Soldiers, sailors and marines stopped this streetcar looking for hoodlums in zoot suits, June 7, 1943

CROSS-LINK: Latino Civil Rights Movement

Zoot Suit Riots of 1943

Racial tensions in 1940s L.A. had been growing between white and Mexican American communities. This came to a head as the Sleepy Lagoon murder of August 1942 increasingly led to more white people associating Mexican Americans with crime. On June 4, 1943, a large group of white sailors came into Los Angeles and attacked anyone wearing a zoot suit (commonly worn by people in minority communities), since they saw this as a sign of someone who had dodged the WWII draft. Riots erupted and violence continued for several days after the initial attack. On June 8, the US military was deployed to L.A. to quell the fighting.

Watch this video for a short summary

Read this article about the defendants in the Sleepy Lagoon trial

Historical written summary

Newspapers and clippings link

Zoot Suit Riots were clashes between White soldiers and Latino youths in Los Angeles in June 1943. 

What Was a Zoot Suit?

          (Image 1 Credits)      (Image 2 Credits)

•  A history of the zoot suit from the Smithsonian Magazine
• Zoot suits and wartime Los Angeles from New Orleans' National WWII Museum                                                                        
• The Cultural Revolution in a Zoot Suit (Video) -- using the zoot suit to raise awareness

Pachucas

Young Mexican American women called themselves "Pachucas".  They often wore sweaters with flared skirts, high hair-dos, large earrings and makeup.  Some people reported that many Pachucas often kept knives hidden in their hair.  For some young women, the characteristics of the style "promoted a sense of social mobility and cultural hybridity that was expressed through increased interracial/ethnic relations, bilingualism, and pachuco slang."

For the role of women and Gender in the Zoot Suits Riots, check out 

The Woman in the Zoot Suit: Gender, Nationalism, and the Cultural Politics of Memory

LA PACHUCA: WOMEN IN ZOOT SUITS

More Sources

• Here is an LA Times Article with a personal account of a riot victim
•  PBS Film about the riot
•  A podcast on the racial tensions within the riots
• Interactive timeline from Google Arts & Culture
• Image: The 1940s: Sleepy Lagoon and the Zoot Suit Riots
• Adaptation by Luis Valdez: "Zoot Suit":
• article and scenes from Center Theater Group's production of the play
• article about Rose Portillo, a Chicana actress who performed in Zoot Suit's original production, Broadway production, feature film, and revival 
• Lyrics to the song Zoot Suit Riots by the Cherry Poppin' Daddies
• "Zoot Suit" (1981) movie trailer
• Each year, people in L.A. participate in the Zoot Suit Riots Cruise in remembrance of the violence endured