Confronting Bodies: Woodrow Wilson's Administration
Date of Action: 1920
Specific Location: United States
Description of Artwork: The "Red Raids" or "Palmer Raids", named after their director Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer, were made on innocent alien workers in the United States including; Russians, Finnish, Polish, Germans and Italians.
Description of Incident: American uneasiness about the threat of Communism initiated a series of raids on those people suspected to be a threat to American democracy. "On January 2, 1920, one minute after midnight, about 500 FBI agents and police swooped down on (alien workmen), looking for Communists to deport. The victims were hustled off to jail and arrested without warrants, homes were ransacked without legal authorization, and all literature and letters were seized." The First Freedom Today, Robert Downs, ALA, Chicago, 1984, pg. 6-7
Results of Incident: Two-hundred and forty people were deported.
Source: New York Public Library, New York City