Where did the zoot suit originate from?
zoot suit originated in georgia; busboy ordered first one in 1940 By Meyer Berger Later historians may argue the point but J.V.D. Carlyle, fashion editor for Men ‘s Apparel Reporter, the trade’s authority, seemed convinced yesterday that the first zoot suit on record was ordered early in February, 1940, at Frierson-McEver’s in Gainesville, Ga.
Who was to blame for the Zoot Suit Riots?
While a committee appointed by the governor of California concluded that the attacks had been motivated by racism, Los Angeles Mayor Bowron contended that “Mexican juvenile delinquents” had caused the riots. While many injuries were reported, no one died as a result of the Zoot Suit Riots.
What happened during the Zoot Suit Riots?
The riots began on June 3, 1943, after a group of sailors stated that they had been attacked by a group of Mexican American zoot-suiters. Many zoot-suiters were beaten by servicemen and stripped of their zoot suits on the spot. The servicemen sometimes urinated on the zoot suits or burned them in the streets
Who were the Zoot Suit Riots directed against?
Zoot Suit Riots, a series of conflicts that occurred in June 1943 in Los Angeles between U.S. servicemen and Mexican American youths, the latter of whom wore outfits called zoot suits. The zoot suit consisted of a broad-shouldered drape jacket, balloon-leg trousers, and, sometimes, a flamboyant hat. Mexican and Mexican American youths who wore these outfits were called zoot-suiters.
Are zoot suits still illegal 2021?
In Los Angeles, it is illegal to wear a zoot suit. This law doesn't make much sense today, but back in the 1930s and '40s, good fabric was hard to come by because of the war effort. Zoot suits, because of their excessive fabric, were seen as unpatriotic.
What did Zoot mean in the 1920s?
Zoot Suits Featured Wide Legged Pants The trademark look of the zoot suit was the baggy, wide-legged trousers. Although the top of the pants and the legs were loose and draping, the bottom of the pant legs ended in a tight cuff close to the ankle.
What era are zoot suits?
1930sWith its super-sized shoulder pads, sprawling lapels and peg leg pants, the zoot suit grew out of the “drape” suits popular in Harlem dance halls in the mid-1930s. The flowing trousers were tapered at the ankles to prevent jitterbugging couples from getting tripped up while they twirled.
When was the zoot suit banned?
These negative views only increased during World War II, when the rationing of wool in early 1942 led the manufacturing of zoot suits to be banned and the wearing of them to be seen as unpatriotic.
Why was the zoot suit banned?
Wartime rationing regulations effectively banned zoot suits because they ostensibly wasted fabric, so a combination of patriotism and racism impelled white soldiers to denounce Mexican-American wearers of the zoot suit as slackers and hoodlums.
What was the zoot suit a symbol of?
34 Through cultural associations, the suit became for many symbolic shorthand for danger, waste, otherness, and racial inequality. The zoot suit had acquired symbolic valences in part by the fallout from the riot as a cultural expression of what it meant to be Mexican-American.
Why is it called a zoot suit?
Although its exact origin is unknown, the term “zoot suit” appears to have come from the rhyming slang, or jive, spoken in the African-American community at the time, Peiss says. “They were generally worn by young men of African-American descent, initially,” Peiss says.
Who popularized zoot suits?
The zoot suit originated in an African American comedy show in the 1930s and was popularized by jazz singers. Cab Calloway called them "totally and truly American", and a young Malcolm X wore them.
Did gangsters wear zoot suits?
1920s Zoot Suits did not exist, although the style took roots in the very late '20s among jazz musicians and entertainers. For more Hollywood Gangsters, see Boardwalk Empire Gangster Outfit Ideas. Or, use tweed suits and casual caps for Peaky Blinders Gangster Outfits.
Is zoot suit relevant today?
Clearly the audience response opening night in LA leaves no doubt that Zoot Suit is still relevant. The xenophobia against Latinos, Muslims and Jews—i.e. ICE raids, personal attacks on "others" based on race or religion, bomb threats, and the desecration of cemeteries—proves we are living in dangerous times.
How long did the Zoot Suit Riots last?
Zoot Suit RiotsBoys stripped and beaten by U.S. Navy sailors.LocationLos Angeles, California, United StatesDateJune 3–8, 1943TargetMexican-Americans youths and other Zoot suit wearers4 more rows
What were zoot suits made of?
Made initially out of wool -- and later rayon, as rationing for World War II kicked in -- zoot suits had a number of defining characteristics. Suit pants were worn high on the waist and very tight; below the waist, the pants billowed like parachutes around the thighs and knees before being tied tight at the ankles.
How did zoot suits offend some americans?
This exacerbated racial tensions, as Mexican American youths wearing the zoot suits were seen as un-American because they were deliberately ignoring the rationing regulations. The Zoot Suit Riots are commonly associated with the Sleepy Lagoon murder, which occurred in August 1942.
Why was it called a zoot suit?
The suits were first associated in African-American communities such as Harlem, Chicago, and Detroit in the 1930s, but were made popular nationwide by jazz musicians in the 1940s. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word "zoot" probably comes from a reduplication of suit.
What was the zoot suit a symbol of quizlet?
the zoo suit represented symbolically to the pachucas that they were the "stewards of something uncomfortable", a spectacular reminder that the social order had failed to contain their energy and difference. To the anglo americans it represented young rioters and the symbol of moral panic about juvenile delinquency.
What were the Zoot Suit Riots and why did they happen?
The Zoot Suit Riots were a series of violent clashes during which mobs of U.S. servicemen, off-duty police officers and civilians brawled with young Latinos and other minorities in Los Angeles.
Who wore a zoot suit in the 1940s?
Tin-Tan, a famous Mexican actor from the 1940s, wore zoot suits in his films. Labor leader Cesar Chavez sported zoot suit attire in his younger years. The 38th Street gang was a Los Angeles street gang known for wearing the zoot suit in the 1940s.
When did the Zoot suit riot?
The Zoot Suit Riots. Article about the zoot suit riots of 1943.
Why were zoot suits banned?
The suits worn were seen by some as unpatriotic because of the amount of fabric they used, and zoot suits later became prohibited for the duration of the Second World War, ostensibly because of their wastefulness of cloth.
What is a zoot suit?
A zoot suit (occasionally spelled zuit suit) is a men's suit with high-waisted, wide-legged, tight-cuffed, pegged trousers, and a long coat with wide lapels and wide padded shoulders. This style of clothing became popular in African-American, Mexican American, Italian American, ...
What type of suit did Teddy Boys wear?
Some observers claim that the " Edwardian -look" suits with velvet lapels worn by Teddy Boys in Britain are a derivative of the zoot suit.
What was Cab Calloway's zoot suit?
In his dictionary, Cab Calloway's Cat-ologue: A " Hepster 's" Dictionary (1938), he called the zoot suit "the ultimate in clothes. The only totally and truly American civilian suit."
What do women wear in zoot suits?
A woman accompanying a man wearing a zoot suit would commonly wear a flared skirt and a long coat. The amount of material and tailoring required made them luxury items, so much so that the U.S. War Production Board said that they wasted materials that should be devoted to the World War II war effort.
Who wore the Zoot suit?
By the ’40s, the suits were worn by minority men in working-class neighborhoods throughout the country. Though the zoot suit would be donned by the likes of Dizzy Gillespie and Louis Armstrong, it was “not a costume or uniform from the world of entertainment,” the Chicago big-band trumpeter and clothier Harold Fox once said.
Who invented the Zoot suit?
Fox was one among many, from Chicago to Harlem to Memphis, who took credit for inventing the zoot suit—the term came out of African-American slang—but it was actually unbranded and illicit: There was no one designer associated with the look, no department store where you could buy one. These were ad hoc outfits, regular suits bought two sizes too large and then creatively tailored to dandyish effect.
Why did zoot suits disappear?
Though policemen slashed some zoot suits to ruins, the more likely reason for their disappearance once the craze faded in the 1950s was less dramatic —most were simply refashioned into other garments. Original specimens are mythically hard to come by: It took curators from LACMA over a decade to find one, and when they did, in 2011, it cost them nearly $80,000, an auction record for an item of 20th-century menswear.
What was the name of the suit that was popular in Harlem in the 1930s?
This story is a selection from the April issue of Smithsonian magazine. With its super-sized shoulder pads, sprawling lapels and peg leg pants, the zoot suit grew out of the “drape” suits popular in Harlem dance halls in the mid-1930s.
What did Langston Hughes say about zoot suits?
Langston Hughes wrote in 1943 that for people with a history of cultural and economic poverty, “too much becomes JUST ENOUGH for them.” To underscore the style’s almost treasonous indulgence, press accounts exaggerated the price of zoot suits by upwards of 50 percent. But even the real cost of one was near-prohibitive for the young men who coveted them—Malcolm X, in his autobiography, recounts buying one on credit.
Where were the art stolen during the Nazi occupation?
During the Nazi occupation of France, many valuable works of art were stolen from the Jeu de Paume museum and relocated to Germany. One brave French woman kept detailed notes of the thefts
What was the first Chicano play?
But the suit had a luxuriant afterlife, influencing styles from Canada and France to the Soviet Union and South Africa. It was the subject of the Who’s first single. In 1978, the actor and playwright Luis Valdez wrote Zoot Suit, the first Chicano play on Broadway. The outfit’s iconic shape was taken up in the ’80s by Japanese avant-garde designers, who sent models down the runway in tumescent suiting around the time that MC Hammer put on his drop-crotch pants—causing outrage in the form of widespread hand-wringing over the alleged immorality of sagging pants, a style that has never quite gone out of fashion. By the time a record called “ Zoot Suit Riot ,” by the swing-revival band the Cherry Poppin’ Daddies, became a hit in the late-’90s, the suit’s provenance had largely been forgotten. No longer was the zoot suit evocative of the expressive power of fashion for the disenfranchised so much as it was a historical oddity known by a charming name.
When did the Zoot suit riots happen?
Zoot Suits Get Political: The Zoot Suit Riots. In late 1930's Los Angeles, no ethnic group adopted Zoot Suits with more enthusiasm than Mexican-American teenagers, some of them low-level gang members known as "pachucos.".
What is a zoot suit?
Essentially, Zoot Suits were the pre-war equivalent of the sagging, low-hipped pants sported by some African-American youths in the 1990's or the huge Afro hairstyles popular in the 1970's. Fashion choices can be a powerful statement, especially if you're denied more mainstream modes of expression because of your race or economic status.
What happened in the summer of 1943?
In the summer of 1943, these explosive circumstances detonated when a group of white servicemen stationed in Los Angeles viciously attacked random pachucos (and other ethnic minorities) wearing Zoot Suits in the so-called "Zoot Suit Riots.".
What is the name of the coat that Malcom X wore?
Around the same time on the American scene—but, culturally speaking, light-years away—a young Malcom X, then known as "Detroit Red," also sang the praises of the Zoot Suit, a "killer-diller coat with a drape shape, reet-pleats, and shoulders padded like a lunatic's cell.".
What is the name of the cartoon that Tom and Jerry made?
In the 1944 Tom and Jerry short "The Zoot Cat "—only the thirteenth cartoon ever made starring that famous duo—Tom's would-be girlfriend lays it on him straight: "Boy, are you corny! You act like a square at the fair, a goon from Saskatoon. You come on like a broken arm. You're a sad apple, a long hair, a cornhusker.
What was the rationing of wool after Pearl Harbor?
Shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, however, the U.S. government instituted strict wartime rationing of wool and other textiles meaning Zoot Suits, with their wide lapels and copious folds, were technically off-limits.
Is the zoot suit going extinct?
The Afterlife of the Zoot Suit. In the U.S., no fashion trend ever goes truly extinct—even if there are no more 1920's flappers sporting bangs and curls or pachucos dressed in Zoot Suits, these fads have been preserved in novels, newsreels, magazines, and are occasionally resurrected as fashion statements (either seriously or ironically).
What Is a Zoot Suit?
During the 1930s, dance halls were popular venues for socializing, swing dancing and easing the economic stress of the Great Depression . Nowhere was this more true than in the uptown Manhattan neighborhood of Harlem, home of the famed Harlem Renaissance.
How many sailors were in the zoot suit?
Partly in retaliation, on the evening of June 3, about 50 sailors from the local U.S. Naval Reserve Armory marched through downtown Los Angeles carrying clubs and other crude weapons, attacking anyone seen wearing a zoot suit or other racially identified clothing.
What was the aftermath of the Zoot suit riots?
Aftermath of the Zoot Suit Riots. Local papers framed the racial attacks as a vigilante response to an immigrant crime wave , and police generally restricted their arrests to the Latinos who fought back. The riots didn’t die down until June 8, when U.S. military personnel were finally barred from leaving their barracks.
What did the taxi drivers do in the riots?
Taxi drivers offered free rides to servicemen to rioting areas, and thousands of military personnel and civilians from San Diego and other parts of Southern California converged on Los Angeles to join the mayhem. Police officers take a young man wearing a zoot suit into custody in Los Angeles on June 11, 1943.
What did Harlem dancers wear?
Style-conscious Harlem dancers began wearing loose-fitting clothes that accentuated their movements. Men donned baggy trousers with cuffs carefully tapered to prevent tripping; long jackets with heavily padded shoulders and wide lapels; long, glittering watch chains; and hats ranging from porkpies and fedoras to broad-brimmed sombreros.
When did the zoot suit get taken into custody?
Police officers take a young man wearing a zoot suit into custody in Los Angeles on June 11, 1943.
What happened in 1943 in Los Angeles?
The local media was only too happy to fan the flames of racism and moral outrage: On June 2, 1943, the Los Angeles Times reported: “Fresh in the memory of Los Angeles is last year’s surge of gang violence that made the ‘zoot suit’ a badge of delinquency. Public indignation seethed as warfare among organized bands of marauders, prowling the streets at night, brought a wave of assaults, [and] finally murders.”
Where did the zoot suit come from?
Although its exact origin is unknown, the term “zoot suit” appears to have come from the rhyming slang, or jive, spoken in the African-American community at the time, Peiss says.
When did the Zoot Suit Riot come out?
In 2001, the swing band Cherry Poppin’ Daddies released an album called “Zoot Suit Riot.”.
How many sailors were in the Zoot suit riots?
In her book, Peiss writes that during the Zoot Suit Riots, “a band of 50 sailors armed themselves with makeshift weapons, left their naval base and coursed into downtown Los Angeles in search of young Mexican Americans in zoot suits.”.
Why was the Zoot suit condemned?
At the dawn of World War II, the zoot suit was condemned by the U.S. government as wasteful. Not surprisingly, the criticism did little to dissuade its fans from wearing it, and in fact may have even attracted more people to the look.
What is a zoot suit?
The zoot suit: an all-American fashion that changed history. With jacket arms that reached the fingertips and pants worn tight at the waist, bulging at the knees and choked at the ankles, it was nearly impossible to ignore a man wearing a zoot suit.
Who beat the Zoot suiters?
The sailors viciously beat the zoot suiters, and the next day even more servicemen “hired a convoy of taxicabs to go into to East Los Angeles, where they accosted pachucos [Mexican Americans] on the street and even pushed their way into private homes.”.
What did the working class wear in the 1940s?
In the early 1940s, working-class youth, entertainers and dancers continued to wear zoot suits, and the look spread to Italian Americans, Jews, and even some teenage girls. “In the midst of the war it is associated with men who are criminals or members of gangs,” Peiss explains.
What was the zoot suit in the 1940s?
1940s Zoot Suit History. The zoot suit was a style of dress that became popular during the late 1930s among young people, especially young African Americans and Mexican Americans, who were into swing dancing and jazz music. Men in Zoot Suit fashion. The zoot suit of the 1940s was full of scandal. Technically illegal due to the abundance ...
Who wrote Zoot suit?
For more research, read Zoot Suit: An Enigmatic Career of an Extreme Style by Kathy Peiss
What did the swing kids wear?
They wore double breasted pinstripe suits with high, pinched-in waists, extra-large lapels, and carried a rolled umbrella.
What was Malcolm X's first zoot suit?
When Malcolm X went to buy his first Zoot suit, he recalled the salesman “picked off the rack a zoot suit that was just wild: sky-blue pants thirty inches in the knee and angle-narrowed down to twelve inches at the bottom, and a long coat that pinches my waist and flared out below my knees.”.
What color is a zoot suit?
The zoot suit was usually wool and in black pinstripes, plaids or very bright colors like red, royal blue, yellow and purple. Some zoot suit styles featured a dark suit jacket worn over light zoot “chino” pants.
Why was the Zoot suit illegal?
The zoot suit of the 1940s was full of scandal. Technically illegal due to the abundance of fabric needed to make it and the restrictions placed by the war board , it was the underground dress uniform of young, urban, rebellious men.
What was the fashion of the 1940s?
Zoot Suit Fashion. Today, the 1940s zoot suitis immortalized as the greatest 1940s fashion for men, especially with dancers. It is also the inspiration for African-American men’s fancy dress (for church and formal events).
Where did the Zoot suit originate?
While it’s exact beginning is unknown, the origination of the zoot suit is long thought to be Harlem, New York. In the 1930’s and 1940’s Harlem was a hub for critical thinking, creativity, and activism. Jazz culture thrived, swing was the rage, and fashion made a bold statement. The youth of Harlem, who often felt under-represented and unnoticed, took to both music and fashion as a form of rebellion and expression—wearing a zoot suit was seen as a declaration of pride in one’s self and one’s culture, and an embrace of the freedom found in self-expression.
How were Zoot suits created?
Initially, zoot suits were created by cutting down extra large double-breasted business suits or “drape” suits, possibly hand me downs from older generations. These were tailored down to create a more dramatic silhouette, namely a long jacket with extreme padding in the shoulders, narrow in the hips, accompanied by wide baggy, pleated trousers ending in narrow hemmed cuffs. These were often worn with the “porkpie” hat and brightly colored neckties.
What was the riot in Los Angeles in 1943?
In 1943, a series of riots, now referred to as the “Zoot Suit Riots”, broke out in Los Angeles between civilians and sailors against young Mexican boys and men wearing zoot suits. Suits were forcibly ripped and torn off bodies, and young men were brutally beaten. This level of violence was more about race relations in Los Angeles than it was about fashion, fashion was just used as the excuse. As the week passed Filipino and African-American youth also became targets of racial beatings. Not surprisingly, the victims of assault—the youth of color, were the ones jailed. Finally, in June of 1943, things died down when U.S. Military personnel were barred from leaving their barracks and Los Angeles issued a ban on zoot suits. Similar riots occurred across the country including Detroit, Chicago, Philadelphia, New York, and Oakland.
When was the Little Black Dress and Zoot Suits?
The Little Black Dress and Zoot Suits: Depression and Wartime Fashions from the 1930s to the 1950s (Dressing a Nation: The History of U.S. Fashion)
Is there a zoot suit?
Today, extant zoot suits are hard to find. Many were destroyed and many were likely turned into other garments as the years passed and they fell out of style. However, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is lucky enough to have one in it’s collection, and they have generously created a garment pattern of the above zoot suit, illustrating how it was created. It is available for free download as part of LACMA’s Pattern Project: Undertaking the Making. You can find it here (halfway down the page).
Where did the zoot suit come from?
This style of clothing cultivated a sense of racial pride and significance; however, the fashion statement soon made its way into the wardrobes of young Southern Californian Mexican Americans, Italians and Filipinos, who became the quintessential wearers of the zoot suit. The transfer and sharing of the zoot suit fashion indicated a growing influence of African American popular culture on young Mexican American, Italian American and Filipino Americans. Additionally, “analysis of the Los Angeles zoot-suit riot and journalists' and politicians' in and the outfit's connections with race relations, slang, jazz music and dance permit an understanding of the politics and social significance of what is trivial in itself -- popular culture and its attendant styles.”
What did zoot suits look like?
The arm and ankle areas were often much tighter than the rest of the fabric, giving the whole look a triangular shape .
Why did the Zoot suit riots happen?
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 what was then an unincorporated commercial area near Los Angeles. The riot appeared to trigger similar attacks that year against Latinos in Chicago, San Diego, Oakland, Evansville, Philadelphia, and New York City. The defiance of zoot suiters became inspirational for Chicanos during the Chicano Movement.
What is the meaning of the Zoot suit?
The zoot suit was originally a statement about creating a new wave of music and dress, but it also held significant political meaning. The flamboyant and colorful material indicated a desire to express oneself against the boring and somber slum lifestyle. The zoot suit provided young African American and Mexican youth a sense of individualistic identity within their cultures and society as they discovered “highly charged emotional and symbolic meaning” through the movement, music, and dress.
Why did the Angelenos attack the Zoot suits?
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.
Where did the zoot suiters fight?
One of the first conflicts between the sailors and the zoot suiters was in August 1942, near Chinatown. The sailors who trained in the Chavez Ravine went to Chinatown on leave. A sailor and his girlfriend were walking when four zoot suiters blocked the sidewalk in front of them. The zoot suiters refused to let them pass and pushed the sailor into the street. The young zoot-suiter and the sailor stood their ground in silence until finally, the sailor backed away.
What were the restrictions on the manufacture of men's suits?
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.
Overview
A zoot suit (occasionally spelled zuit suit ) is a men's suit with high-waisted, wide-legged, tight-cuffed, pegged trousers, and a long coat with wide lapels and wide padded shoulders. This style of clothing became popular in African American, Mexican American, Filipino American, Italian American, Jewish American, Slavic American, and Japanese American communities during the 1…
History
The zoot suit was created by Ernest "Skillet" Mayhand during his shows as a part of the comedy act "Pots, Pans & Skillet" an act that ran on the "Chitlin' Circuit". The suits were first associated in African-American communities such as Harlem, Chicago, and Detroit in the 1930s, but were made popular nationwide by jazz musicians in the 1940s. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the wo…
Characteristics
Traditionally, zoot suits have been worn with a fedora or pork pie hat color-coordinated with the suit, occasionally with a long feather as decoration, and pointy, French-style shoes.
A young Malcolm X, who wore zoot suits in his youth, described the zoot suit as: "a killer-diller coat with a drape shape, reet pleats, and shoulders padded like a l…
See also
• Zazou – Subculture in France during World War II
• Zoot Suit –1978 play by Luis Valdez
• Zoot Suit – 1981 film by Luis Valdez
• The Zoot Cat – 1944 animated short film directed by Joseph Barbera
Further reading
• Alvarez, Luis. The Power of the Zoot: Youth Culture and Resistance During World War II (University of California Press, 2008).
• Cosgrove, Stuart (1984). "The Zoot-Suit and Style Warfare". History Workshop Journal. 18: 77–91. doi:10.1093/hwj/18.1.77. Archived from the original on 2014-08-13. Republished in: Cosgrove, Stuart (2005). "The Zoot-Suit and Style Warfare". In Cameron, Ardis (ed.). Looking for America: The Visual Production of Nation and People. pp. 264–80. doi:1…
External links
• The Zoot Suit Riots. Article about the zoot suit riots of 1943.
Summary
Venues
- During the 1930s, dance halls were popular venues for socializing, swing dancing and easing the economic stress of the Great Depression. Nowhere was this more true than in the uptown Manhattan neighborhood of Harlem, home of the famed Harlem Renaissance.
Formation
- Style-conscious Harlem dancers began wearing loose-fitting clothes that accentuated their movements. Men donned baggy trousers with cuffs carefully tapered to prevent tripping; long jackets with heavily padded shoulders and wide lapels; long, glittering watch chains; and hats ranging from porkpies and fedoras to broad-brimmed sombreros.
Influence
- The image of these so-called zoot suits spread quickly and was popularized by performers such as Cab Calloway, who, in his Hepsters Dictionary, called the zoot suit the ultimate in clothes. The only totally and truly American civilian suit.
Criticism
- Despite these wartime restrictions, many bootleg tailors in Los Angeles, New York and elsewhere continued to make the popular zoot suits, which used profligate amounts of fabric. Servicemen and many other people, however, saw the oversized suits a flagrant and unpatriotic waste of resources.
Reactions
- The local media was only too happy to fan the flames of racism and moral outrage: On June 2, 1943, the Los Angeles Times reported: Fresh in the memory of Los Angeles is last years surge of gang violence that made the zoot suit a badge of delinquency. Public indignation seethed as warfare among organized bands of marauders, prowling the streets at night, brought a wave of a…
Incidents
- On May 31, a clash between uniformed servicemen and Mexican American youths resulted in the beating of a U.S. sailor. Partly in retaliation, on the evening of June 3, about 50 sailors from the local U.S. Naval Reserve Armory marched through downtown Los Angeles carrying clubs and other crude weapons, attacking anyone seen wearing a zoot suit or other racially identified clothi…
Aftermath
- In the days that followed, the racially charged atmosphere in Los Angeles exploded in a number of full-scale riots. Mobs of U.S. servicemen took to the streets and began attacking Latinos and stripping them of their suits, leaving them bloodied and half-naked on the sidewalk. Local police officers often watched from the sidelines, then arrested the victims of the beatings. Local paper…
Impact
- Thousands more servicemen, off-duty police officers and civilians joined the fray over the next several days, marching into cafes and movie theaters and beating anyone wearing zoot-suit clothing or hairstyles (duck-tail haircuts were a favorite target and were often cut off). Blacks and Filipinoseven those not clad in zoot suitswere also attacked. By June 7, the rioting had spread o…
Events
- On Monday evening, June seventh, thousands of Angelenos turned out for a mass lynching. Marching through the streets of downtown Los Angeles, a mob of several thousand soldiers, sailors, and civilians, proceeded to beat up every zoot-suiter they could find. Street cars were halted while Mexicans, and some Filipinos and Negroes, were jerked out of their seats, pushed i…
Controversy
- Some of the most disturbing violence was clearly racist in nature: According to several reports, a black defense plant workerstill wearing his defense-plant identification badgewas yanked off a streetcar, after which one of his eyes was gouged out with a knife.
Investigation
- A Citizens Committee appointed by California Governor Earl Warren to investigate the Zoot Suit Riots convened in the weeks after the riot. The committees report found that, In undertaking to deal with the cause of these outbreaks, the existence of race prejudice cannot be ignored.
Issues
- Additionally, the committee described the problem of juvenile delinquency youth as one of American youth, not confined to any racial group. The wearers of zoot suits are not necessarily persons of Mexican descent, criminals or juveniles. Many young people today wear zoot suits.
Sources
- A Brief History of the Zoot Suit: Smithsonian.com. Zoot Suit Riots: Pomona College Research Library [online]. Remembering the Zoot Suit Riots: California Historical Society.
Resources
- Youth Gangs Leading Cause of Delinquencies: Los Angeles Times. Accessed via web.viu.ca. The Los Angeles Zoot Suit Riots Revisited: Mexican and Latin American Perspectives. Richard Griswold del Castillo, San Diego State University.