OCR GCSE History A (J410) — Non-British Depth Studies
In 1919, a series of mail bombs addressed to prominent American businessmen sparked nationwide panic. This marked the beginning of the Red Scare, a period of intense hysteria surrounding a potential communist uprising in the United States.
The 1917 Bolshevik victory in Russia, combined with massive US industrial strikes in 1919, convinced many Americans that a revolution was imminent. The government blamed these strikes on radicals and supporters of Communism.
In response, Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer launched the Palmer Raids (1919–1920). Federal agents arrested roughly 6,000 suspected radicals across 33 cities, frequently without warrants, and deported around 600 individuals.
The most famous victims of this anti-radical bias were Sacco and Vanzetti, two Italian immigrants who supported Anarchism. Despite presenting 107 alibi witnesses and facing weak forensic evidence, they were convicted of murder in 1921 and executed in 1927. The judge was openly biased against them, highlighting the severe legal prejudice of the era.
The traditional American ideal of The Melting Pot was aggressively challenged in the 1920s. Driven by the Red Scare, trade union fears of cheap labour, and racist theories like eugenics, the USA adopted strict policies of Nativism.
This ideology sought to protect the political and economic power of the dominant WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) population. Consequently, the government passed a series of laws to restrict entry, slamming shut the pre-war Open Door Policy.
The 1917 Literacy Act required immigrants to read 40 words in their native language and banned most Asian immigration. This was followed by the 1921 Emergency Quota Act, which capped immigration at 357,000 annually and introduced a 3% quota based on the 1910 census.
The most drastic measure was the 1924 National Origins Act, which reduced the quota to 2% and deliberately shifted the baseline to the 1890 census. This "1890 Census Trick" was designed to exclude "New Immigrants" (Catholics and Jews from Southern and Eastern Europe) who had arrived in mass after that date. By 1929, total immigration was capped at 150,000 per year.
Legal prejudice was entrenched in the American South through Jim Crow Laws, which enforced strict Segregation across schools, hospitals, and public transport. These laws were underpinned by the 1896 "Separate but Equal" Supreme Court ruling, though Black facilities were drastically underfunded.
Southern states also enforced Disenfranchisement, stripping Black Americans of their right to vote using literacy tests, poll taxes, and the Grandfather Clause.
Socially, racial terror was inflicted by the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), which experienced a massive revival in 1915 following the film The Birth of a Nation. Membership peaked at 5 million by 1925, was strictly limited to WASPs, and violently targeted Black Americans, Jews, Catholics, and immigrants.
The KKK used violence, kidnapping, and Lynchings to maintain white supremacy, recording 70 lynchings in 1919 alone. However, the movement collapsed rapidly after 1925 when a prominent leader, D.C. Stephenson, was convicted of a brutal kidnap and murder.
To escape this Southern persecution, up to 2 million African Americans moved to Northern cities between 1916 and 1930 during the Great Migration. However, they still faced heavy social and economic prejudice in Northern ghettos, alongside violent outbreaks like the 1919 Chicago Race Riot.
During the 1930s Great Depression, Black Americans faced severe economic discrimination, enduring a 50% unemployment rate compared to the 25% national average. They were frequently the "last hired, first fired".
New Deal policies often excluded minorities. For example, the Agricultural Adjustment Act paid landlords to halt crop production, which led to the eviction of many Black agricultural workers reliant on Sharecropping. Additionally, the 1935 Social Security Act excluded domestic and agricultural workers, effectively denying coverage to 65% of Black Americans.
Prejudice continued during World War Two. Over one million Black soldiers served in a segregated military, mostly restricted to supply roles rather than combat.
Wartime hysteria also triggered severe intolerance against Asian Americans. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066 in 1942, forcing 120,000 Japanese-Americans into internment camps.
In the face of widespread prejudice, two major organisations adopted contrasting strategies. The NAACP, founded in 1909 by W.E.B. Du Bois, was a multi-racial, Integrationist group. Conversely, the UNIA, founded in 1914 by Marcus Garvey, championed Nationalist ideals and operated as a Black-only mass movement.
| Feature | NAACP | UNIA |
|---|---|---|
| Core Ideology | Integrationist (full equality within existing American society). | Black Nationalist (separatism, "Black Pride", and "Back to Africa"). |
| Primary Methods | Legal challenges, lobbying politicians, and publishing The Crisis. | Mass rallies, parades, and building economic self-sufficiency. |
| Key Successes | Forced the creation of the Fair Employment Practices Committee during WWII. | Created a massive working-class following and the Black Star Line shipping company. |
| Decline / Pivot | Grew significantly during WWII, reaching up to 600,000 members by 1946. | Declined rapidly after Marcus Garvey was deported for mail fraud in 1927. |
While the UNIA faded as a formal organisation, its legacy of Black Pride deeply influenced later movements. Meanwhile, the NAACP's political pressure grew, notably using the WWII "Double V" campaign to demand victory against fascism abroad and racism at home.
By 1948, the scale and impact of intolerance had shifted, but deep inequalities remained. A major triumph occurred when President Truman desegregated the US Armed Forces, officially ending the military segregation seen during WWII.
Truman also commissioned the 1947 report To Secure These Rights, which condemned segregation and called for federal civil rights protections. The fight had successfully moved from grassroots survival to the federal level.
However, evaluating the complete picture reveals significant lingering prejudice. Southern politicians fiercely resisted federal anti-lynching and anti-poll tax laws, proving that while legal victories were beginning, massive political and social intolerance still dominated much of the country.
Students often confuse the 1919 Red Scare with the McCarthyism of the 1950s — stick strictly to the events of 1919–1927, such as the Palmer Raids and the Sacco and Vanzetti case.
In 'Evaluate' questions about the severity of intolerance, examiners expect you to contrast 'de jure' legal discrimination (like Jim Crow in the South) with 'de facto' social or economic discrimination (like ghettos in the North).
When discussing the 1924 National Origins Act, specifically mention the use of the 1890 census as a deliberate tactic to exclude 'New Immigrants' from Southern and Eastern Europe.
Always name D.C. Stephenson and the year 1925 when explaining the sudden decline of the KKK's political power and membership.
Red Scare
A period of intense fear and hysteria in the USA regarding a perceived communist or anarchist uprising.
Communism
A political and economic system where the state owns all property, which was viewed in the 1920s as highly un-American.
Anarchism
The belief that all forms of government are oppressive and should be abolished.
The Melting Pot
The idea that different cultures and races can blend together into a single, unified American identity.
Nativism
A political policy protecting the interests of native-born or established inhabitants against immigrants.
WASP
White Anglo-Saxon Protestant; the demographic group holding dominant political and economic power in the 1920s USA.
Open Door Policy
The pre-WWI United States policy of allowing largely unrestricted immigration into the country.
Jim Crow Laws
State and local laws enforced in the American South that mandated racial segregation in all public facilities.
Segregation
The enforced separation of different racial groups in a country, community, or establishment.
Disenfranchisement
The act of depriving someone of the right to vote through legal or physical barriers.
Lynchings
Illegal public executions, typically by hanging, used by groups like the KKK to enforce racial terror.
Sharecropping
A system of farming where tenants give a share of their crop as rent, predominantly used by Black farmers in the post-Civil War South.
Executive Order 9066
The 1942 presidential order authorizing the forced relocation and internment of Japanese-Americans during WWII.
Integrationist
An approach seeking to bring different racial groups together as equals within the same existing society.
Nationalist
In the context of 1920s civil rights, the belief in creating a separate, independent society and economy for Black people.
Put your knowledge into practice — try past paper questions for History A
Red Scare
A period of intense fear and hysteria in the USA regarding a perceived communist or anarchist uprising.
Communism
A political and economic system where the state owns all property, which was viewed in the 1920s as highly un-American.
Anarchism
The belief that all forms of government are oppressive and should be abolished.
The Melting Pot
The idea that different cultures and races can blend together into a single, unified American identity.
Nativism
A political policy protecting the interests of native-born or established inhabitants against immigrants.
WASP
White Anglo-Saxon Protestant; the demographic group holding dominant political and economic power in the 1920s USA.
Open Door Policy
The pre-WWI United States policy of allowing largely unrestricted immigration into the country.
Jim Crow Laws
State and local laws enforced in the American South that mandated racial segregation in all public facilities.
Segregation
The enforced separation of different racial groups in a country, community, or establishment.
Disenfranchisement
The act of depriving someone of the right to vote through legal or physical barriers.
Lynchings
Illegal public executions, typically by hanging, used by groups like the KKK to enforce racial terror.
Sharecropping
A system of farming where tenants give a share of their crop as rent, predominantly used by Black farmers in the post-Civil War South.
Executive Order 9066
The 1942 presidential order authorizing the forced relocation and internment of Japanese-Americans during WWII.
Integrationist
An approach seeking to bring different racial groups together as equals within the same existing society.
Nationalist
In the context of 1920s civil rights, the belief in creating a separate, independent society and economy for Black people.
