Contents
“Hi-deo-ho!!! What’s cookin’ baby? You are the cat’s meow!”
Whether you were walking the streets of the famous Harlem Renaissance or you were listening to the Pachuco Boogie in Los Angeles you were turning heads with the attitude and the dress wear!
Few riots can be attributed to passing fashions, but zoot suits are the top among them. After originating among the Harlem Renaissance crowd, the zoot suit came to symbolize political defiance. Find out why it’s still illegal to wear a zoot suit in L.A.
DIRECTIONS: Click on the link below and answer the following questions. Send your answers to jbello@sdcoe.net labeled
History – ZOOT SUITS!
28 Extra Credit Homework points
A Podcast on Zoot Suits_ Yes
1. Give one example of a dumb law (and where it applies) that is mentioned in the podcast.
2. When was the zoot suit in fashion?
3. Which communities were associated with the zoot suit?
4. What were the zoot suits originally made of?
5. What was Malcom X known as?
6. Who wrote a dictionary known as Jive Slang?
7. What were the zoot suits originally known as?
8. When did the zoot suit become political and a sign of defiance?
9. Why was the zoot suit deemed unpatriotic?
10. What was the new American suit like?
They weren’t an import from (__11__). They were a real American(__12__); they were (__13__) generation (__14__) kids.
15. Who were ticked (very angry) because the Pachucos were independent and not trying to hide their identity in Los Angeles?
16. In the negative press, what were people in zoot suits associated with?
17. What was the Sleep Lagoon?
18. What happened on August 2, 1942?
19. Who was the murder pinned on?
20. What happened in May 1943?
21. What is Chicano?
22. Who was the Vengeance squad?
23. What did the issued ordinance by the Los Angeles City Council prohibit?
24. How many people were injured in the riots?
25. What did the local press call the riot?
26. Who else would wear zoot suits as an act of defiance (not American)?
27. What movies came out of this era that captured the concept of juvenile delinquency?
28. What is another riot mentioned on this podcast?
Other Zoot suit videos and information:
– “Sharp As A Tack” (1942)
– “Geechy Joe” Cab Calloway
– “El Pachuco” Zoot Suit Movie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tryJJeT7rWE&feature=related
– How Zoot Suits Work: http://people.howstuffworks.com/zoot-suit4.htm
– Why Did Men Stop Wearing Three-Piece Suits?