The zoot suit is perhaps the most powerful item of clothing in American history. It has sparked race riots and defined entire subcultures. Depending on who wore it and when, the zoot suit has represented things from class solidarity, protest against racism, anti-war efforts, and more. For Las Pachucas, young Chicanx women, in 1940s Los Angeles, the zoot suit was a statement of protest against white supremacy.
California was originally part of Mexico, before becoming part of the United States. Due to this history, there has always been a large Latino population in California. During the early 20th century, many new Mexicans immigrated for work to US border states which needed workers, such areas as Texas, Arizona, and California. They were recruited by farmers for work on the large farms and also worked throughout those states in non-agricultural jobs.
During the Great Depression, in the early 1930s, the United States deported between 500,000 and 2 million people of Mexican descent (including the illegal expulsion of up to 1.2 million U.S. citizens)[9] to Mexico (see Mexican Repatriation), in order to reduce demands on limited American economic resources. By the late 1930s, about three million Mexican Americans resided in the United States. Los Angeles had the highest concentration of ethnic Mexicans outside Mexico.
Job discrimination in Los Angeles forced minorities to work
for below-poverty level wages. The Los Angeles newspapers described
Mexicans with racially inflammatory propaganda, suggesting a problem with
juvenile delinquency. These factors caused much racial tension
between Mexican immigrants, those of Mexican descent, and European
Americans.
Lalo Guerrero became known as the father of Chicano music, as the young people adopted a music, language, and dress of their own. Young men wore zoot suits—a flamboyant long jacket with baggy pegged pants, sometimes accessorized with a pork pie hat, a long watch chain, and shoes with thick soles. They called themselves "pachucos." In the early 1940s, arrests of Mexican-American youths and negative stories in the Los Angeles Times fueled a perception that these pachuco gangs were delinquents who were a threat to the broader community.
With the entry of the United States into World War II in December 1941 following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the nation had to deal with the restrictions of rationing and the prospects of conscription. In March 1942, the War Production Board (WPB) regulated the manufacture of men's suits and all clothing that contained wool. To achieve a 26% cut-back in the use of fabrics, the WPB issued regulations for the manufacture of what Esquire magazine called, "streamlined suits by Uncle Sam. "The regulations effectively forbade the manufacture of the wide-cut zoot suits and full women's skirts or dresses. Most legitimate tailoring companies ceased to manufacture or advertise any suits that fell outside the War Production Board's guidelines. But the demand for zoot suits did not decline; a network of bootleg tailors based in Los Angeles and New York City continued to produce the garments. Youths also continued to wear clothes which they already owned.
The Zoot Suit Riots were a series of riots on June 3–8, 1943 in Los Angeles, California, United States, which pitted American servicemen stationed in Southern California against young Latino and Mexican American city residents. It was one of the dozen wartime industrial cities that suffered race-related riots in the summer of 1943, along with Mobile, Alabama; Beaumont, Texas; Detroit, Michigan; and New York City.
American servicemen and white Angelenos attacked and stripped children, teenagers, and 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 violence was directed toward Mexican American youth, African American, Italian American, and Filipino American youths who were wearing zoot suits were also attacked.
Art Assignment: Illustrating a difficult interaction
Exploring the emotional impact of being attacked/bullied/questioned via color and symbol. Tiles will eventually be put together as a quilt of emotional language.
Talking about the charged nature of the Zoot Suit is a continuation of our exploration of the gaps between national and personal perceptions of cultural identity
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