to the United States Census Bureau, in 1908, nearly 35 percent of these immigrants were unable to speak English, and nearly 15 percent were illiterate. This created tension between white immigrants and white Americans, who feared their growing political presence. White Americans were increasingly more negative, fearful, and xenophobic toward the immigrants, who they deemed to be biologically inferior, culturally and religiously odd, and generally substandard with a proclivity to filth, laziness and violence. Within the country's racial hierarchy, European immigrants were perched below whites, but above black people, fending off degrading ethnic slurs such as "Hunky" (Hungarians), "Guinea" (Italians), and "Polack" (Polish): Such attitudes presented new immigrants with a choice — fight to become socially "white" or align with politically and economically disadvantaged black people. In an atmosphere where immigrants heard statements like "One white man is as good as two or three Italians", and where whites were bringing lawsuits against their own family members who they suspected of having "tainted" black blood, immigrants opted to strive to become "white": The pressure to become "white" led to many immigrants seeking ways to "prove" their whiteness. Protecting and expanding the notion of white supremacy was deemed convincing evidence. At the time, black people were expected to be subservient, agreeable and deferential to whites or be subject to verbal abuse, threats or physical violence. Whites who viewed black people as being "uppity" would often impose quick and harsh retribution against them. As immigrants observed how white Americans treated black people, they began not only mimicking such treatment, but also distancing themselves from black people geographically and socially. For example, in the particularly distressed economy of 1908, many European immigrants opted for unemployment over taking jobs that perpetuated stereotypes of them, or taking "nigger jobs" that would associate them with black people. In Springfield, such attitudes were inflamed by white Americans who had immigrated from Kentucky (across the Ohio River), from the border area of southern Illinois, and also from other areas across the south, seeking work in the mines and railroads. These southern immigrants brought the heightened racial animus with them that was associated with the segregated racial culture of the region. Springfield racial dynamics Following the Civil War, black people began migrating north for work and also in search of areas less socially oppressive than the south. In the post-Reconstruction years of the late 19th century, Springfield, as a rapidly