Zoot Suit Riots

The Zoot Suit Riots were a series of riots that took place June 3–8, 1943, in Los Angeles, California, United States, involving American servicemen stationed in Southern California and young Latino and Mexican American city residents. 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 zoot suits, ostensibly because they considered the outfits, which were made from large amounts of fabric, to be unpatriotic during World War II. Rationing of fabrics and certain foods was required at the time for the war effort. While most of the white mobs targeted Mexican American youth, they also attacked African American and Filipino American young adults and children.

The Zoot Suit Riots followed the Sleepy Lagoon murder trial, after the death of José Díaz, a young Latino man in what was then an unincorporated commercial area near Los Angeles. Similar racist violence against Latinos happened in Chicago, San Diego, Oakland, Evansville, Philadelphia, and New York City as well. The defiance of zoot suiters became inspirational for Chicanos during the Chicano Movement.