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Illinois and the Great War
The people of Illinois
were not quick to support American interference
in the war, and five Illinois congressmen voted
against joining the war. There were active and vocal
pacifists, such as Jane Addams and Jenkin Lloyd
Jones, who believed that the war was not necessary.
There was a socialist presence in Illinois at the
time that strongly opposed the war, as well as the
Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), a labor union
whose headquarters were in Chicago. Free speech
and freedom of the press was deeply encroached on
during these times, and an American Protective League
was created to hunt down disloyal citizens. German
citizens were forced to register and were barred
from certain places. The Department of Justice kept
their eye on socialists, and raided the IWW headquarters
in 1918. Opposition died out eventually, and Illinois
did its part to help the war effort. Illinois contributed
by producing food for the soldiers as well as following
regulations to keep consumption minimal. Along with
homeland support, Illinois sent 314,504 soldiers
to fight in the war.
The Depression hits Illinois
On the heels of rising
economy, salaries, profits, and skyscrapers during
the Roaring Twenties, came the stock market crash
of 1929 and the Great Depression of the 1930s. The
depression hit Illinois manufacturing and mining
towns hard. The New Deal, and especially the Works
Project Administration (WPA), provided needed relief
for many Illinoisans. At any one time the WPA employed
200,000 Illinoisans, and all together employed more
than a million. Participation in labor unions also
grew and by the end of the 1930s, one quarter of
the industrial work force belonged to the American
Federation of Labor (AFL) or the Congress of Industrial
Organization (CIO).
WWII
World War II pulled
Illinois and America out of the Great Depression
and created a boom economy that sustained itself
after the war. Illinois supported the war effort
by providing goods and sending nearly one million
soldiers to war, 22,000 of whom were killed . Illinois
population was boosted when the army resettled 20,000
Japanese from the west coast to Chicago.
After the war, Illinois
and the rest of the country entered into the suburban
era. Automobile ownership doubled, subways were
opened in Chicago, and small town isolation began
to disappear. With this new era, very few new immigrants
arrived in Illinois. The old immigrants and their
children assimilated into society and ethnic identity
began to disipate. However, there was some migration
that shouldn't be overlooked; between 1940 and 1970
the black population of Illinois tripled from 400,000
to 1,400,000. The Latino community began to emerge
as well. Beginning in the 1920s, Mexicans began
arriving in Chicago to work on the rail roads and
in steel and meatpacking plants. The Mexican population
had risen to 20,000, falling off a little during
the Depression, with a large second generation fostering
the growth of the Mexican ethnic culture. During
the 1940s the Latino culture was augmented by the
arrival of Puerto Rican immigrants. The Puerto Ricans
flocked to America because of changes in their home
country after American colonization. The switch
to cash crop agriculture created a large mass of
unemployed workers and spawned a movement to the
United States in search work.
Conclusion
Illinois has a great
history, and is a perfect example of the ethnic
mixture that has come to characterize America. The
position of the state in the Northwest and the industrialization
that occurred there attracted a large and diverse
group of immigrants during the 19th century and
was continued into the twentieth century. The numbers
of immigrants who came to Illinois in the 18th century
is not likely to be rivaled, but new immigrants
can look back on history and see the impact of immigrant
culture in Illinois. |
