Post WWI Turmoil

After WWI, America was not ready for the return of our soldiers. There was a large unemployment level, labor strikes, black hate, and the list goes on. When the war was over the country was changed. There was the Great Migration, Ku Klux Klan, Labor Strikes, and the Red Scare.

The Great Migration was the movement of over 500,000 blacks into the Northern states. They all moved here due to a number of reasons, one being the violence toward blacks in the south. There were also a lot of available jobs in the north, better pay, and better educational options for them and their children. When the Blacks moved North, so did discrimination towards them. There were race riots and the Black Pride Movement. They also had the Harlem Renaissance which brought culture into the area.

The Ku Klux Klan started as a small organization of whites who opposed blacks, Catholics, Jews, and Immigrants. The goal of the Klan was to have a dominate place in American Society and stop the moral decline. By 1922 there were over 4 million members of the Klan and in some states, they controlled the government because they had a large number of Government officials in the state that were members. They would threaten people to get what they wanted. The Klan is still around today, but has very few members.

In 1919 there were over 3000 labor strikes which was a result of the Economic Decline. Many employers would not treat their employees they way there were to be treated. One of the most violent strikes was the Steel Strike which resulted in 18 deaths. There was also the coal strike and the Boston Police Strike.

The Red Scare was the fear of Communists getting into the government and controlling the government. There were worried because at about this time, the same thing happened in Russia. As a result of the Red Scare was the Palmer Raid. That was the arrest of thousands of suspected radicals without evidence who were charged with anarchy. Sacco and Vanzetti were both executed because they immigrants and known radicals.

After WWI the country was very unstable as far as fear of our government, black hate, shortage of jobs, and strikes. When the soldiers returned home, they had no jobs and no money which added to the economic decline in the country.