A GREAT MASS OF DEPRAVED AND DEGENERATE: THE AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR’S FIGHT TO RESTRICT IMMIGRATION, EXCLUDE UNDESIRABLES, AND KEEP LABOR AMERICAN IN THE 1920s
| dc.contributor.author | Davisson, Mallory | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2025-08-20T15:26:55Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2025-08-20T15:26:55Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2025-04-21 | |
| dc.description | Submitted to the Department of History of the University of Kansas in partial fulfillment of the requirements for departmental honors | |
| dc.description.abstract | The American Federation of Labor was a staunch supporter of immigration restriction in the 1920s, and lobbied for the passage of the Immigration Act of 1924, which heavily restricted incoming Eastern and Southern European immigration. Though the AFL denied that they were prejudiced against the affected immigrant groups, they used language which denoted ethnic hierarchies and a desire to preserve American identity. The AFL held an exclusionary attitude towards immigrants, minorities, and women in regards to both who should be allowed in America, and who should be allowed in a trade union. Previous labor histories have characterized the AFL as wary of high levels of immigration for fear of the threats immigrants posed to union bargaining power. Using official AFL publications, AFL leaders’ personal correspondence, and contemporary labor news, this thesis aims to push back against that characterization, and suggest that AFL leadership was prejudiced against perceived un-American peoples. As anti-immigrant rhetoric increases in our country daily, it is time to reexamine the nature of the AFL’s attitude towards immigrants, minorities and women workers more critically. A century later, understanding the connections between American workers’ attitudes towards subjugated groups and national trends of rising conservatism and nativism is more important than ever. | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/1808/36146 | |
| dc.publisher | Department of History, University of Kansas | |
| dc.rights | Copyright 2025 Mallory Davisson | |
| dc.rights.accessrights | openAccess | |
| dc.thesis.degreeDiscipline | History | |
| dc.thesis.degreeLevel | B.A. | |
| dc.title | A GREAT MASS OF DEPRAVED AND DEGENERATE: THE AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR’S FIGHT TO RESTRICT IMMIGRATION, EXCLUDE UNDESIRABLES, AND KEEP LABOR AMERICAN IN THE 1920s | |
| dc.type | Undergraduate thesis | |
| dspace.entity.type | Publication | |
| kusw.oapolicy | This item does not meet KU Open Access policy criteria. |
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