Defining Moments in American History: The Zoot Suit Riots

Editor/Author Hillstrom, Kevin
Publication Year: 2013
Publisher: Omnigraphics, Inc.

Single-User Purchase Price: $54.00
Unlimited-User Purchase Price: $81.00
ISBN: 978-0-7808-1285-7
Category: History - United States -- History
Image Count: 47
Book Status: Available
Table of Contents

Provides a detailed account of the political events, social trends, and racial attitudes that contributed to a week-long outbreak of violence in Los Angeles in 1943 by white servicemen and civilians against young Mexican-American "zoot suiters.'

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Table of Contents

  • Preface
  • How to Use This Book
  • Research Topics for Defining Moments: The Zoot Suit Riots
  • NARRATIVE OVERVIEW
  • Prologue
  • Chapter One: Caught in the Currents of Empire and Conquest
  • Chapter Two: Rising Tensions in California
  • Chapter Three: A City on Edge
  • Chapter Four: The Trial of the 38th Street Boys
  • Chapter Five: The Zoot Suit Riots
  • Chapter Six: Release from Prison
  • Chapter Seven: Legacy of the Zoot Suit Riots
  • BIOGRAPHIES
  • Fletcher Bowron (1887-1968): Mayor of Los Angeles during the Sleepy Lagoon Trial and Zoot Suit Riots
  • José Díaz (1919-1942): Mexican Farm Worker Whose Murder Resulted in the Sleepy Lagoon Trial
  • Charles William Fricke (1882-1958): Judge Who Presided over the 1943 Sleepy Lagoon Murder Trial
  • Alice Greenfield (1917-2009): Civil Rights Activist and Member of the Sleepy Lagoon Defense Committee
  • Henry “Hank” Leyvas (1923-1971): Mexican-American Defendant in the Sleepy Lagoon Murder Trial
  • Carey McWilliams (1905-1980): American Journalist and Attorney Who Headed the Sleepy Lagoon Defense Committee
  • Edward Roybal (1916-2005): First Hispanic-American Member of the Los Angeles City Council and Longtime U.S. Representative
  • George Shibley (1910-1989): Defense Attorney in the Sleepy Lagoon Murder Trial
  • PRIMARY SOURCES
  • Anglo Squatters Swarm Mexican-Owned Haciendas in California
  • Examples of Anti-Mexican Discrimination in 1930s America
  • Depression-Era Los Angeles Targets Mexicans for Repatriation
  • A Los Angeles Police Officer Issues a Racist Report on the Mexican “Element”
  • Courtroom Clashes between Fricke and Shibley
  • Trying to Survive the Zoot Suit Riots
  • Mexican-American Activists Assess the Causes of the Zoot Suit Riots
  • The Los Angeles Times Attacks Eleanor Roosevelt's Stance on the Riots
  • New Hispanic Hopes and Dreams in the Post-World War II Era
  • From the Barrio to a German POW Camp—and Back
  • A Landmark Legal Decision for Mexican Americans
  • Honoring the Heritage and Contributions of Hispanic Americans
  • Important People, Places, and Terms
  • Chronology
  • Sources for Further Study
  • Bibliography
  • Photo and Illustration Credits