1943 race riot by U.S. Armed Forces servicemen against Latino Americans in Los Angeles
Factsheet
Zoot Suit Riots Part of civil unrest during World War II
Location Los Angeles, California, United States
Date June 3–8, 1943
Zoot Suit Riots Part of civil unrest during World War II
Location Los Angeles, California, United States
Date June 3–8, 1943
Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Zoot_Suit_Riots
Zoot Suit Riots - Wikipedia
December 11, 2025 - It was one of the dozen wartime industrial cities where race-related riots occurred during the summer of 1943, along with Mobile, Alabama; Beaumont, Texas; Detroit, Michigan; and New York City. American servicemen and white Angelenos attacked and stripped children, teenagers, and youths who wore ...
The National WWII Museum
nationalww2museum.org › war › articles › zoot-suit-riots-and-wartime-los-angeles
The Zoot Suit Riots and Wartime Los Angeles | The National WWII Museum | New Orleans
May 31, 2023 - For the hundreds of predominantly Mexican American victims of what became known as the Zoot Suit Riots, a jacket and a pair of pants marked them as criminals for white servicemembers and civilians searching for someone to blame for the city’s inability to keep up with its growing population.
Videos
03:20
Zoot Suit Culture | Zoot Suit Riots | American Experience | PBS
05:52
The Zoot Suit Riots Cruise brings back ‘a forgotten era’ - YouTube
What Were the Zoot Suit Riots? | The New York Historical
Repost from @greaserboyjoey . Thank you Joey for your ...
The Original Zoot Suit | I want to extend a heartfelt thank you to ...
HISTORY
history.com › home › articles › zoot suit riots: causes, facts & photos - history
Zoot Suit Riots: Causes, Facts & Photos - HISTORY
But many U.S. servicemen viewed ... dodgers (though many were in fact too young to serve in the military).Two victims, one stripped, one badly beaten are shown among a gang of servicemen at a cinema in Los Angeles on June 7, ...
Published May 28, 2025
Forbiddenvancouver
forbiddenvancouver.ca › vancouvers-zoot-suit-riots
Vancouver's Zoot Suit Riots - Forbidden Vancouver
November 14, 2025 - With no one to fight, the mob eventually dispersed, but created disturbances downtown until about five in the morning. Casualties that night included three sailors sent to the hospital, a female bystander knocked unconscious by a rock, and a police constable bruised by a rioter’s kick. In the final tally, zoot suiters received the brunt of the consequences.
Zinn Education Project
zinnedproject.org › news › tdih › zoot-suit-riots
June 3, 1943: The Zoot Suit Riots - Zinn Education Project
February 10, 2023 - After turning on the house lights, the sailors roamed the aisles looking for zoot-suiters. The first victims of the zoot suit riots — 12 and 13-year-old boys — were guilty of little more than being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
LOC
guides.loc.gov › latinx-civil-rights › people-v-zamorra
1942: People v. Zamora (sic) 1943: Zoot Suit Riots - A Latinx Resource Guide: Civil Rights Cases and Events in the United States - Research Guides at Library of Congress
The cool, loose zoot suits they wear are supposedly the reason for the violence--when in reality these boys are viciously beaten and arrested simply because of the color of their skin. In soaring images and powerful poems, this is the breathtaking story of what became known as the Zoot Suit Riots as only Margarita Engle could tell it.
EBSCO
ebsco.com › research-starters › history › zoot-suit-riots
Zoot-suit riots | Research Starters | EBSCO Research
Whenever they saw zoot-suiters, a delegation of the sailors attacked them, hitting and kicking them and then ripping their clothing. For the next four days, hundreds of additional soldiers and Marines joined the fights. They targeted mostly Mexican Americans, but they also attacked Black Americans. Many of the victims were not wearing zoot suits.
PBS
pbs.org › wgbh › americanexperience › features › zoot-rise-riots
The Rise of Riots | American Experience | Official Site | PBS
May 1, 2019 - The first victims of the zoot suit riots — 12 and 13-year-old boys — were guilty of little more than being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Ignoring the protests of the patrons, the sailors tore the suits off their bodies and beat and ...
Google Arts & Culture
artsandculture.google.com › story › zoot-suit-riots › zgURMignkRPJJA
Zoot Suit Riots — Google Arts & Culture
On the street, they violently beat him, stripped him naked, and urinated on his zoot suit. When police arrived at the Orpheum, instead of coming to Morales’s aid, they waited until the sailors had finished with him, and then arrested Morales for ‘disturbing the peace.’ Off-duty police officers formed the second-largest group of rioters, after sailors.
EJI Calendar
calendar.eji.org › racial-injustice › may › 30
May 30, 1943 | White Mobs Attack Latino Youth in Los Angeles 'Zoot Suit Riots'
On May 30, a group of white soldiers got into a scuffle with some Latino youth and that small conflict sparked a violent and widespread riot. White sailors and soldiers spread throughout Los Angeles attacking any Latino youth wearing zoot suits, ...
HISTORY
history.com › home › articles › what were the zoot suit riots? | history
What Were the Zoot Suit Riots? | HISTORY
But many U.S. servicemen viewed ... dodgers (though many were in fact too young to serve in the military).Two victims, one stripped, one badly beaten are shown among a gang of servicemen at a cinema in Los Angeles on June 7, ...
Published May 28, 2025
Digital History
digitalhistory.uh.edu › disp_textbook.cfm
The Zoot Suit Riots
The Zoot Suit Riots Digital History ID 606 · Author: Governor's Citizen's Committee Report on Los Angeles Riots Date:1943
JSTOR
daily.jstor.org › home › archive of most recent posts › the zoot suit riots were race riots
The Zoot Suit Riots Were Race Riots - JSTOR Daily
October 13, 2021 - (Only a relative handful of servicemen were reported injured.) Similar attacks occurred in San Diego, Detroit, New York, Toronto, and other cities. Notably, white zoot-suiters were not harassed. What are usually called the zoot-suit riots were, in fact, race riots.
Los Angeles Times
latimes.com › california › story › 2023-06-02 › zoot-suit-riots-south-la-central-avenue-farmers-market
The untold story of the Zoot Suit riots: How Black L.A. defended Mexican Americans
June 4, 2023 - Coverage of the riots appeared in the most prominent Black newspapers in the country, the Chicago Defender and Pittsburgh Courier. Legendary poet Langston Hughes used his Defender column to describe Los Angeles as a city where Mexicans were “shoved around like Negroes.” ... NAACP head Walter White said zoot suiters were “almost invariably the victims of poverty, proscription and segregation.” In the organization’s magazine, the Crisis, Chester Himes ridiculed rioting servicemen as Nazi storm troopers and Klan members, while attacking the white supremacy in Los Angeles that made the riots possible.
Britannica Kids
kids.britannica.com › kids › article › Zoot-Suit-Riots › 633348
Zoot Suit Riots - Kids | Britannica Kids | Homework Help
In June 1943 a series of racist attacks against Mexican American youths were committed by white U.S. servicemen (members of the military) in Los Angeles, California. These attacks were called the Zoot Suit Riots because the Mexican American ...
Viu
web.viu.ca › davies › H324War › Zootsuit.riots.media.1943.htm
LOS ANGELES TIMES
In the Monday night rioting which blocked traffic on S. Main St. and Broad-way for a time, at least 50 zoos-suit youths were beaten and, in many cases, stripped of their outer clothing. Thousands of civilians assembled in the area and, according to Chief Horrall, "egged on" the servicemen, ...
Reddit
reddit.com › r/losangeles › 81 years ago, zoot suit riots in los angeles
r/LosAngeles on Reddit: 81 years ago, Zoot Suit Riots in Los Angeles
June 11, 2025 -
From beyondthestreetsart on IG
LOS ANGELES ZOOT SUIT RIOTS
1943
81 years ago in June 1943, the streets of Los Angeles erupted into violence during what would come to be known as the Zoot Suit Riots - a week-long wave of racially charged attacks led by U.S. servicemen against young Mexican-American, Black, and Filipino men.
Their “crime”? Wearing zoot suits - flamboyant, oversized outfits seen as defiant and “un-American” during wartime fabric rationing.
On June 3, 1943, hundreds of sailors flooded Mexican-American neighborhoods, assaulting anyone wearing the iconic suit. Victims were stripped, beaten, and arrested - while attackers were hailed as heroes.
The riots exposed deep racial tensions in LA, with media and police siding against the youth.
California Governor Earl Warren formed a committee which concluded that racial prejudice was the root cause, compounded by media bias and law enforcement failure.
The zoot suit, with its sharp lines and bold energy, wasn’t just a fashion statement. It was a symbol of identity, resistance, and pride.
Top answer 1 of 5
266
My dad grew up on the edge of downtown and told me about what he saw when this happened. He said people were just using it as an excuse to beat up black and brown people.
2 of 5
136
Oh yeah, definitely riots and not race based violent panic against Mexicans that became extremely bloody for no fucking reason.
Encyclopedia Britannica
britannica.com › event › Zoot-Suit-Riots
Zoot Suit Riots | Summary, Causes, Significance, & Facts | Britannica
December 13, 2013 - 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. As a result, on June 4 a number of uniformed sailors chartered cabs and proceeded to the Mexican American community, seeking out the zoot-suiters.
EBSCO
ebsco.com › research-starters › history › zoot-suit-riots-exemplify-ethnic-tensions-los-angeles
Zoot-Suit Riots Exemplify Ethnic Tensions in Los Angeles | Research Starters | EBSCO Research
The zoot suit, characterized by its exaggerated style, became a symbol of rebellion but was also met with hostility from segments of the White community, particularly military personnel. The immediate spark for the riots occurred after a clash between sailors and zoot-suiters, leading to violent retaliation by servicemen against those wearing zoot suits and, by extension, the broader Mexican American community.
History Matters
historymatters.gmu.edu › d › 5156
"We're Looking for Zoot-Suits to Burn": Mexican Americans and the Zoot Suit Riots
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. In June 1943, apparently provoked by stories that Mexican Americans had beaten up a group of Anglo sailors, servicemen on leave began to attack Mexican-American neighborhoods in Los Angeles. These anti-Mexican riots often featured the ritualistic stripping of the zoot suiters.