History of the United States II / Unit 12 USH2 1682 short lesson, about 20 seconds
The Zoot Suit Riots
Captions available
The idea
In Los Angeles in the summer of nineteen forty-three, Anglo soldiers and sailors attacked young Mexican Americans, the Yawp records, in the Zoot Suit Riots.
In practice
Zoot suits, whose generous cut broke wartime limits on cloth, the anchor notes.
Where people slip
Critics branded them un-American and called Mexican American men unwilling to serve, the anchor says, though hundreds of thousands did.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Builds on
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