Zoot Suit Riot

Zoot Suit Riots
Zoot suits in 1942
Date	June 1943
Location	Los Angeles County, California
Caused by	Conflict between American servicemen stationed in Southern California and Mexican-American youths
Methods	Widespread rioting

The June 1943 Zoot Suit Riots in Los Angeles, California were a series of attacks against Mexican American youth and other minorities by white American servicemen. The suits, which required the use of more fabric than other suit fashions, were considered unpatriotic given wartime fabric rationing. While most of the violence was directed toward Mexican American youth, young African American and Filipino Americans were also attacked.

The Zoot Suit Riots were related to fears and hostilities aroused by the coverage of the Sleepy Lagoon murder trial, following the killing of a young Latino man in a barrio near Los Angeles. The riot appeared to trigger similar attacks that year by European Americans against Latinos in Chicago, San Diego, Oakland, Evansville, Philadelphia, and New York City.

During the early 20th century, many Mexicans immigrated for work to 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) to Mexico (see Mexican Repatriation), in order to reduce demands on limited American economic resources. By the late 1930s, about 3 million Mexican Americans resided in the United States. Los Angeles had the highest concentration of ethnic Mexicans outside Mexico.