The Rise of Hate Groups.

As more and more people with different customs, religious beliefs, and languages filled American cities, people worried that there would not be enough jobs or housing for the immigrants and that newcomers would take the jobs and overrun the neighborhoods of established citizens. People worried, too, that the beliefs and customs they cherished would be undermined by outsiders determined radically to alter the American way of life. These fears evolved into a hatred of racial, ethnic, and religious differences. Militant hate groups were formed, typically under the guise of protecting American values, to deny rights to racial, religious, and ethnic minorities. African Americans, Asian immigrants, and Native Americans were especially vulnerable to prejudice from white Protestants, who also resentedresented Catholics and Jews because of their religious beliefs. Hate groups flourished after Reconstruction. Nativism...