Zoot Suit Riots

Rare card · No. 61439

The Zoot Suit Riots were disturbances that took place June 3–8, 1943, in Los Angeles, California, United States, involving American servicemen stationed in Southern California and young Latino and Mexican American city residents. Los Angeles was one of the dozen wartime industrial cities where race-related riots occurred during the summer of 1943, along with Mobile, Alabama; Beaumont, Texas; Detroit, Michigan; and New York City. American servicemen and white Angelenos attacked and stripped youths who wore zoot suits, ostensibly because they considered the outfits, which were made from large amounts of fabric, to be unpatriotic during World War II. Rationing of fabrics and certain foods was required at the time for the war effort. While most of the white mobs targeted Mexican American youth, they also attacked African American and Filipino American young adults and children. The Zoot Suit Riots followed the Sleepy Lagoon murder trial, where members of a Mexican American gang were convicted...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Harold P. Matosian, Public domain