux Klan (Tindall & Shi, 2013). Attempting to protect society from the African Americans, the Catholics, the Jewish and all modern and liberal ideas, the Ku Klux Klan espoused and promoted their moral ideals and religious fundamentalism as the only way for America to remain conservative. The Fundamentalist movement, which follows and