A Great Conspiracy Against Our Race PDF

A Great Conspiracy against our race
Culture, Labor, History Series
General Editors: Daniel Bender and Kimberley L. Phillips

The Forests Gave Way before Them:
The Impact of African Workers on the
Anglo-American World, 16501850
Frederick C. Knight
Unknown Class: Undercover Investigations
of American Work and Poverty from
the Progressive Era to the Present
Mark Pittenger
Steel Barrio: The Great Mexican
Migration to South Chicago, 19151940
Michael D. Innis-Jimnez
Ordering Coal: Railroads, Miners, and
Disorder in the Gilded Age, 18701900
Andrew B. Arnold
A Great Conspiracy against Our Race: Italian
Immigrant Newspapers and the Construction
of Whiteness in the Early Twentieth Century
Peter G. Vellon
A Great Conspiracy against Our Race

Italian Immigrant Newspapers and the Construction of
Whiteness in the Early Twentieth Century
Peter G. Vellon
a
NEW YORK UNIVERSIT Y PRESS
New York and London
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS

New York and London
www.nyupress.org
2014 by New York University
All rights reserved
References to Internet websites (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing.
Neither the author nor New York University Press is responsible for URLs that
may have expired or changed since the manuscript was prepared.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Vellon, Peter G.
A great conspiracy against our race : Italian immigrant newspapers and the construction of
whiteness in the early twentieth century / Peter G. Vellon.
pages cm (Culture, labor, history Series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8147-8848-6 (cloth : alkaline paper)
1. Italian American newspapersHistory20th century. 2. Italian AmericansRace
identityHistory20th century. 3. WhitesUnited StatesRace identityHistory20th
century. 4. ImmigrantsUnited StatesHistory20th century. 5. Italian Americans
Cultural assimilationHistory20th century. 6. Italian AmericansSocial conditions
20th century. 7. United StatesRace relationsHistory20th century. I. Title.
PN4885.I8V45 2014
071.308951dc23
2014016413
New York University Press books are printed on acid-free paper,
and their binding materials are chosen for strength and durability.
We strive to use environmentally responsible suppliers and materials
to the greatest extent possible in publishing our books.
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Also available as an ebook
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
vii
1
1. The Italian Language Press and the Creation

of an Italian Racial Identity
15
2. The Italian Language Press and Africa
37
3. Native Americans, Asians, and Italian Americans:

Constructions of a Multilayered Racial Consciousness
57
4. The Education of Italian Americans in Matters of Color
79
5. Defending Italian American Civility, Asserting Whiteness
105
Epilogue
129
Notes
135
Index
163
About the Author
172
>>v
Acknowledgments
In 1997, I had the good fortune of meeting Philip V. Cannistraro at the

Graduate Center at The City University of New York. One of the leading
scholars in Italian American history, Phil took an immediate interest
in my work on ethnicity and race. Although Phil passed away much
too soon in 2005, it is not an understatement to say this book could
have never been published without him. He consistently provided
keen advice, insightful comments, and much-needed encouragement.
His generosity as a scholar and mentor continue to inspire me to provide the same guidance for my students. I am eternally grateful to have
called him my friend.
I am also indebted to Carol Berkin, who has bravely served as my
unofficial adviser and sage after Phils passing. Simply put, Carol has
always been there when I needed her. Whether she was reading chapters of the manuscript, offering her expertise in the realm of academia,
or lending an ear to my neurotic ramblings, Carols kindness is truly
extraordinary. There are many others who have made this book a reality. I owe a great debt to David Roediger, whose own work has inspired
the way I interpret and read history. In 2006, he reassured me that a
book centered on the Italian language press and race would be not only
worthwhile but a welcome addition to the literature. At a very delicate
time in my life, his confidence in the project proved vital to my going
forward. Heartfelt thanks go to Mary Anne Trasciatti and the late Nunzio Pernicone, who both read through the manuscript during its early
stages, offering invaluable advice. A host of other scholars have read
specific chapters, provided insightful comments, and offered pointed
critiques or suggestions about sources or methodology. The book is
>>vii
viii<<Acknowledgments
much better due to their generosity. Special thanks go to Fred Gardaphe, Michael Topp, Donna Gabaccia, Anthony Tamburri, Thomas Guglielmo, the late Rudolph Vecoli, Peter Carravetta, Stanislao Pugliese,
and Bill Connell.
Many more people and institutions made this book possible. I am
deeply indebted to New York University Press, especially Kim Phillips,
Dan Bender, and former editor Deborah Gershenowitz for believing
in this project. I would also like to thank current editor Clara Platter
and editorial assistant Constance Grady for their hard work, assistance,
and patience. I am very grateful for the funding and support I have
received throughout this process. Awards such as the E. P. Thompson
Fellowship and Mario Capelloni Fellowship from the Graduate Center/
CUNY, along with grants from the National Italian American Foundation, helped me complete the initial stages of my research. Grants from
the Professional Staff Congress/CUNY in the form of a PSC-CUNY
Research Award, as well as being selected to participate in the CUNY
Faculty Fellowship Publication Program, proved immeasurable in shaping the book into its current form. Thanks to my fellow FFPP members
for their comments, especially Virginia Sanchez-Korrol, Kathy Lopez,
and Cindy Lobel. I also would like to thank the staff at the Immigration
Research History Center at the University of Minnesota, especially Sara
Wakefield, for their assistance during my visit. Additionally, thanks to
the staff at the New York Public Library and the Schomburg Center
for Research in Black Culture for their patience while I spent months
immersed in microfilmed Italian language newspapers. Many thanks to
the archivists at Tulane University and the University of New Orleans,
as well as the staff at the Archivio Storico del Ministero degli Affari
Esteri in Rome, Italy.
Special thanks are also extended to the many friends and family
members who were instrumental in pushing me along during the wearisome process of writing and researching. My Graduate Center posse
and dear friends Cindy Lobel, Delia Mellis, Erica Ball, Kathy Feeley,
and Terence Kissack offered plenty of advice, suggestions, and comedic
interludes during the process. I am so appreciative for having met them.
I thank David Aliano for his friendship and support, as well as some
helpful translations. Thanks to Jeffrey Trask, who opened his apartment to our writing group; the time spent there proved instrumental
Acknowledgments >>ix
in completing two chapters. I have also benefited from the support of

colleagues and friends in the History Department at Queens College/
CUNY, especially Joel Allen, Sarah Covington, Premilla Nadasen, and
Frank Warren. Many thanks to Augusto Pasquariello, who tirelessly
translated hundreds of Italian language newspaper articles without
complaint. Thanks also to Nella Giusto, who spent her vacation in New
York City helping with translations as well. Sometimes you meet special
people along the way, often for brief periods, who influence the trajectory of your future. One such person is Richard DiMedia. I thank him
for his inspiration in the classroom and his belief that I could pursue
and earn a PhD in history. Hratch and Leslie Zadoian are two people
who have remained influential in my life and whose friendship I treasure. Hratch continues to be an endless source of knowledge, wisdom,
and humor. I am a better person for knowing him.
Finally, deep gratitude goes to my family, on both the Vellon and
Pasquariello sides. Thanks to my brothers, Michael and Steven, and my
sister, Kathleen, for always having my back. My many sisters and brothers through marriageMaryann, Mary, Adrienne, Giovanna, Carmine,
and Saverioprovided unwavering support. Special gratitude goes to
my father-in-law, Augusto Pasquariello, and my mother-in-law, Maria,
for caring for me like their own son. Rose, my best friend, confidante,
therapist, and (probably her most difficult role) spouse, has been with
me since the beginning of this long, long journey. She has selflessly
read through chapter after chapter, offered crucial advice, and helped
me through the inevitable intellectual dead ends along the way. Her
unyielding emotional and spiritual support over the past twenty-three
years has carried me to places I didnt think possible. Simply put, she
has made me a better person. To paraphrase Walt Whitman: We were
together. I forget the rest. My two unique and special boys, Jack and
Luca, have literally grown up with this book. At various times they have
proved to be a welcome diversion from the rigors of research and writing and have filled my life with unimaginable joy, humor, goofiness, and
stress. They will never know how much it meant to me to see them so
excited over this books eventual publication. This book is for them as
proof that hard work and perseverance never go unrewarded.
Tempering the excitement of the books publication is the absence
of loved ones no longer with us. My nephew Michael Vellon recently
x<<Acknowledgments
passed after a long battle with cancer. His unflinching courage and
audacious enthusiasm to persist despite the enormous odds have been
awe-inspiring. He was taken much too soon and is deeply missed. My
father, Philip, and my mother, Anna, passed away in 2006 within eight
months of each other. Coming from blue-collar backgrounds, no doubt
they were initially confused about my pursuit of a PhD. Over time,
however, I think they grew proud of what I had achieved. I wish they
could have held on to see this book, as I wished they could have stayed
longer to see my children grow up. The book is written in their memory.
Introduction
In 1886, in response to a lynching in Vicksburg, Mississippi, the local

Commercial Herald declared, The lynching of those who commit rape
is the best possible protection from the horrible crime.1 White southerners often touted the preservation of southern female virtue as the
standard defense of lynching, especially because proving guilt regarding rape was deemed difficult. Moreover, even in cases where guilt was
proved, lynching served as the antidote to punishments interpreted as
too lenient. Extralegal violence, or popular justice, as many southerners described it, also served the purpose of protecting the victim and
her family from further public dishonor. According to the Commercial
Herald, It is the refinement of cruelty and humiliation to put upon the
witness stand the victim of the outrage, and perhaps members of the
family to prove the horrible details and face the badgering of the lawyers for the defense. Any respectable family would shrink from such
an ordeal, and no respectable community should exact it. Expressing
obvious approval of the Vicksburg lynching, the Commercial Herald
warned, God help the community where there are not willing arms
of brave men, to protect the females. Southern sentiment has always
[been] sound on this point, and the standard of virtue is higher in the
Southern States than anywhere else in the world.2 Although the tone
and content seemed relatively standard for incidents of mob violence in
the South, the Commercial Herald wrote the article in response to the
lynching not of an African American but rather of Frederico Villarosa,
an Italian immigrant from Palermo, Sicily. In what was described as the
first lynching to have occurred in Vicksburg in fifty years, Villarosa was
arrested and eventually murdered for allegedly assaulting the young
>>1
2<<Introduction
daughter of a prominent townsman.3 Investigating the murder, the Italian ambassador wrote that lynching was usually a practice applied to
blacks in the South, a fact that must not have gone unnoticed by recent
immigrants in the United States.4
Villarosa, the owner of a grocery near Wilsons drugstore on Jackson Road, had an immigrant experience that mirrored that of other
southern Italians who had settled in the American South. However, his
murder at the hands of a bloodthirsty lynch mob left the Italian immigrant colony in Mississippi, as well as Italian immigrants around the
country, deeply alarmed. Adelino Tirelli, a local shoemaker, wrote to
the Italian consul in New York arguing that Villarosas lynching was a
crime directed at all Italians, claiming that proof of the victims innocence was available but ignored by Vicksburg authorities. A year after
the lynching, Tirelli formed a mutual aid society called Margherita di
Savoy, named after the queen of Italy, and informed the Italian consul,
This society was not formed for the usual reasons you create a mutual
aid society, rather it was created to protect our lives, our honor, and our
interests.5
Villarosas ordeal, in an extreme manner, reflected the precarious
racial position of southern Italian immigrants in the late nineteenth and
early twentieth centuries. Perceived by many Americans as a swarthy,
inferior race, Italian immigrants thrust themselves into an American
racial hierarchy that privileged white, northern and Western European
races. Empathizing with Tirelli, New Yorks mainstream Italian language daily Il Progresso Italo-Americano accused the Commercial Herald of perpetrating a shameless and wicked crusade against Italians
that consistently subjected them to base and revolting insults.6 As the
Italian immigrant press grew in proportion to the immigrant community during this fluid period of mass immigration, mainstream newspapers such as Il Progresso commonly expressed full-throated defenses of
Italian immigrants. Responding to American assaults labeling Italians
as inferior swarthy sons of the sunny south, mainstream newspapers
owned by prominent community leaders, or prominenti, functioned as
an institution dedicated to defending the race.7 In doing so, the Italian
immigrant press worked within a familiar language of race and civilization that reflected a broader understanding of where Italians, as well as
nonwhite races such as Asians, Native Americans, Africans, and African
Introduction >>3
Americans belonged racially. Coverage of racially charged events such

as lynching, race riots, and slavery, as well as frequently discussed topics
such as capitalism and religion, exposed an immigrant press coming to
grips with, and navigating, the vicissitudes of American race and color.
Wrestling with unflattering racial characterizations directed at Italians,
Italian American newspapers initially interpreted discrimination and
violence within an African American context. For example, in the early
decades of Italian immigration, newspapers frequently expressed sympathy and understanding for African American victims of white racism,
often exhibiting a sharp critique of white American racism and oppression as one deeply rooted in skin color.
However, despite apparent prominenti sympathy for the plight of
African Americans, their acknowledgment of the intimate connection between race and color proved to have unintended consequences.
Exposed to the intense heat of World War I hyperpatriotism and antiimmigrant rhetoric, manifesting most immediately in continued calls
for race-based immigration restriction and demands for 100 percent
Americanism, mainstream Italian language newspapers grappled with
the continued uneasiness over Italian immigrant marginality. Concurrently, during this period the United States increasingly came to
focus on the Negro question as the foremost social issue affecting the
nation. This owed to several factors, including the migration of African
Americans into the urban North and the emergence of the New Negro
movement. According to Matthew Pratt Guterl, The result was a culture of racial thinking termed bi-racialism by the eugenicist Lothrop
Stoddard, which encouraged Americans to focus on race-as-color, and
almost solely on whiteness and blackness.8 During this emerging biracialist period, Italian immigrant prominenti espoused a particular
class-based notion of Italian identity, or italianita, influenced by the
recent Italian unification in Italy. Steeped in racial nationalism, prominenti versions of Italian identity argued for full inclusion as Americans
based upon an imagined Italian heritage of civilization and whiteness.
By the period of World War I, mainstream newspapers, cognizant of
the strong association between ones racial grouping and their defined
whiteness or nonwhiteness, abandoned a racial perspective that had
concomitantly entertained color, race, and civilization in favor a more
rigid binary of black and white.
4<<Introduction
A Great Conspiracy against Our Race explores the vital institution

of the radical and mainstream Italian language press in New York City
and seeks to answer how the immigrant press constructed race, class,
and identity during the period 1886 through 1920. Examining the press
as a cultural production of the Italian immigrant community, the book
demonstrates how both radical and mainstream papers often constructed racial hierarchies in tandem with their own class-based interpretations of society. Ultimately, mainstream, or prominenti-owned,
newspapers, constructed an identity as Italian, American, and white.
The book focuses on Italian immigrants self-representation of race at a
time when racial categories were being reconstructed as a consequence
of mass black migration and European immigration during the decades
between Reconstruction and World War I. Italians insistence on selfrepresentation provided a much-needed intervention in categories of
race meant to normalize extralegal and legal violence. During the years
1909 through 1919, newspapers such as Il Progresso and Il Cittadino
proposed that Italian inclusion in American society be based upon the
merits of an Italian civilization inextricably linked to whiteness. Constructing a version of southern Italian racial identity at odds with much
of the publics perception, by 1916 certain Italian American newspapers not only insisted Italians were white but claimed they would be
responsible for saving the white race in the United States. By 1919, it had
become clear to newspapers such as Il Progresso Italo-Americano, at this
point the largest Italian daily in the country, that full incorporation into
the American republic was intimately tied to ones whiteness, as well
as ones distance from African Americans. Although scholars maintain
Italian American assertions of whiteness actively began with the emergence of Fascism in Italy in the 1920s through the World War II period,
this work demonstrates that this process had earlier roots.9
Working within scholarship that sees race as central to immigration history, one of the books primary presuppositions is that in the
United States race and color have been historically connected. Discussions about race became intimately connected, and in some ways interchangeable, with categories such as civilization, savagery, and color.
And, it was often assumed that civilized races were white and superior
to darker races, which were perceived as primitive. Whiteness studies are grounded on the premise that the racial other in American
Introduction >>5
history embraces categories in addition to black. What these works

attempt to accomplish, in general, is to recover, or uncover, a racial
identity to whiteness that belies the traditional assumption that being
white means racial transparency. According to Coco Fusco, an activist and writer, Racial identities are not only black, Latino, Asian, Native
American, and so on; they are also white. To ignore white ethnicity is to
redouble its hegemony by naturalizing it.10
Although southern Italians were white enough to enter the country
and naturalize as American citizens, consistent alarm over their suitability to become full members of the American republic included concerns regarding their race and whiteness.11 Historians have attempted to
describe this precarious racial status in a variety of ways, from conditionally white to situationally white or not quite white.12 Along with
historians such as Robert Orsi, John Higham, David Roediger, and others, I believe the term inbetween most accurately describes the racial
position in which European immigrants found themselves as they
learned and negotiated the American racial landscape. Writing in particular about southern Italian immigrants in East Harlem, Orsi proved
instrumental in establishing the notion of inbetweeness and the effort
to establish a border between oneself and those perceived as the darker
other. As historian Ian Haney Lpez and others have demonstrated, race
is understood not as an absolute category but rather as comparative taxonomies of relative difference. Races do not exist as defined entities, but
only as amalgamations of people standing in complex relationships with
other such groups.13 Orsis work deftly presents the various degrees of
perception that undergird racial otheringbetween us and them, white
and black, Protestant and Catholic, American and foreign. Defined as an
inferior race by many Americans, southern Italian immigrants arrived
already stigmatized by northern Italian constructions of race and civilization coming out of Italian unification branding them as turks or African.
Learning and adapting to the American racial system would be a process
fraught with confusion, requiring an intimate struggle against the uncertainties and realities of inbetweeness. According to Orsi, The immigrants were transformed first into Italians in this country, initially in the
perceptions of others who were hostile to them and their dark skins; then
they had to become Americans at a time when this identity itself had
become the site of bitter, often racially charged conflict.14
6<<Introduction
David Roediger and James Barrett employ the phrase the confusion
of inbetweeness to characterize how immigrants perceived their place in
the American racial system. The authors argue that the process was not
a clean, linear path toward the attainment of whiteness but an uneven
struggle whereby immigrants would simultaneously embrace whiteness, reject it, and many times remain indifferent to it. More specifically,
according to Roediger and Barrett, to assume that new immigrants as
a mass clearly saw their identity with non-whites or clearly fastened on
their differences is to miss this confusion.15 In Whiteness of a Different
Color, Matthew Frye Jacobson contends that the privilege of being white
in various forms has been a constant since colonial times, but that whiteness itself has been subject to many changes throughout American history. He argues that whiteness became fractured into a hierarchy of scientifically and sociopolitically determined white races during the period
of mass immigration in the middle to late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Stating that American immigration scholarship is guilty of
conflating race and color, Jacobson argues that contemporaries did not
see ethnicity when discussing official categories such as Anglo-Saxons,
Celts, Mediterraneans, Hebrews, Slavs, Alpines, and Nordics, but rather
distinct races ranked according to their perceived proximity to whiteness. Therefore, an immigrant might be considered white yet at the same
time be perceived as racially distinct from other whites. Complicating
the simple white-black dichotomy of some whiteness studies, Jacobson
cautions that to miss the fluidity of race itself in the process of becoming Caucasian is to reify a monolithic whiteness, and, further, to cordon
that whiteness off from other racial groupings along lines that are silently
presumed to be more genuine.16
However, with the publication of White on Arrival: Italians, Race,
Color, and Power in Chicago, 18901945 in 2003, Thomas Guglielmo
challenged the concept of inbetweeness, arguing that scholars have
failed to understand the distinctions between race and color.17
According to Guglielmo, when contrasted with African Americans,
Asian Americans, and Mexican Americans whose nonwhiteness systematically excluded them from citizenship and equal rights, Italian
immigrants could not be described as anything but white. Thus, While
Italians suffered greatly for their putative racial undesirability as Italians, South Italians, and so forth, they still benefited in countless ways
Introduction >>7
from their privileged color status as whites. This distinction between

race and color, argued Guglielmo, explains how southern Italian immigrants could face racial discrimination upon their arrival but still enjoy
privileges due to their whiteness. Guglielmo contends that the notion of
racial inbetweeness must be refined in order to account for the fact that
Italians did not need to become white; they always were in numerous,
critical ways.18
A Great Conspiracy against Our Race approaches the concept of
race, color, and inbetweeness in several divergent ways from White on
Arrival. First, the book will work within segments of the historiography
that challenge Guglielmos assertion that race and color can be neatly
disentangled. According to David Roediger, although Italians did not
experience the same kind of hard racism as African Americans, new
immigrants often were placed between calls for their racial exclusion
and greater acceptance. Therefore, to argue inbetweeness necessarily
involves a willingness to keep both similarity and difference at play.
Indeed, an ironic twist to the fuss over terms such as inbetweeness
is that this description of southern Italians is not the invention of contemporary historians but rather nomenclature of the period. At various times newspaper headlines explicitly described Italians as a group
between white and black and questioned the racial fitness of Italian
swarthy sons of the sunny south by focusing upon some of the many
markers informing race, such as physical appearance, culture, religion,
language, color, class, and placement within the hierarchy of labor.19
Although southern Italians enjoyed privileges based upon legal definitions as white, their consistent depiction as swarthy and frequent comparisons to African Americans, as well as the Italian language presss
own correlation of race, civilization, and color, complicate the notion
that race and color can be so easily divorced. Indeed, as Roediger has
maintained, the separation between race and color that Guglielmo
posits (when he argues that Italian immigrants were securely white in
the critical category of color but vulnerable to intra-European rankings of races) is difficult to sustain.20 Further, it is important to note
that the connection between race and color only grew more intimate
through the World War I period and later; according to Guterl, By the
late 1920s and early 1930s American political culture was almost singlemindedly focused on the Negro and on race-as-color.21
8<<Introduction
Even if one were to uphold Guglielmos separation of race and color,

as well as his claims that attacks upon Italian whiteness were never
systematic or sustained, it would still not account for how important
institutions such as the Italian language press approached the issue.
Historians examining other new immigrant groups during this period
have contended that their own intricate means of self-definition
often served as a factor complicating their relationship to whiteness.22
The Italian language press maintained a consistent discourse, at times
lamenting the connection between race and color, specifically as it
related to African Americans. This conversation occurred in the midst
of a process whereby mainstream newspaper proprietors and editors
promulgated an image of the Italian cleansed of the sort of racial
baggage applied by American commentators. According to historian
Giorgio Bertellini, along with institutions such as the Italian Catholic
Church and popular entertainments such as opera, the ethnic press
echoed a proud sense of patriotic allegiance. In an effort to cultivate
a more palatable representation of their countrymen, Italian mainstream newspapers employed the language of civilization and savagery
and pleaded their case for full inclusion based upon a bourgeois construction of an Italian race deemed superior by virtue of a past linked
directly to the glory of Rome, the Renaissance, and the Risorgimento.
Bertellini explains that the invention of a shared Italianness provided
southern Italian immigrants with resources to affirm a distinction
from American culture and way of life but also their necessary inclusion within the realm of Western civilization in the face of harsh nativist allegations of racialized inferiority. Despite arriving with identities
linked to local towns, villages, and regions, rather than to an Italian
nation-state, southern Italian immigrants eagerly embraced patriotic
associations that served to provide a ladder for racial and class uplift
unavailable to them as provincial Neapolitans or Calabrians. By World
War I, prominenti definitions of an Italian race became incompatible
with any perceptions defining Italian as not fully white.23
While some scholars tend to discuss Italian racial consciousness solely
in terms of a black/white binarythat is, in relation to African AmericansA Great Conspiracy against Our Race reveals that Italian Americans grappled with a series of competing and complicated racial discourses and hierarchies. This book adds to the literature on whiteness by
Introduction >>9
examining how newspaper owners, editors, and journalists evaluated a

range of nonwhite races such as African and African American, Japanese, Chinese, Asian Americans, and Native Americans. Influenced by
Gail Bedermans work linking the discourse of civilization to race, whiteness, and manhood, insights into the Italian American presss palimpsest of race, color, and civilization emerge. The pages of the press reveal,
especially early in the immigrant experience, a complex racial worldview
in which ones perceived civilization could potentially trump ones nonwhiteness in the hierarchy of race.24 By making Italians active agents in
the construction of U.S. racial ideologies, this book also contributes to a
fuller understanding not only of the interconnectedness of ethnicity, race,
class, and identity but, more specifically, of how immigrants filtered societal pressures, redefined the parameters of whiteness, and constructed
their own identity as Italian, American, civilized, and white.
The Importance of the Italian Language Press

The immigrant press in the United States dates to the eighteenth century, but its maturation occurred with the mass arrival of newcomers,
predominantly from southern and eastern Europe, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Historian Robert Harney observes
that the press is the best primary source for an understanding of
the world of non-English-speaking groups in the United States, their
expectations and concerns, their background and evolution as individual communities.25 Although many scholars acknowledge the immense
role played by the immigrant press in facilitating or expediting the process of assimilation to the host country, the Italian language press in the
United States has often been overlooked in comparison to other immigrant publications.26 Indeed, as recently as twenty years ago, a volume
on the ethnic press in the United States did not include an essay on the
Italian language press.27 In order to glean the importance of these newspapers in Italian immigrant enclaves, one need look no further than
the immense readership they enjoyed, as well as how many newspapers went in and out of existence during the period of mass migration.
Arriving at the same time as Italians in New York City, eastern European Jews, while statistically more literate, provide a useful comparison
to demonstrate Italian immigrant thirst for the written word.
10<<Introduction
Although Italian immigrant literacy rates stood in marked contrast to those of Jewish immigrants, whose illiteracy rate was only 26
percent, illiteracy among Italian immigrants in the period from 1890
through 1920 was not as severe as was once thought. Regions such as
Sicily and Calabria did indeed have illiteracy rates of more than 80 percent at the turn of the century; however, between 1899 and 1909, immigrants arriving from Italy had an illiteracy rate of nearly 47 percent.
In other words, more than half of all Italian immigrants could read.28
Immigrant newspapers were ubiquitous within Italian communities
and served as a potent source of information for first-generation immigrants. For example, by 1920, there were roughly 803,048 Italians living
in New York City in comparison to 1,375,000 Jews. That same year the
total circulation for the daily Italian language press in New York City
was estimated at 241,843 compared with 356,262 for the Jewish daily
press. This equates to a higher circulation ratio for Italian New Yorkers:
one paper for every 3.8 Jewish New Yorkers versus one paper for every
3.3 Italian New Yorkers.29
As impressive as circulation figures were, they far underestimated
actual circulation. Not only were newspapers widely distributed hand
to hand within immigrant communities, they were also found in local
public libraries and were often read aloud to friends or family members unable to read themselves. In 1925, librarian May Sweet observed
that in densely populated Italian communities, one of the first places to
which most foreigners come is the branch library nearest them. Newspapers such as Il Progresso Italo-Americano could be found free at local
public libraries and were popular with all classes of Italians.30 Increasing the exposure of news was the tradition of immigrant readers, who
served to partially offset immigrant illiteracy. Writing about this phenomenon in 1905, three American authors revealed that the practice
of reading aloud greatly expanded the influence of these newspapers.31
George La Piana, a Sicilian immigrant, scholar, and teaching fellow at
Harvards Divinity School, observed further how illiterate Italians in
their moment of leasure [sic] especially in winter time gather together
in the kitchen around the stove and one of their friends who reads Italian reads them the paper.32 Taking this into consideration, with a circulation of roughly 108,000 in 1920, it is not unrealistic to multiply Il
Progressos reach into the Italian community by two or three times. As
Introduction >>11
the center of Italian immigrant life in the United States, New York and
the metropolitan area were home to mainstream newspapers such as
Il Progresso Italo-Americano, Bolletino della Sera, and LAraldo Italiano,
as well as radical papers such as Il Proletario and La Questione Sociale.
Containing the largest single concentration of newspapers in the country, New York City offers the perfect locale to explore the vitally important but underexamined Italian language press. Given distribution and
circulation figures, as well as what the Italian language press provided
to the community by way of news, nostalgia, and direction, Italian
American newspapers assumed immense importance by providing a
forum, or staging area, where identity, culture, and race interacted.33
*
The organization of this manuscript follows a thematic format yet

maintains a loose chronological approach. Chapter 1 provides a glimpse
into the Italian communities of New York City in the late nineteenth
and early twentieth centuries. The chapter sketches where Italian immigrants lived, the cultural institutions and networks they built, and
the types of employment they found. Moreover, it provides a detailed
breakdown of the multifaceted Italian language press in New York City
and its impact and importance for the immigrant community. Examining the role of prominenti such as Carlo Barsotti, the chapter argues that
Italian language newspapers played a vital role in shaping immigrant
attitudes toward race, color, civilization, class, and identity.
Chapters 2 and 3 reveal how the Italian American press perceived
nonwhite peoples such as Africans, African Americans, Native Americans, Chinese, Japanese, and Asian Americans. Chapter 2 examines
how mainstream and radical newspapers employed Africa as a trope
for savage behavior by analyzing their discussion of wage slavery,
imperialism, lynching, and colonialism, in particular Italian imperialist ventures into northern Africa in the 1890s and Libya in 19111912.
The Italian language press constructed Africa as a sinister, dark continent, representing the lowest rung of the racial hierarchy. In expressing
moral outrage over American violence and discrimination against Italians, the press utilized this image of Africa to emphatically convey its
shock and disgust. This dialogue would reveal much about the presss
12<<Introduction
racial vocabulary, especially as it would relate to its initial, empathetic

account of African Americans.
Chapter 3 explores how the press interpreted nonwhite races, such
as Native American and Asian Americans. Consistently differentiating these races according to color as either pelle rosse (redskin) or la
razza gialla (the yellow race), the Italian language press teased different meanings from each group based upon factors such as civilization,
race, and shared circumstances. For example, despite perceiving Native
Americans as outside the bounds of civilization and, hence, destined to
perish, Italian language newspapers entertained a divergent view of Japanese and Chinese peoples based upon alternate constructions of civilization and mutual threats such as race-based immigration restriction.
By the World War I period, however, Italian Americans would trend
toward a more simplistic construction of race less willing to perceive a
nonwhite race as civilized.
The final two chapters explain how the press moved from a complex
view of race to a more simplistic construction that relegated race and
color to a black/white binary. Chapter 4 investigates how the Italian
American press negotiated and digested the American racial system
by examining its discussion of Italian and African American issues. In
response to American violence against Italian immigrants, especially
lynching, mainstream newspapers such as Il Progresso resorted to the
experience of African Americans as a frame of reference to understand
their own racialization. In addition, empathetic news stories about
issues such as segregation and race riots were ubiquitous within the
Italian American press alongside sympathetic commentary.
Chapter 5 argues that the Italian language mainstream press modified its outlook toward African Americans during the years 1909
through 1919. Informed by their own growing understanding of American racial mores, as well as by consistent calls for immigration restriction and Americanization campaigns unleashed by World War I, Italian American sympathy toward African Americans waned. Throughout
the decade, mainstream newspapers shifted noticeably from criticizing white racism toward African Americans, to chiding white Americans for their rhetoric of racial exclusion toward Italian immigrants.
Consistent with this argument, Italian language mainstream newspapers discontinued comparisons to African Americans and viewed any
Introduction >>13
outside attempts to posit otherwise as extremely dangerous. Continued

demands for full incorporation into American society were inextricably
tied to establishing not only the civilized nature of the Italian race but
also Italians acceptability as whites.
Finally, the epilogue peers into the succeeding decades and speculates how and why second- and third-generation Italian Americans
became firmly entrenched as pan-ethnic, white Americans. For Italian immigrants and their descendants, the twentieth century proved
transformative in many ways. Affected by major external events such
as Fascism in Italy, World War II, and civil rights movements, as well as
internal desires to be American, a crucial aspect of their adaptation
would be racial in nature. From victims of lynching to perpetrators of
racial violence, the journey of Italian Americans uniquely embodies the
tremendous costs of an assimilation process that inculcates the values
of white over black.
1
The Italian Language Press and the Creation
of an Italian Racial Identity
The Italian Language Press and Racial Identity
On April 2, 1927, Carlo Barsotti, the founder and owner of New Yorks
Il Progresso Italo-Americano (Italian American Progress), was laid to
rest in what was reported to be an exact replica of Rudolph Valentinos coffin. In 1872, the twenty-two-year-old Pisan had arrived in the
United States a poor immigrant, but by the time he died he had become
one of the wealthiest and most influential leaders in the Italian immigrant community. Barsotti earned a lucrative living as a labor agent, or
padrone, directing gangs of Italians on the railroads, ran as many as
four lodging houses, and owned a savings bank that catered to Italian
immigrants. Motivated to fill what he considered a void in the expanding Italian community, Barsotti founded Il Progresso in 1880. By 1920,
the newspaper had become the most important, and largest, daily Italian language newspaper in the United States.1
Faced with incessant calls to restrict immigration based upon race,
a fierce hypernationalism unleashed by World War I, and frequent violence and discrimination, historically provincial Neapolitans, Sicilians,
and Calabrians found themselves united by a common antagonist. At
the forefront of campaigns to uplift the race was an Italian language
mainstream press that sought to justify Italian worthiness as a civilized
race. The mainstream press accomplished this by focusing on italianita,
or a celebration of all things Italian. Newspapers highlighted community events, defended Italians from American nativism, and sponsored
campaigns to erect monuments to figures such as Christopher Columbus and Giovanni da Verrazzano and in the process contributed significantly to an emerging racial identity as Italian that had never existed in
the old country.2 Despite the obvious financial and narcissistic appeal
>>15
16<<The Italian Language Press and Racial Identity
motivating prominenti such as Barsotti to trade in the discourse of

nationalism, it nevertheless appealed to southern Italian immigrants
faced with a nativist American environment. During the period of
mass immigration, Italian language newspapers experienced explosive
growth as the city swelled with immigrants and exercised a crucial role,
not only in the assimilation of Italian immigrants but in the creation of
an identity as Italian, American, and white.3
*
Italian immigrants did not arrive with a collective Italian consciousness,

and the social, educational, and cultural divides that had historically
separated northern and southern Italians did not disappear upon entry
into the United States. The lower half of the Italian peninsula, or Mezzogiorno, was marked by a history of economic exploitation, political
oppression, and cultural discrimination.4 Centuries-old problems such
as uneven social arrangements and poverty-level existence relegated
most of the agrarian proletariat in the South to a protofeudal existence.
Although Italian political unification in 1861 did not create the problems within the Mezzogiorno, it failed to address them, and in the years
after 1861 disparities between the two regions actually increased. The
northern-dominated Italian government failed to include the South
in public works programs, transportation improvements, educational
reforms, and badly needed irrigation projects. These policies served to
ensure the continued poverty of the South. Further exacerbating the
situation, the central government increased taxes on the southern peasantry compelling them to bear a disproportionate share of the public
debt.
During this period the notion of Italian dualism originated, and a
series of powerful images permeated the consciousness of national
public opinion. Illustrations of rural brigands hanging from scaffolds
intertwined with stories of barbarous actions increasingly informed the
image of a demonic Mezzogiorno. Many northerners viewed the South
as a primitive land where the climate induced laziness, irresponsibility, and the rule of nature over civilization. The perception of the Mezzogiorno as a land forgotten by history was buoyed by powerful racial
connotations intimately connected to Africa. For example, according
The Italian Language Press and Racial Identity >>17
to sociologist Gabriella Gribaudi, the South was considered a frontier

dividing civilized Europe from countries populated by savages from
Africa.5 French author Crueze de Lesser remarked in 1806 that Europe
ends at Naples and ends badly. Calabria, Sicily and all the rest belong to
Africa. In 1860, an envoy of Italys first prime minister, Camillo Cavour,
wrote of the South: What barbarism! Some Italy! This is Africa: the
bedouin are the flower of civilized virtue compared to these peasants.6
By the late nineteenth century, writers such as Alfredo Niceforo and
Cesare Lombroso claimed to have scientifically validated southern Italian inferiority through the theories of the positivist school of biological
racism. Lombroso, a noted Italian criminologist, pinpointed biological,
rather than socioeconomic, reasons behind the proliferation of crime in
the southern regions. Alfredo Niceforo, an Italian academic, reasoned
that the moral and social structure of the South revealed an inferior
civilization that was reminiscent of a primitive and quasi-barbarian age.
Describing southerners as feminine, or popolo donna, and northerners as masculine, or popolo uomo, Niceforo processed civilization and
barbarity through a gendered lens that served to clarify and reinforce
the notion of southern Italian barbarism. Constructing a relationship
between femininity and barbarity versus masculinity and civilization,7
these scientific conclusions only served to reinforce what northern
Italians had come to accept: southern Italians were an inferior breed
of savages and barbarians biologically distanced from progressive, civilized northern Italians.8 These theories had a transnational impact and
influenced the anti-immigration and restrictionist forces in the United
States. Indeed, in 1905, four years after Giuseppe Sergis The Mediterranean Race was published, the U.S. commissioner-general of immigration revised the governments classification of Italians and began
to distinguish between northern and southern Italians as two peoples.
Informed by Sergis theories, the congressional commission charged
with investigating immigration, more commonly known as the Dillingham Commission, elaborated upon this distinction and concluded
in its findings, published in 1911, that Italians comprised two distinct
races: northern Italian and southern Italian.9 These racial differences
remained at the core of the commissions recommendations to restrict
new Italians described as a long-headed, dark, Mediterranean race of
short stature.
Italian Immigrants and New York City

In 1882, a total of 648,000 European immigrants immigrated to the
United States, the overwhelming majority (87 percent) hailing from
northern and Western Europe, while roughly 13 percent came from
eastern and southern Europe. By 1907, however, the origin, as well as
the perception, of the immigrant would change markedly. During the
course of that year, immigrants from eastern and southern Europe
accounted for roughly 81 percent (or 972,000) of European immigration to the United States. The number from Italy alone amounted to
286,000; this was more than three times the total of all eastern and
southern European immigrants for the year 1882.10 The migration from
Italy accounted for 17 percent of the total immigration during the
period from 1880 through 1924 as 4,569,918 Italians immigrated to the
United States. The influx of Italian immigrants was so staggering that by
World War I Italy had been losing population to emigration at a rate of
more than a half million a year.11
Focused on New York City, the epicenter of Italian immigrant life in
the United States, this study will rely extensively on the most important
newspapers published there during the period 1880 through 1920, when
Italian migration to New York changed the face of the city. According to
the 1910 census, between 1880 and 1900 the Italian population of New
York City increased by 20,000 to 225,026, and by 1910 New York contained 340,765 foreign-born Italians, with the total number of people
identifying as Italian speaking numbering 544,449.12 Not only did 95 to
98 percent of all Italian immigrants pass through Ellis Island, but 54.5
percent of the total in 1901 delineated New York City as their final destination. These numbers are more impressive given what was certainly
an underrepresentation of these official figures due to mitigating factors
ranging from Italian distrust of civic authority to congested boardinghouses and tenements.13
Italian settlements spanned every part of New York City, and where
Italians decided to live was primarily influenced by proximity to
employment or a desire to reunite with family or friends from their
particular town or region. Every borough of New York City housed Italian immigrants; some sections contained only a few, whereas Italians
constituted well over 90 percent of the population in other enclaves.
By 1903, one community study revealed the only section of Manhattan that did not contain Italians stretched from 72nd Street to 140th
Street on the west side of the island. Given the fluidity of these communities, population statistics cannot tell the entire story, although they
can provide an important snapshot of how these communities evolved.
The two most densely populated and renowned Italian colonies during this period were the areas around Mulberry Street on Manhattans
Lower East Side and East Harlem, from 100th Street to 115th Street and
from Second Ave to the East River. By 1918, the Mulberry Bend district
housed approximately 110,000 Italian immigrants and their Americanborn descendants and was the largest Italian colony in New York. The
next largest Italian enclaves were in East Harlem, numbering approximately 75,000, and the Lower West Side of Manhattan, numbering
70,000.14 For many, by the early twentieth century the area known as
Mulberry Bend in Manhattan had become synonymous with the most
visible problems associated with unfettered immigration. With the
publication of Jacob Riiss book How the Other Half Lives in 1890, for
the first time Americans were able to peer into a world they had only
heard about. High population density, overcrowded tenements, unsanitary health conditions, inadequate water and sanitation, crime-ridden
streets, and unintelligible languages became emblematic of the foreignness of Italian immigrants within the city.15
Italians remained loyal to traditional values of campanilismo, or the
desire to trust only those from their very immediate family, extended
family, or town, and through chain migration settled in areas where
kin or extended kin had established residency. Often this resulted in
entire towns or villages being transplanted to specific streets in New
York City.16 For example, the Mulberry Bend area was composed predominantly of southern Italians from Calabria, Naples, and Sicily,
although immigrants from Genoa lived there as well. East Harlem, or
Italian Harlem as it would become commonly known, saw much the
same pattern emerge as immigrants predominantly from the South
Naples, Calabria, Salerno, Avigliano, and Sicilyfilled the tenements.
It was not uncommon for each street to be inhabited by a different
regional population, with Neapolitans living on 106th to 108th Street
and immigrants from Basilicata predominating from 108th to 115th
Street.17
For Italians leaving their towns and villages, New York offered the
prospect of rapid employment and economic betterment. Only 16
percent of the roughly three-quarters of the arriving Italian immigrants who labored in agriculture in Italy did so in the United States,
and a 1917 study found that 82 percent of Italian-born immigrants in
New York City were employed in industry.18 Although Italians were
employed in skilled work, most prominently in the garment industry,
masonry, stonework, and the building trades, by far the largest concentration of jobs fell into the category of unskilled.19 An overwhelming majority of Italians found employment as workers in construction,
railroad gangs, mines, quarries, silk mills, machine shops, subways,
and waterworks. Given New York Citys rapid expansion, Italians were
well represented as laborers digging tunnels for the subway system,
in the Sanitation Department, and working on projects such as the
Jerome Park Reservoir and many other railroad and building projects
around the city.
Informed by the same factors pushing Italians to settle among their
own paesani (countrymen), immigrants started mutual aid and fraternal organizations to provide crucial services such as unemployment
insurance, employment assistance, and death benefits. Men from specific towns of origin organized the clubs and offered Italians, among
other things, a chance to speak in their regional dialects and in many
tangible ways eased the process of dislocation. Most often, leadership
reflected the larger communitys bifurcated social structure as club
leaders came from the upper class. Prominenti took great pride in, and
exerted much energy in, attaining titles and honors befitting men of
such self-importance. These societies played a vital role in easing the
transition of Italians to a new environment by reestablishing and transplanting traditions and customs from the paesi. They were incalculably more popular and relevant among first-generation immigrants than
among their American-born offspring, who did not have one foot in
Italy and another in the United States.20 According to the president of
the Bargolino Benefit Association, a club derived from Italians from
the same part of Sicily, these organizations provided a suitable meeting place in order to avoid having members stand on street corners and
about saloons; to develop socially and to be prepared to mutually assist
one another in every way.21
Early on in the immigrant experience, mutual aid societies and fraternal organizations did little to lessen the regional differences and
rivalries that existed within Italian immigrant enclaves. Performing
important psychological and social roles, these organizations assumed
immense importance and indirectly hindered widespread collective
organization, often to the chagrin of labor organizers.22 However, as
immigrant colonies matured, especially after 1900, attempts at collective organization around a larger consciousness as Italians began to
take hold. For example, the National Order of the Sons of Italy, created
in 1905, was the first organization that began to subsume local fraternal or regional societies under a larger umbrella of federated societies
and lodges. By World War I, the Sons of Italy began to wield significant
power within Italian communities on the local and state levels.23 The
emergence of the Sons of Italy did not replace local mutual aid societies germane to particular villages or towns, but it did coincide with
the creation of an image of Italianness that did not exist in Italy. Society banquets, dinner dances, and annual religious feasts celebrated
regional ties through the lens of a minority population reviled by many
as unwelcome others. As such, organizations often focused on the merits of Italian culture and civilization as a means of community uplift
and survival, thereby promulgating a nascent Italian patriotism. And,
although by 1921 some contemporary observers such as John Mariano
believed mutual aid societies and fraternal clubs prolonged a fractured
Italian identity and sustained anti-Americanization sentiment, these
organizations actually accelerated the emergence of a collective Italian
racial identity.24
Religious observation and practice proved to be an arena where Italian immigrants did not have an easy transition. Although predominantly Roman Catholic, Italian immigrants did not blend smoothly
into New Yorks Irish Americandominated Catholic community. There
were several levels of dissonance between the Irish hierarchy and their
new communicants that for some time posed severe barriers to immigrants full incorporation into the Catholic parishes. Clearly, priests
and upper-level church hierarchy were not immune from the prejudice
and discrimination that targeted southern Italian immigrants in their
new home. Italian attitudes toward priests, church attendance, doctrinal tenets, and the personal manner in which Italians worshipped God
and saints were wildly dissimilar to Irish American Catholic norms

and principles. During the first two decades of mass immigration, Italians remained resentful of Irish arrogance and domination, symbolized
by the practice of relegating Italian parishioners to church basements
for their masses. As more immigrants arrived, Italians began to form
their own parishes, with some of the most notable located in the most
densely populated Italian colonies: Our Lady of Mount Carmel on 115th
Street in East Harlem, formed in 1885, and Our Lady of Loretto on Elizabeth Street in Little Italy, started in 1892.
By 1911, an expanding population numbering more than 500,000
had established roughly fifty Italian churches in New York City. These
churches hosted the traditional religious feasts, or feste, held throughout the year, especially during the summer months, which honored
local or regional patron saints and Madonnas. Although these feasts
were religious in nature, Italian mutual aid societies elaborately planned
and directed them under the umbrella of the clergy. During these spectacles Italians paraded ornately attired religious statues throughout the
neighborhood as devotees followed along in procession. Street vendors
selling Italian ice cream and roasted peanuts, musical bands playing
traditional music, and firework displays earmarked the days events.
Perhaps New York Citys most famous and well-attended feast was held
at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in East Harlem, although others
such as the Feast of Saint Rocco on Mulberry, Mott, and Baxter Streets
in Little Italy also remained prominent. However, Italian demonstrations of folk religious beliefs did not go unnoticed by critics. Startled
and dismayed by what they viewed as uncivilized and ignorant revelry,
American onlookers were also stunned by how an impoverished community could afford such lavish displays.
The Italian Language Press and Its Influence

The Italian language press played a significant role in providing
immigrants with the tools to navigate their new environment, and its
explosive growth and fluidity mirrored the development of the Italian
immigrant community of New York City between 1880 and 1920. For
example, from 1884 to 1920 the number of Italian language newspapers
nationally increased from a total of 7 to 98, with New York City being
home to more than any other city by 1920 with 12.25 However, this did
not capture the full breadth of the presss impact as 267 additional newspapers, both radical and mainstream, were published and circulated at
various times throughout this period.26 In addition to being the largest
Italian colony, New York City offered advantages to the news industry
not available in most other cities. With respect to successful commercial dailies such as Il Progresso, New Yorks geographic location allowed
the paper to tap into efficient news-gathering resources and dissemination facilities, as well as obtain the latest news from the colony or from
Italy in the shortest amount of time. Published daily, Il Progresso and
Bolletino della Sera became a vital source of immediate information not
only for Italians living in New York but also for those outside the city
and state.27
Italian language newspapers reflected the heterogeneity and fluidity of the community itself. Newspapers frequently went in and out of
existence, and a majority of newspapers could not maintain a lasting
circulation in order to remain financially solvent. Reflecting the community it served, the press varied in its political orientation, ranging
from mainstream political identification as Republican or independent
to more radical ideologies such as socialist and anarchist. The mainstream, or commercial, press enjoyed larger circulations than the Italian radical press and by virtue of subscriptions and advertising revenue
usually experienced a longer life span. Some of this owed to the serious
obstacles socialist and anarchist papers faced, such as fierce governmental repression that severely hampered their print operations. However, radical newspapers were no less important, often beyond what was
reflected in their circulation numbers, and some maintained publication for decades.
The era of mass Italian immigration coincided with the emergence of
what historian Rudolph Vecoli termed the prominenti phase of Italian
journalism in the United States.28 The prominenti, or prominent ones,
were generally Italians who had arrived early on in the migration process, knew some level of English, and established businesses that served
the immigrants. Men such as Carlo Barsotti and Louis V. Fugazy owned
and operated boardinghouses, neighborhood banks, saloons, or grocery stores, worked as labor recruiters and agents, or acted as notary
publics, sometimes combining all of these functions. Their practices did
not come without a price. For example, in addition to providing overcrowded rooms, boardinghouse owners charged exorbitant fees to hold
a transient immigrants baggage, and labor agents, or padrones, as they
were known, often sent unwitting Italian laborers into precarious situations as strikebreakers or contract laborers. However, for many immigrants who arrived without friends or relatives in the United States, and
did not speak English, access to a countryman with some knowledge of
the city and how it worked was a vital resource. Whether it was finding
employment, transferring money to Italy, writing letters for an illiterate immigrant, or settling legal disputes among quarrelling immigrants,
these middlemen became indispensable within the Italian immigrant
colonies. Their capacity to render vital services and dispense patronage earned them a level of prestige and acclaim throughout the colonies
that only buttressed their importance, wealth, and prominence.
For prominenti, newspaper ownership became extremely attractive
as a means to advance their personal agenda and further extend and
widen their influence throughout a community desperate for direction.29 Before mass immigration, G. P. Secchi di Casali, a Mazzinian
exile, and Felice Tocci, an Italian financier and banker, founded LEco
dItalia (the Echo of Italy) in 1849. The first Italian language newspaper
to appear in New York City, LEco dItalia operated ideologically within
an exile mentality and catered to a smaller, more integrated northern Italian community.30 Although the paper covered events within the
scattered Italian communities, it focused primarily on news and events
from Italy. Followers of Giuseppe Mazzini and Giuseppe Garibaldi, the
papers editors intensely debated political and military struggles within
Italy. This focus would change drastically as waves of southern Italian
immigrants began arriving in New York.
By starting Il Progresso Italo-Americano in 1880, Carlo Barsotti cast
the mold for big-city Italian immigrant prominenti and Italian language daily newspapers. With the help of his partner, Vincenzo Polidori, who was born in Rome in 1843, Barsotti started with a staff of two
and a minuscule budget. Its office was located in the rear of the New
York Herald offices on Ann Street in lower Manhattan, not far from the
heart of what would soon become New Yorks Little Italy. Given that
neither employee could translate English stories into Italian, the paper
initially resorted to clipping news stories from a Bologna newspaper
and changing the dates to suit their purposes. In 1882, Barsotti hired
Adolfo Rossi as editor, and the circulation increased steadily to 6,500 by
1890 and 7,500 by 1892. By the early 1890s, the papers masthead already
proclaimed in English that Il Progresso was the most influential Italian
daily newspaper in New York and in the United States and had the
largest circulation of any Italian paper in America.31 During the 1890s,
Barsotti would merge a smaller Italian language newspaper in New
York titled Cristofero Colombo with Il Progresso.32 The papers circulation dramatically increased after 1900, but circulation reached its height
of 175,000 copies during World War I. Its former editor Alfredo Bosi
credited the success to Carlo Barsottis tireless work and many popular
patriotic initiatives.33 By 1920, Il Progresso had expanded to eight pages
and boasted a circulation reaching 108,137. A sixteen-page illustrated
Sunday supplement enjoyed a circulation of 96,186. According to Bosi,
the Sunday supplement was a publication without equal . . . it is printed
on the best machines that produce 40 copies per hour so the paper can
get out quickly to anxious Italian readers across the City.34
Attempting to build on the success of Il Progresso, Vincenzo Polidori,
along with Giovani Vicario, a Naples-born attorney, established LAraldo
Italiano (the Italian Herald) in 1889. LAraldo was published every day
except Mondays and was soon accompanied by an evening newspaper,
Il Telegrafo.35 The paper employed valorous journalists such as Luciano Paris, Giuseppe Gulino, Luigi Roversi, Paolo Parisi, Ernesto Valentine, and Agostino DiBiasi and at various times was listed as a Republican paper and other years identified as independent.36 Some historians
described the paper as more balanced in its reporting than Il Progresso
and more friendly to labor than its chief rival, especially after 1910.37
However, despite having a larger circulation than Il Progresso in the
early part of the twentieth century, LAraldo could not keep up with Il
Progressos explosive growth and reached its circulation zenith at 18,000
in 1916.38 By 1917, both LAraldo and Il Telegrafo were sold by Vicario to
Il Giornale Italiano, edited by Ercole Cantelmo and part of Frank Frugones publishing consortium. By 1920, the papers circulation narrowed
to 12,454 copies.39
At the outbreak of the Spanish-American War, a new daily Italian language evening newspaper added to the increasing competition among
New Yorks mainstream newspapers. In 1898, Frank Frugone founded
Bolletino della Sera (the Evening Bulletin), and his story mirrored Barsottis in several ways. Frugone came to the United States from northern Italy (Chiavara, Genoa) with limited means and attended night
school as he worked as a printers apprentice. Entrenched in the prominent class by 1898, Frugone, along with Agostino Balletto, founded and
edited Bolletino. According to the New York Times, Frugones editorials aided many Italians by advocating for immigrant protection laws,
and in 1912 he offered his testimony to the House Committee on Immigration and Naturalization in an effort to prevent passage of a literacy
test for immigrants. Frugone was active within the Italian immigrant
colony as treasurer of the Italian American Educational League, president of the Italian Vigilance Protective Association and Dante Alighieri Society, as well as participating in political and cultural associations and organizations in New York such as the National Republican
Club and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Frugone remained active in
politics and tried unsuccessfully to parlay his influence into a congressional seat in 1904 and 1906.40 Running as a Republican in 1906, Frugone received the endorsement of the New York Times over his Tammany opponent. Although he is of Italian birth, the Times stated, Mr.
Frugone has spent most of his life in this country, where by his own
industry, his talents, and his good character, he has risen to a position
of influence as the editor of a prominent Italian newspaper, and as a
man who is respected and esteemed and listened to by men of his own
race in this country.41
Bolletino published daily, except for Sundays, and used a four-page
format. The paper featured journalist Bernardino Ciambelli, who Alfredo
Bosi called one of the most popular colonial journalists.42 By 1911, the
newspaper had increased to eight pages and had a circulation of 42,000
copies.43 Bolletino della Sera was part of the Italian commercial press
and advertised itself as Republican in political orientation. Historian
Edwin Fenton remarked that, unlike Il Progresso, Bolletino gave extensive coverage and support not only to socialists but also to the American Federation of Labor in its fight against syndicalists, especially from
1908 through 1920.44 By the early 1920s, Bolletino della Sera had a circulation of approximately 75,472 and catered to a readership of workers
in various industries, laborers, miners, farmers and business men.45
Throughout the period, many mainstream newspapers came in

and out of existence that did not possess the circulation numbers of
Il Progresso or Bolletino yet were influential nonetheless. In 1910, Italian scholar and author Alberto Pecorini founded and edited Il Cittadino (the Citizen), a newspaper issued by the Civic League Publishing
Association. The paper was published every Thursday and was identified as having an independent political orientation.46 Pecorini published prominently in Il Cittadino, often using the front page to inform
Italians, as well as English-speaking Americans, of issues and events
important to both. In a section titled To Our American Readers,
Pecorini offered substantive discussions and editorials on topics such
as Americanization, citizenship, immigration restriction, and literacy.47
These topics were well represented in books he authored such as Gli
Americani nella vita moderna osservati da un italiano (The Americans
in modern life observed by an Italian), published in 1909, and La Storia
dellAmerica (The history of America), a concise history of the United
States intended for use in Americanizing Italian immigrants, which
he published for the Massachusetts Society of the Colonial Dames in
1920.48 Il Cittadino was published for ten years and was widely respected
by American readers as well as by English language newspapers such as
the New York Times, which labeled it one of the best of the citys foreign language papers.49
Although mainstream newspapers dominated circulation within the
Italian immigrant colonies, radical or sovversivi (subversive) publications rivaled their intellectual grip on the community.50 Championing
class struggle and class consciousness, radical newspapers contained
political theory and consistently reported news of labor activities and
strikes. Italian language newspapers not only tried to connect workers
with employers but also often functioned as their protectors. Especially
in radical newspapers, numerous articles detailed the scurrilous practices of American employers and Italian labor bosses, alerting Italians
to strike activities and employer exploitation around the country.51 For
example, religious festivals such as those at Our Lady of Mount Carmel
in East Harlem were harshly condemned as sad spectacles where the
church and prominenti padded their own pockets with the hard-earned
wages of ignorant and exploited Italian workers.52
Radicals in turn created an oppositional culture and celebrated

their own holidays, such as May Day (Primo Maggio), and their own
heroes such as Gaetano Bresci, the anarchist who assassinated King
Umberto I of Italy in 1900. In addition to picnics, theater, processions,
and other community-building activities, the press became a critical
tool for spreading the message. Although radical newspapers did not
carry commercial advertisements, their existence was mercurial, and
frequently papers would meander in and out of circulation under different titles. However, even in the face of daunting obstacles such as
financial insecurity and state and federal repression, radical newspapers
persisted and were extremely influential.53
Il Proletario (the Proletariat) originated in Pittsburgh in November
1896 and by 1902 had become the official organ and mouthpiece for the
Federazione Socialista Italiana del Nord America (FSI; Italian Socialist Federation of North America). The paper started as a weekly and
promptly went out of business in 1897 due to lack of funds, but it soon
was resurrected in Paterson, New Jersey, in 1898. Borrowing a method
utilized in Italy to maintain solvency, the paper organized a donor list
and moved to New York in 1900 to merge with Giovane Italia. Giacinto
Menotti Serrati, born in 1874 in the northern Italian region of Liguria,
assumed the editorship of the newspaper in 1902 and on May 1, 1903,
turned it from a weekly to a daily. However, although Serrati had collected $4,100 by early 1903, he needed twice that amount to operate the
paper. Due to financial concerns, the paper returned to its weekly status
in January 1904 and ceased publication six months later. Although the
paper did not publish exclusively in New York, it was headquartered
there for some time, as well as in other northeastern cities, until moving to Chicago in 1916. This socialist newspaper and many other Italian radical newspapers were, in the words of Robert Park, mendicant
journal(s). They are either regularly supported by the parties and societies they represent, or they are constantly driven to appeal to the generosity of their constituency to keep them alive.54
In 1904, Carlo Tresca, noted radical and labor organizer, arrived in
the United States and assumed the editorship of Il Proletario.55 Tresca,
who was born in 1879 in the southern Italian region of Abruzzi,
revived the paper and was instrumental in rooting Il Proletario and the
Italian socialist movement within the broader American labor struggle. Migrating from Italian-centered dictates and aligning more closely
to the doctrines of revolutionary industrial unionism, Tresca saw the
value of using the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) as the vehicle to push Italians beyond their own provincial worldviews and establish them within a larger, class-based movement. According to Bruno
Cartosio, Tresca was the one who really transformed Il Proletario into
an Italian-American newspaper.56
The fortunes of Il Proletario reflected the twists and turns within
the Italian socialist movement during this period. An ideological split
emerged between those who viewed the IWWs revolutionary socialism
as the path toward class liberation and moderates who wanted to work
within the American socialist movement. In 1907, Giuseppe Bertelli
left his editorial position at Il Proletario and started his own newspaper
in Chicago. Although Il Proletario and the Italian socialist movement
suffered from consistent infighting, from 1909 through World War I,
Il Proletario reached the height of its influence and circulation. This
period coincided with a maturing working-class activism, the rising
influence of the IWW, and the prominent role played by Italian workers in that struggle, especially in northeastern industrial areas such
as Lawrence, Massachusetts, and Paterson, New Jersey.57 During the
repressive period of World War I, legislation such as the Espionage Act,
the Sedition Act, and the Trading with the Enemy Act made it possible
for the Department of Justice and the U.S. Post Office to suppress any
publication the federal government deemed subversive. Il Proletario
was forced to move its headquarters from Boston to the IWW headquarters in Chicago in 1916. Ironically, it was during this period that Il
Proletario reached its high point in circulation at 7,800 copies.58 Along
with the IWW, Il Proletario came under intense government scrutiny
as its offices were raided, its mailing privileges denied, and its editor,
Angelo Faggi, was arrested and deported to Italy in 1919. The newspaper resumed under the title La Difesa, after the war became Il Nuovo
Proletario, and in 1920 published again under the original masthead of
Il Proletario. Although the newspaper would continue to publish for
almost two decades, its lack of strong organizational support reflected
the chilling effectiveness of repressive antilabor campaigns.59
Along with Italian socialists and syndicalists, Italian anarchists were

at the vanguard of the American radical movement. Within the silk
mills of the industrial city of Paterson, New Jersey, existed a prominent
history of Italian radical politics dating back to the 1890s. With the
migration of Italian anarchists in the 1880s and 1890s, Paterson would
become home to one of the most important anarchist groups formed
throughout the country. The enclave was composed mostly of northern Italian immigrants employed predominantly as skilled weavers and
dyers. Anarchists formed the Il Gruppo Diritto allEsistenza (Right to
Exist Group) and along with French and Spanish anarchists helped
establish Paterson as a major center of anarchist activity in the Northeast. In 1895, Pietro Gori, the Sicilian-born anarchist, playwright, and
activist lawyer who moved to Tuscany at an early age, founded La Questione Sociale (the Social Question) along with Catalan anarchist Pedro
Esteve.
In the late 1890s, Il Gruppo Diritto allEsistenza had a membership
of between 90 and 100 people that would soon increase to anywhere
from 500 to 2,000. La Questione Sociale had become one of the most
important newspapers of Italian American anarchism in the United
States, with a circulation that reached 1,000 copies locally. These numbers were quite large for a community of approximately 18,000, especially when the readers families are added to the original 1,000. In
addition, 2,000 copies of the paper were distributed to anarchist groups
around the United States, as well as internationally. Some of the most
important voices in the Italian American anarchist movement, such as
the aforementioned Pietro Gori, Giuseppe Ciancabilla (born in Rome),
Errico Malatesta (born in the province of Caserta, southern Italy), Luigi
Galleani (born in Piedmont), and Ludovico Caminita, served as editors of the paper. In March 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt and
Mayor Andrew McBride of Paterson ordered postal authorities to bar
La Questione Sociale, claiming that the paper published immoral content that violated obscenity laws. In 1909, the paper was resurrected as
LEra Nuova until federal raids forced it out of business in 1917. Major
setbacks in strike activities, especially the 1913 textile workers strike
in Paterson, as well as the onset of World War I, redirected the papers
focus to other issues such as the arrest of radicals and the socialist role
in alleviating the plight of workers.60
Uplifting the Race in the Pages of the Press

The Italian language press provided an institutional framework for
the cultural transformation of the Italian immigrant population and
the development of a collective Italian identity as American and white
in the United States. In conjunction with an exploding Italian population in New York City, Italian language newspapers addressed multiple needs and facilitated immigrant orientation to new surroundings. According to historian Rudolph Vecoli, the press took on an
importance [it] lacked in the old country.61 For example, Il Progresso
published classified employment listings on its front page that sought
twenty bricklayers to work on Spring Street in downtown Manhattan or women to cook, clean, and iron for a good salary, stipulating
that speaking English was not necessary.62 The second page of the standard four-page format featured news from communities in and outside
New York, where readers could find a detailed report of the crimes,
feste, arrests, and other prominent features of the local life.63 Moreover,
articles and notices detailing the numerous dinner dances, meetings,
and religious feats sponsored by the many Italian immigrant societies
also appeared on this page.64 This news kept Italians connected with kin
or paesani who may have settled elsewhere, whether in East Harlem,
Brooklyn, or even Chicago, and chipped away at regional identities in
favor of a more national collective consciousness as Italians.
However, in addition to providing tangible services such as employment listings and announcements of neighborhood events, newspapers
served as a construction site for multiple campaigns to manufacture,
assert, and defend the Italian race. The first page of daily newspapers
usually reserved three to four columns for news from Europe, specifically Italy, and the other half for news of the day from the United States.
Amid negative American perceptions, dislocated Neapolitans, Calabrians, and Sicilians yearned for any news from Italy and were especially
attentive to colonial ventures in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in Ethiopia and Libya, as well as a series of natural disasters that ravaged parts of Italy. Prominenti such as Barsotti capitalized
on these unfortunate events by initiating subscription drives to raise
money for earthquake victims, as was the case in 1887, 1905, and 1908
when earthquakes ravaged different parts of the mainland and Sicily.65
In total, Il Progresso sponsored nineteen relief funds between the years

1886 and 1920.66 Seeking to enhance the newspapers, as well as their
own, prestige within the community, editors published subscription
listscomplete with donors namesprominently on the newspapers
front page.
According to historian George Pozzetta, prominenti such as Barsotti
were masters at squeezing contributions for worthy causes and were
quick to take offense at any action that besmirched the Italian name.67
However, although Barsottis actions appeared motivated by a desire to
enhance his own status as prominenti par excellence rather than elevate
the profile of Italian immigrants, in many ways he achieved both. Barsotti launched incredibly popular fund-raising drives in the paper and
was largely responsible for the monuments dedicated to Verrazzano,
Dante, Columbus, Garibaldi, and Verdi that were erected across New
York City.
In addition, prominenti-defined national celebrations such as
Columbus Day every October and the anniversary of the fall of Rome
to the armies of united Italy on September 20 garnered frequent attention every year. Columbus, especially, served as an important symbol of
an emerging Italian identity. Although the first Columbus Day parade
can be traced back to 1792, the myth and imagery of Columbus would
take on very different and specific meanings for the masses of Italian
immigrants that arrived in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.68 It was not surprising, then, that Carlo Barsotti spearheaded the
effort in 1892 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Columbuss
first voyage to the Americas by organizing a subscription drive through
his newspaper. Resulting in the construction of Columbus Circle on
Fifty-Ninth Street and Eighth Avenue, this example of racial uplift publicized through Il Progresso helped nurture a maturing Italian identity
among Italian immigrants.69
Moreover, newspapers such as Il Progresso remained unapologetic
about defending Italians from accusations of inherent criminality, or
expressing outrage over their victimization at the hands of lynch mobs.
In 1891, for example, Barsotti raised more than $500 through his newspaper subscription drive for the defense fund of those Italians accused
of murdering New Orleans police chief David Hennessey.70 Newspaper
owners also championed causes perceived to be in the best interests of
Italian immigrants and lobbied to have the Italian language taught in

New York City public schools. According to Il Progresso, Nine-tenths of
the children of Italians born in America and those who arrived at a tender age without a teacher to teach them their language or their patriotic
and religious traditions end up ignorant of the slightest knowledge of
their country of origin.71 Led by prominenti, Italian immigrants viewed
the adoption of Italian into the New York City schools as a measure
that validated their race and culture as worthy of American respect. In
1906, Il Progresso exclaimed that the introduction of Italian was a great
moral victory following years of struggle for the Italian community of
New York, reflecting not only the emerging prominence of Italians as
an interest group but, more importantly, the growing appreciation of
the American public for our community.72 Since the majority of southern Italian immigrants spoke only their own regional dialects rather
than a standard Italian, the emphasis on the Italian language, and what
it represented in this new and often hostile environment, helped forge a
group identity that did not exist in Italy.
Historians have noted the importance of the Italian language press in
facilitating an ideological shift among immigrants from a more provincial worldview as Neapolitans, Calabrians, and Sicilians to a collective
identity as Italians.73 This transition has been described, often negatively,
as one that postponed the assimilation of Italians into American society. With constant appeals to Italian nationalism and frequent displays
of Italian pride, many have asserted that men such as Barsotti sought to
keep immigrants isolated and dependent upon their own patronage as
a means to maintain their power and control. Indeed, seeking to extend
their influence and exposure as community leaders, former padrones,
bankers, and lodging house owners perceived newspaper ownership as
a powerful vehicle to accomplish these goals. To realize the full impact
of Italian language newspapers, however, one must peer beyond the retrograde intentions and narcissistic impulses of Italian immigrant community leaders. And, although historians such as Rudolph Vecoli have
wisely noted that Italian immigrants were not simply acted upon, but
decided for themselves what was reality, to ignore the power of newspapers to shape or create the rubric of debate is untenable.
These men were so concerned with their influence and public image
that internecine battles among newspaper owners, often fought within
the pages of competing papers, spoke to the stakes at hand in enhancing ones power and prestige within the colony.74 The rivalries became
so heated that certain newspaper owners openly accused one another
of fraud and embezzlement within the pages of major papers.75 In 1917,
George La Piana sarcastically chided newspaper owners for the continual rancor that accompanied their publications. He noted how each
owner proclaims the other a bunch of thiefs [sic], that they escaped
from an Italian prison which was the college where they received their
education, that their sense of honor is below that of the animals, that
their heads are empty boxes where can be written nobody home and
so on.76 Some mainstream newspaper editors, such as Alberto Pecorini,
lashed out at prominenti for intentionally failing to provide adequate
information to foster Italian naturalization and adaptation. For Pecorini,
prominenti simply preyed upon immigrants to advance their own
power and prestige. Writing in the journal the Forum in 1911, he advised
Italians to become American citizens and take away the direction of
their interests from the dealers in votes. The debate reflected divergent
strategies over how Italian immigrants should assimilate into American society. Pecorini believed Barsottis self-aggrandizing focus on the
feats and accomplishments of the Italian race only served to strengthen
prominenti influence within the community, further isolate immigrants in ethnic enclaves, and dangerously delay American acceptance
of Italians. The New York Times agreed with Pecorinis assessment and
stressed, We do not want foreigners in this country who are taught not
to adopt American customs and ways, who do not come here for permanent settlement and citizenship.77
Another way to measure the influence of prominenti-run newspapers within Italian colonies is to look at the vitriolic diatribes emanating from the Italian radical press. Socialists and anarchists dedicated
considerable space in their publications to some of their most loathsome attacks against prominenti, who along with Catholic priests were
defined as a two-headed oppressor intent on increasing their personal
power at the expense of Italian immigrants. To radicals, Barsottis and
Il Progressos message translated into antiworker, antiunion, and procapitalist. The frustration radicals demonstrated over working-class
acquiescence, and in some ways deference to prominenti within the
community, underscored the impact and influence of these men upon
the colony.78 However, imperceptible to Pecorini, and even Barsotti and

Frugone at the time, was how the Italian mainstream presss defense of
Italians and Italian civilization would prove critical to establishing a collective identity as Italians. Rather than retard immigrant acculturation,
uplifting the race afforded Italians a platform from which to proudly
argue for their full inclusion in American society as Italian, American,
and white.
As Todd Vogel states with respect to the African American press,
A periodical analyzed as a cultural production creates an ideal stage
for examining society. . . . In this way, the press gives us the chance to
see writers forming and reforming ideologies, creating and recreating
a public sphere, and staging and restaging race itself.79 During mass
immigration, Italian language newspapers emerged out of necessity to
fill a crucial void in the lives of an ever-increasing stream of settlers.
Whether reporting on events in Italy, organizing subscription drives
for Italian earthquake victims or memorials to Italian heroes, publishing employment advertisements, or providing information about labor
organizations, the Italian language press catered to its consumers and
offered a life preserver for many Italians grasping for normalcy in their
new environment. According to Robert Park, along with city life, mainstream newspapers such as Il Progresso served to break down the local
and provincial loyalties with which immigrants arrived, and substituted
a less intense but more national loyalty in its place.80 Implicit in this
process, Park stressed, was the importance of the press in fostering, or
creating, a hybrid identity, neither American nor foreign, but a combination of both.81 Italian language newspapers played a pivotal role in
this process by forging an unique class- and race-based identity centered upon an exalted civilization rooted in an Italian past wiped clean
of sectional discord and questionable racial and color status.
2
The Italian Language Press and Africa
A day after the brutal lynching of eleven Italian immigrants in New

Orleans in 1891, Il Progresso Italo-Americano published a letter on its
front page written by an Italian American named Marchese. Marchese
expressed outrage over the cruel work of the mob in New Orleans and
added that his hometown of Springfield, Massachusetts, commiserated
with the victims. Moreover, he expressed particular shock over how
this could happen in a civilized nation such as America. Echoing a
sentiment that prevailed throughout the Italian American press, Marchese concluded that the barbaric act of lynching might be expected
in Africa tenebrosa (dark, murky Africa) but not in the United States.1
In a letter to Cristofero Colombo, another New York Italian American
daily, Alberto Dini went one step further by maintaining that not even
the savage population of Central Africa would approve of such a disgraceful action.2 According to a cynical Italian American press, the
line between African savagery and American civilization became
blurred: But where are we? The only difference now between the free
sons of America and the savages of Africa is that Americans have yet to
become flesh eating cannibals.3 In a scathing indictment of American
lawlessness, African savagery was held as the standard against which
to judge American society. In response to Dinis letter, the Cristofero
Colombo asserted, At least cannibals respect the laws of primitive tribal
justice so that a massacre like this would have been avoided.4
Marcheses and Dinis letters reflect not only the vicissitudes of Italian immigrant topographies of race, color, and civilization in late
nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century U.S. society but also
a transnational racial awareness. These immigrants had seen parallel
>>37
38<<The Italian Language Press and Africa
issues in their homeland. Coming out of Italian unification in 1860,

Italians wrestled with the task of constructing a unique Italian identity
from the fractious provincial and regional identities that had characterized Italys history. Compared with its European neighbors, Italy
suffered from high illiteracy rates, low educational achievement, infrastructure problems, and low political participation that rendered the
task of nation building rather bleak. However, using the state and the
military as the means through which to consolidate power, Italys bourgeoisieheld together by a common language and literatureused the
language of patriotism to mold a nationalistic history connecting postunification Italy to a distant past. According to John Dickie, the proliferation of racial stereotypes related to the problem of the Mezzogiorno
(Italian South) must be viewed within the context of upper-class and
elite Italian anxiety over the probability of creating a successful nationstate after unification. 5 Indeed, a critical theme informing nationalistic
and patriotic attitudes disseminating within Italys elite classes revolved
around the emerging concept of the South as a region marked by backwardness and criminality, savagery and darkness. Fused with these
perceptions was the Mezzogiornos negative connection to Africa, especially central Africa, as the ultimate image of darkness and savagery.
One of the many factors creating imagined communities, to borrow
Benedict Andersons phrase, is positing a normative value to ones version of nation by employing definitions of what it is not. During the
late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, imagined constructions
of Italian identity and Italian nationhood emerged simultaneously with
alternate constructions of a backward, criminal, and African South.6
For Italian immigrants negotiating a harsh, nativist environment,
the pages of mainstream newspapers in New York City became a site
for identity formation, for editors and journalists put forth a fledgling
notion of Italian identity that had only recently emerged out of postunification Italy. Reacting to American violence against Italians, especially
instances of lynching, Italian language newspapers propped up Italian
civilization in stark contrast to the savage barbarism of American mob
violence. Influenced by contemporary attitudes in Italy that exalted
italianita by degrading the darker other, including southern Italians,
Italian language newspapers were quite comfortable with a racial hierarchy that positioned Africa as the lowest rung on the racial ladder.
The Italian Language Press and Africa >>39
Frequently New Yorks Italian language press constructed Africa as a

primitive, savage continent, the polar opposite of European, Western
societies, and often employed the phrase continente Nero (black continent) or Africa tenebrosa (murky, dark Africa).7 Africa became a convenient trope for Italian language newspapers wrestling with their own
questions of Italian American identity in a new and often inhospitable
country. In addition, radical Italian language newspapers utilized this
image to express their incredulity over how gullible immigrants allowed
themselves to be bamboozled by religious doctrines and leaders. For
mainstream newspapers, however, their portrayals of Africa as the savage, black continent served multiple goals. Empowered by the moral
certainty of their case, mainstream newspapers responded to American
violence and American calls for race-based immigration restriction by
questioning American civilization. This harsh rhetoric, and the inflated
sense of their own communitys civility, bolstered an emerging Italian
identity. In addition, Italian colonial ventures into northern Africa in
the 1890s and again in 19111912 served to further inform this identity
by providing fertile ground for hypernationalistic appeals within the
Italian immigrant community. The perception of Africa as uncivilized,
savage, and dark was a key element of this strategy.
*
From the 1880s through the 1920s, Italian language newspapers consistently employed the image of Africa as the most appropriate way to
convey savagery. Much like American contemporaries, the editors subscribed to a hierarchical notion of race. Designations of civilized and
savage nations littered the pages of mainstream and radical newspapers
that generally regarded European nations, as well as the United States,
as free, democratic, and civilized nations.8 For instance, the anarchist
publication Il Grido degli Oppressi mocked the tainted accomplishments of Christopher Columbus in a scathing indictment of the man,
as well as the Italian people who revered his image: Rather than slavery
and destruction to the Natives living in America, Columbus could have
brought what is European civility to America and returned to Europe
only what was superfluous of the natural wealth of the American land.9
For the anarchists, therefore, the humanistic goal should have been
European civilization rather than civilization in the form of colonial

exploitation. Who was civilized and who was primitive was never in
doubt. Similarly, Il Proletario deployed the trope of primitive behavior
to ridicule militarism and senseless killing among nations and peoples.
In an idealistic critique of why civilized nations make war, Il Proletario
stated, When we speak of cannibalism, we smile with pride and say
we are superior to the savages. But who are the true savages?10 Yet the
paper clearly spoke to the belief in a hierarchy of civilization that was
not only understood but also acknowledged.11
In particular, Italians extolled American civilization as an appropriate model to emulate. For instance, in the midst of the Civil War,
Filippo Manetta, the author of an influential treatise on black slavery, argued that contact with white civilization would be the only
way to partially uplift those occupying the lower rungs of the racial
scale. Writing to defend the Southern states position in the Civil War,
Manetta proclaimed, I am of the opinion that the dogma of the equality of man is damaging to our civilization. . . . If there are differences
between individual and individual, why not between nation and nation,
and between race and race? Why should there not be a sharp distinction between the European and the Black, or between these two and the
Chinese and the Hindustani?12 Clearly, Manetta believed that the only
way to partially civilize African Americans was to hold them in slavery under the dominance of the white man. In addition, some Italians,
such as Giuseppe Giacosa, a northern Italian playwright who toured
the United States in the 1890s, endorsed Americas self-proclaimed role
as a civilizing nation. Giacosa declared, Anyone who has lived here
for any length of time must readily acknowledge that the [American]
people behave in a more civilized and dignified manner than ours.13
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, however, American civilization became a topic of intense debate in the Italian language
press as Italian immigrants faced negative perceptions, discrimination,
and violence upon their arrival. For the Italian language mainstream
press, in particular, dark Africa, or Africa tenebrosa, became a useful
vehicle, a familiar language, to channel disappointment and outrage
over American mistreatment and negative portrayals. How can they
be the most civilized people in the world if they lynch people? asked
Il Progresso. Lynching only occurs in uncivilized nations. . . . And if it
is a civilized nation, she [America] has a duty to educate the barbarians

from the South.14 Unlike their own claims supporting Italian colonial
ventures into Africa, mainstream newspapers attacked American imperial claims of bearing the white mans burden. Indeed, the press ironically mocked American missionary excursions into China and central
Africa in light of the uncivilized behavior directed at Italian immigrants
in the United States.15 Perhaps the harshest contemporary criticism
demoted American civilization to a racial classification akin to African. In 1899, the mainstream Il Progresso declared, Why do they say
they [Americans] have to send people to civilize the barbarians in the
Philippines when we have white Matabeli here in the United States?
The word Matabeli is derived from Matabeleland, which is contemporary Zimbabwe. In this example, the uncivilized actions of Americans contradict their supposed mission to civilize Filipinos. However,
by juxtaposing racial signifiers and giving the savage a white face, use
of the term white Matabeli raised questions as to whether Il Progresso
believed Americans could ever be completely equivalent to uncivilized and black Africans.16
Although espousing a progressive agenda toward human rights and
social, political, and economic equity, the Italian language radical press
also embraced the familiar language of racial hierarchy, in particular
the image of Africa tenebrosa. Inveighing against capitalism, southern
Italian ignorance, religion, or prominenti, the radical press, much like
its mainstream counterpart, often expressed scorn and disappointment through comparisons to savage Africa. For example, Ancient and
Modern Cannibalism, an article in the anarchist La Questione Sociale,
lamented the exploitive character of capitalism by juxtaposing modern
nations with primitive societies. We are worse than the savages because
we have a keenly developed intellect and should know better. . . . in the
so called civilized countries and especially in those we inhabit the form
of savage African cannibalism does not exist. . . . however, many people are still killed by the thousands in different ways every day.17 Radical papers often employed the image of African savagery even when
condemning race-based theories of oppression. In 1916 the socialist Il
Proletario sarcastically chided a Boston clergyman for promoting race
purification theories. The paper added that the reverend was fortunate
his comments had a forum such as America, which is the land of the
cowboys and where civilization is on a par with the barbarians of equatorial Africa. Ironically, this example illuminates the facile manner in
which the press could criticize racial hierarchy by simultaneously sustaining the image of primitive Africa to convey Americas descent into
savagery.18 Many other examples similarly utilized language likening
American capitalism to savage beasts from central Africa19 or conquistadors of savage Africa.20
Perhaps the radical presss most compelling narrative compared
southern Italians, both in Italy and in the United States, to African savages. Flowing from a deep-seated animosity toward the Catholic Church
and clergy, radicals consistently targeted immigrant religious traditions
and rituals as objects of scorn. Radical newspapers often described
transplanted public processions venerating local patron saints or Madonnas as festivals of superstition, prejudice, and ignorancea celebration of darkness in the middle of so much light, civility and progress.21
Further, they portrayed southern Italian immigrants as savage people
from the backcountry of Calabria and Sicilywithout shoes, with
long hair resembling witches more than human beings.22 The radical
presss critique illuminates how easily the civilization of southern Italians could be questioned and marginalized. In addition to condemning priests and prominenti, sovversivi took aim at mainstream Italian
language newspapers such as Il Progresso Italo-Americano and Bolletino
della Sera, criticizing them for their support of a feast organized by a
mass of criminals.23 For example, ridiculing Italian immigrants and the
mainstream newspaper Bolletino della Sera, the anarchist La Questione
Sociale stated that Italians above all people believe in miracles as if they
were in the Middle Ages. . . . it is a conflict between ancient barbary
and modern civilization.24 From their perspective, some of the blame
could be attributed to an infantile trust in priests that permeated southern Italian actions. The anarchist La Questione Sociale explained that
this behavior was not unique to Italians but was exhibited often by Zulu
tribes in Africa.25
Much like its opponents in the mainstream Italian language press, the
socialist Il Proletario remained quite conscious of the perception and
image of Italian immigrants. To radicals, ignorant, illiterate, superstitious southern Italian immigrants had become an easy target for swindling priests and the prominenti who supported them. And, according
to the Italian language radical press, spectacles such as religious feasts

and processions served as a clandestine ruse designed to divest the Italian working class of its wages. For example, every summer, socialist and
anarchist newspapers served to reinforce existing images of civilization and savagery in its coverage of the religious feast held at Our Lady
of Mount Carmel in East Harlem. Embarrassed and frustrated over
the behavior of their countrymen and countrywomen, Italian radical
newspapers excoriated southern Italian immigrants for their gullibility
and ignorance. Il Proletario asked incredulously if the orgies and fantasies of the pelli rosse or the ottentoti could be any more inferior to
the sad spectacle our Italian colony has offered us the last few days.26
Pelle rosse (redskin) was a frequently used term for Native Americans in
both the mainstream and the socialist press. Referring to the language
of the Khoikhoi peoples of southwestern Africa and Namibia, ottentoti
derived from the Italian word ottentotto, meaning Hottentots, and was
an oft-used marker to distinguish savage from civilized in the Italian
language press during the period of mass immigration.27
The Hearts of Immigrants Beat in Unison

with That of Mother Italy
An Italian civilization defined in part by the image of a black, African
other informed the emergence of an Italian identity within the pages
of Italian language mainstream newspapers. Given that the Italian language press so frequently associated what was considered uncivilized
or savage with Zulus and Hottentots, it was unsurprising that Italians
perceived themselves as quite the opposite. And, for immigrant arrivals
who did not possess a strong sense of nation or Italianness upon arrival,
the Italian governments late nineteenth-century and early twentiethcentury colonial wars with African countries served as a graphic example of this perceived racial hierarchy.
Following the example of other European states in the late nineteenth
century, Italy embarked on a colonial path into Africa. This was fueled by
a belief that only European civilization could deliver Africa, yet African
conquest would solve domestic problems as well. For the recently unified Italian nation, the scramble for Africa served to awaken political
and popular consciousness about people of color and highlighted issues
of national prestige, foreign diplomacy, and domestic overpopulation.28

Quarrels with France over colonial possessions, trade agreements, and
control of the western Mediterranean caused Italy to come to the imperial table later than France and England. The French occupation of Tunis
in 1881, in particular, was a heavy blow to Italy, both in prestige and in
national interests, especially because more than 9,000 Italian settlers
lived there as compared with only 200 French. In an attempt to protect
its interests and prevent isolation in world power politics, Italy signed a
defensive alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary known as the Triple Alliance. Although the alliance provided some security, it did not give
Italians the sense of pride and glory that many hungered for.
According to Martin Clark, Italian colonialism was not founded on
any need to secure raw material supplies. . . . it was the agricultural crisis
of the mid-1880s and the need to export social problems that underlay
it, together with a frustrated desire for self-assertion.29 Indeed, some of
the greatest enthusiasm was to be found in the South, where the pervasiveness of agrarian misery and overpopulation made the idea of emigration to foreign territories under the Italian flag attractive.30 In Italys
effort to carve a niche for itself on the African continent, initial interest
centered on the Red Sea around the port of Massawa, which Italy occupied in 1885. By 1890, Italy had established a protectorate over Ethiopia
(Abyssinia) and pushed farther inland, linking its Red Sea possessions
of Massawa and Assab to form Eritrea; Italy also began the conquest
of Somalia, which formally became an Italian colony in 1905. However,
disputes between Emperor Menelik and the Italian government over
Italian claims of a protectorate over Ethiopia, as well as campaigns to
prevent the French from gaining a foothold in the region, resulted in
the eruption of hostilities between Italian forces and Meneliks indigenous army. By the late 1890s, Italy had become embroiled in a very
expensive colonial war in Africa.31
Although the Italian military had already experienced a bitter colonial defeat at Dogali in 1887, the battle of Adowa in March 1896 proved
to be the most humiliating and enduring. Italian prestige and honor,
both domestically and internationally, suffered a crushing blow after the
defeat at Adowa, resulting in the exit of disgraced Prime Minister Francesco Crispi. When news of the defeat reached Italy, the country rose in
open protest as tens of thousands of workers marched into the Piazza
del Duomo in Milan to demonstrate against Crispi, shouting, Viva

Menelik, Abbasso Crispi, and Via dallAfrica. According to Umberto
Levra, a preinsurrectional tension exploded in spontaneous demonstrations in the piazzas of Italy.32 Although Italy retained the territories
of Eritrea and Somalia, the defeat at Adowa remained embedded in the
collective popular consciousness of Italians. Mass-produced pamphlets
containing songs and poems were sold and circulated widely throughout the country in the aftermath of Adowa. One particular pamphlet,
in an effort to avenge the defeat psychologically, drew attention to the
period before Adowa as if to deny the experience of disaster. Entitled
Vittoria Italiana in Africa (Italian victory in Africa), the epic poem
describes the honor and valor of Italian soldiers as they battled the
wicked and nasty African soldiers. The image of the African is that of
the barbarian savage who engages in military subterfuge that civilized
nations such as Italy would not employ in battle. Produced for mass
propaganda, these kinds of pamphlets created a negative image of the
African that seeped into the popular mind.33
Despite the disappointing outcome, Italys attempts to colonize Ethiopia in the 1890s functioned as an important element in community formation within Italian immigrant enclaves.34 A leaflet that was printed
in Baltimore by Il Comitato Italiano, an Italian immigrant organization that supported Italy during its Ethiopian campaign, stressed,
Although there is support in Italy, we here in the United States want
to assert our solidarity with our brothers across the great ocean. . . .
our sentiments are so strong we need to assert ourselves as Italians.35
Addressed to Connazionali, or countrymen, the leaflet was distributed all over the country and even as far away as Denver, Colorado, to
champion the cause of the homeland. Throughout the campaign, which
had begun in January 1896, such manifestations of support for Italian
victory over African forces appeared to be ubiquitous within the Italian
immigrant communities from Lawrence, Massachusetts, to Chicago,
Illinois.36 Italian immigrants inaugurated new ethnic organizations that
began by saluting the heroic Italian soldiers in Africa and the hope for
a deserved victory.37 A group of Italian women in Chicago organized
within the ethnic community a collection drive specifically for the
war with Ethiopia, the proceeds of which were sent directly to Queen
Margherita of Italy.38 Italian American men were sufficiently inspired
to offer their lives in the war against Africa. In Colorado, some wrote
letters to the Italian ambassador in Washington requesting permission
to send volunteer soldiers to fight in Eritrea.39 In New York, one Italian
captain recruited men to fight in the name of the Italian ambassador
until it was discovered that he was not authorized to do so.40 Perhaps
the most symbolic example of the nationalist sentiment provoked by
the African campaign came from a letter to the Italian ambassador in
Washington. The letter was written in the name of a retired captain
who had served in the Italian cavalry in 1867 and now asked if he could
be accorded the honor of serving as a simple soldier in the Italian war
effort in Africa.41 Although the Italian embassy politely refused all considerations for Italian American volunteer soldiers, not to mention the
symbolic gesture of a retired officer, such overtures illustrated the range
of enthusiasm for Italian colonial aims in Africa.
However, the Italian language mainstream press stoked this fierce
nationalist support and played a significant role in making the African
campaign a cause clbre within Italian American communities. Newspaper owners such as Carlo Barsotti fostered a collective sense of Italian
patriotism and fidelity to la patria most immigrants had never experienced. Even efforts to raise funds for the war effort became competitive
ventures as Barsottis Il Progresso Italo-Americano indicted a rival paper,
LAraldo Italiano, for allowing an Italian committee from Baltimore
to fund-raise through that newspaper. LAraldo Italiano responded by
accusing Barsotti, owner of Il Progresso Italo-Americano, of embezzling
contributions from his constituents.42
The Italian language mainstream press, in particular, justified Italian aggression in Africa on the basis of Italian civilization, and coverage of the war frequently defended Italian colonial initiatives for that
reason. According to LEco dItalia, Success in civilizing the African
and suppressing the inferior race will hopefully benefit the civilized
world. . . . Black, obscure Africa is almost coming into the light. European civilization will be imported by love or by forcewith religion or
with the machine gun. Civilizing the inferior races is not a question of
sentiment, it is a necessity that the civilized races cannot ignore.43 In
Il Progresso, Leopoldo Franchetti, an Italian politician who had helped
expose the terrible conditions in Sicily and now urged colonization of
Eritrea by Italian peasants, warned that to abandon the Italian colonies
was impossible. The great benefit would be in creating an Italian race

on the other side of the seaa democratic society made up of proprietary farmers.44
After Italys costly defeat at Adowa in 1896, Italian Americans feared
that losing to an African army would not only damage Italian prestige
internationally but exacerbate an already negative American perception
of Italians. Therefore, although Adowa did not produce the victorious
result desired by the nascent immigrant community, the mainstream
press continued to depict Ethiopia with racially informed and bitter
characterizations. For instance, various newspapers described victorious Ethiopians as barbaric cannibals who eat raw meat and do not wear
shoes.45 LEco dItalia vividly described the physical attributes of Menelik, the Ethiopian emperor who led the war against Italy, and emphasized his flat nose with large nostrils, a mouth that is too large along
with large teeth that protrude outward and are very visible as soon as he
opens his fat lips.46 The Italian language mainstream press also directed
some bitterness toward European countries that had assisted African
nations with military aid. LEco dItalia lamented that through military
assistance to African nations, European countries such as Russia and
France had violated custom and degraded them. Russia and France
have broken the usual agreement that European nations do not help
these kinds of barbarians. . . . it was understood that European nations
went there to bring civilization and progress and that is what Italy is
doing.47 While incredibly humbling and unsuccessful, Italian colonial
efforts in Africa during 1896 provided Italian immigrants in the United
States an opportunity, albeit brief, to uplift the Italian race. It is not at
all inconceivable that the rhetoric of Italian civilizing missions in Africa
ameliorated immigrant self-consciousness, as well as informed a concerted effort to impress American detractors who questioned the racial
suitability of Italians. Only fifteen years later, events in North Africa
would provide Italians in New York City with another opportunity to
bask in the civilized glory of the Italian race and nation.
Libya and Tripoli, 19111912

After the prospect of colonizing Ethiopia ended abruptly with the defeat
of the Italians at Adowa in 1896, an opportunity to avenge this disaster
emerged when Italy invaded Tripoli at the end of 1911. As it did in the
late nineteenth century, the recently unified Italian liberal state felt the
need to assert itself on the stage of geopolitical imperialism. Although
Italy was part of the Triple Alliance with Austria-Hungary and Germany, its leaders were aware of their nations relative lack of power and
wealth compared with its neighbors. Therefore, late to the table of territorial acquisitions, Prime Minister Giovanni Giolitti resuscitated the
Italian campaign for Africa by targeting one of the only remaining areas
of Africa to which Italy might possibly lay claim.
Although Libya was a desert and not very fertile, one of the primary
motivations of the colonialists was the hope that this new colony would
provide an area of settlement for the vast number of poverty-stricken
southern Italians. Italian nationalists hoped that once Libya was an Italian possession, the tide of southern Italian migration would be rerouted
closer to home rather than continuing their journey to New York or
Buenos Aires. In 1905, Italy had begun a policy of peaceful economic
penetration into Libya and slowly created an uncomfortable situation
for the Ottoman Turks who ruled the territory. Creating a situation
where Italian business interests would seem to need protection, it was
the apparent assassination of two Italian officials working in Tripoli
in the fall of 1911 that set off a military conflict. Despite the fact that
the war remained at a stalemate for months, Italy achieved its aim by
default. Benefiting from the Ottoman Empires increasing weakness,
in July 1912 the Turks and Italians negotiated a peace settlement. With
the signing of the Treaty of Lausanne on October 8, 1912, Italy formally
annexed Libya.
Unlike New Yorks Italian language mainstream newspapers, the radical press moved quickly to criticize and expose Italian rationales for war
with Libya and the Ottoman Turks. Sovversivi argued that imperialist
gains, rather than advancing civilization, motivated capitalist nations.
However, although condemning the Italian governments imperialism,
and by virtue of this critique defending African sovereignty, the radical
press still maintained a perception of Africa as uncivilized.48 Il Proletario denounced all forms of blind jingoist patriotism as propaganda to
keep the population ignorant or distracted from their miserable plight.
Its criticism of the Italian governments inability and seeming unwillingness to civilize southern Italians resembled a subtle embarrassment
over a certain class of Italians: Why is Italy going to Tripolitania when

it can bring civility to Italy first. . . . It appears that the primitive tribes
are happy the way they are as opposed to southern Italians who are
miserable.49
The small town of Africo, Calabria, provided a graphic example of
how sovversivi relied upon the image of Africa to construct the ideal
Italian immigrant and in doing so often embraced a perception of
Africa very similar to that of Il Progresso Italo-Americano.50 Writing in
Il Proletario, Leonardo Frisina, a Calabrian and occasional contributor
to the socialist newspaper, argued that Italian governmental resources
could be better spent at home and attacked the misdeeds of Italys colonial effort in Libya. To defend this premise, Frisina cited an article published in 1912 in the patriotic and influential Italian journal Tribuna
Illustrata. Africo, the article informed, probably received its name from
the descendants of African slaves who were captured, and possibly
escaped, during the days of the Roman Empire. Differentiating between
African and Italian culture, the author explained the unique customs
and practices particular to this town, such as burying pigs before eating
them, stealing sheep, and begging in the streets.
According to Frisina, when socialists argued in Calabria there still
existed barbarous and savage villages, Italian nationalists had summarily dismissed their views as the rant of political extremists.51 With
some measure of sarcasm Frisina played an interesting game of logic as
he attempted to expose the hypocrisy of the Italian governments colonial excursions. Criticizing the patriotic and self-aggrandizing habits
of the Italian government, and in particular the Tribuna Illustrata (a
paper that the socialists perceived as a government-subsidized mouthpiece), Frisina stated that if Darwin could show in 1912 that Africans
in Calabria were nearer to orangutans than Adam and Eve, this demonstration still would not satisfy the Tribuna Illustrata because they must
always adhere to the notion that Italy is a civilized country.52 However,
in an effort to condemn the jingoistic patriotism of a journal such as
Tribuna Illustrata, he conveyed an acceptance of the Italian belief of
Africa as uncivilized: Never would they [Tribuna Illustrata] say there
are uncivilized people in Italy. . . . In fact, when there are feasts these
African people sell our sons and daughters into slavery to rich people
. . . we suggest that Tribuna Illustrata advise the Italian government to
spend more money to civilize Africans in Italy, rather than spending

it in Tripoli.53 The discussion over Africo reflected how the unspoken
and uneasy association between Italy and Africa often intersected problematically for Italian immigrants.
Il Proletario facilely employed Africa as the litmus test by which
savagery should be measured. Questioning the Italian governments
rationale for venturing to Libya to civilize savages, the paper cynically insisted that the government should redirect its energy to civilize
many parts of southern Italy beyond Africo.54 For example, Il Proletario
described the actions of the devoted imbeciles from Catania (Sicily)
as they celebrated the Feast of Saint Alfio and stated, We have seen
things there that you can only equate with things you would see with
tribes in the indigenous Congo. According to Il Proletario:
Many of these people go to the feast at midnight and the men and women
begin by walking completely nude except for a small piece of red cloth
that barely covers their private areas. They run through main avenues of
the city like this just to try and obtain miracles. Ha! If a foreigner would
see us! Surely, they wouldnt think to find this behavior in Italy, not even
Tripoli, but probably it would be expected more from the cannibals of
central Africa. They shriek and act like Indians.55
Once again, Indians and Africans are lumped together as symbols of

the savage half of the dichotomous civilization/savagery construct.
The Italian language mainstream press interpreted events in Libya
through a much different lens than did the radicals. By this period, the
mainstream press in New York City had combined circulations of more
than 200,000 copies and enjoyed a much wider readership among Italian immigrants in New York City, as well as outside New York. Proprietors such as Barsotti at Il Progresso and Frugone at Bolletino had
established themselves as community leaders within the Italian colony
of New York City. In line with patriotic Italian journals such as Tribuna
Illustrata, Barsotti and Frugone, along with the papers editors, interpreted the Libyan conflict as a means to attain respect not only internationally but also in a more immediate sense domestically and locally.
On September 28, 1911, Bolettino della Sera ran a three-row headline that shouted, 40,000 Italian Soldiers Headed to TurkeyItalian
Ultimatum to Turkey Blows Today. Only two days later the headline
read, Tripoli Ours.56 Bolletinos coverage of the conflict was not unlike
that of other Italian language mainstream dailies that draped their front
pages with news about the war, Italian soldiers, and international reaction. This coverage lasted for several months and created an opportunity
for Italian language newspapers to build upon the virtues of Italians, the
narrative of Italian civilization, and, more broadly, the continued construction of an Italian racial identity. The mainstream press was keenly
aware of past military failures in North Africa, particularly the defeat
at Adowa in 1896. Frequent allusions to Adowa rationalized the defeat
as a function of weak national will, while others referenced how these
perceptions remained misguided. Either way, Italys defeat only fifteen
years earlier to Ethiopian forces remained fresh. Although the failed
colonial venture in Ethiopia in the 1890s rallied a nascent nationalism
among immigrant Italians, the bitter defeat to Meneliks forces certainly
stung those Italians in the United States who hoped to gain a measure
of respect from imperialist ventures abroad. Newspaper coverage of
Italian ventures in Libya in 1911 and 1912 served a crucial role in solidifying an emerging nationalist identity, while simultaneously functioning to influence American perceptions of Italians.
Unsurprisingly, the mainstream press portrayed Italys motives in
initiating military actions in Libya as noble and unselfish. Some rationales went as far as implying that Italy was a reluctant aggressor, only
becoming involved out of patriarchal obligation to reconstitute a fatherless family.57 Il Progresso declared that Italys glorious tricolor flag
would open the eyes of faraway people in a new era of redemption. Its
not the cannon that pushes Italy in Tripoli, but the voice of conscience
that brings us to the land of Mohammed to bring a new civility. Providence will guide this patriotic action and vile are the people that try to
stop the glorious sons of Italy.58 Bolletino della Sera agreed, stating that
every honest person who knows the situation has to credit the Italians
in that Italy does not ask for glory in victory over Turks, but simply
wants to end the brutality and protect justice and its people.59
Intense coverage of the Libyan conflict littered the pages of Italian
mainstream newspapers and offered editors and owners a ready-made
opportunity to assert Italian civilization. Although northern Africans had sometimes been distinguished from central Africans, in this
instance the mainstream press facilely depicted Africans in Tripoli as

savage and neatly viewed the region as part of Africa tenebrosa.60 Along
with descriptions of Turks as barbarous people who represented a
black spot on human progress, Italian language newspapers perceived the conflict as a battle between civilization and savagery, Islam
and Christianity, light and darkness.61 For example, citing the proximity of Tripoli to the island of Sicily as a prime and obvious factor in the
Italian governments interest in the area, Il Progresso Italo-Americano
remarked that the city remained in the hold of medieval barbarism.62
Bolletino della Sera added that there has never been a more favorable
occasion to redeem European civilization and put an end to the orgies
of Turkey that consist of slaughtering Christians.63
To Italian language editors and owners, the reaction of the American
and many European newspapers to the outbreak of hostilities in Libya
served as an occasion to defend Italian honor and contrast Italian civilization with African.64 In one instance, Il Progresso scolded American
newspapers, in particular a London newspaper cartoon that lampooned
the Italian colony by branding Sicilians in Libya criminals. Sensitive to
negative depictions of southern Italians as prone to criminality, Il Progresso seamlessly conflated its defense of Italians within the context of
African colonization, stating that it was high time for the world to stop
printing nonsense about Italians in general and Sicilians in particular.65 Italian language newspapers interpreted Italys invasion of Libya
as proof to Americans that Italy, and by extension Italian immigrants,
belonged within the pantheon of civilized nations and peoples. To that
end, Italian language mainstream newspapers closely monitored American press coverage and frequently updated its readers with translations of American newspaper articles supporting Italian colonialism in
Africa. In one instance, multiple newspapers swiftly praised the work of
journalist Arthur Brisbane, who wrote for the New York Evening Journal, for defending Italian actions in Libya. Almost as if to convince Italians rather than Americans, LAraldo Italiano insisted that without a
doubt, with this war American sympathy will be with Italy, that is, with
intelligence and civilization against barbarism.66 American responses
that questioned Italys motives and methods in Libya only served to
frustrate and anger Italian language mainstream editors and owners. In
an article titled Civilization and Chivalry of the Italians, the author is
confused as to how American journals could possibly defend savagery

over civilization. Highlighting differences between Western, civilized,
and Christian nations and Muslim countries, Il Progresso reminded
Western newspapers of Turkish massacres in Armenia and added, The
difference between Italian civilizations is that we treat all people the
same way.67
Mainstream owners and editors interpreted events in Tripoli within
the context of an emerging collective identity as Italians informed by an
italianita generated from their experience in the United States. And, as
they had done in the past, they took the lead in stoking, and in many
respects creating, a collective Italian racial consciousness. LAraldo Italiano described the jubilant displays of Italians whose excitement and
pride over the Italian conquest sent the papers editions, along with its
evening journal, Il Telegrafo, flying off the newsstands. Reflective of the
importance and reach of the immigrant press within Italian colonies,
LAraldo stated, Whoever has a newspaper and everyone has one in
the Italian communityreads aloud the latest news to everyone.68 By
March, readers could see full-page advertisements peddling the latest illustrated editions of the true and complete history of the Italian
and Turkish War.69 Akin to Columbus Day celebrations and exhortations to have Italian language taught in New York City schools, proprietors such as Barsotti organized subscription drives to collect money
in support of Italian soldiers and their families. One such drive in Il
Progresso in December 1911 pointed to the colonies meritorious charity to the race and listed the names of donors who were instrumental
in renewing the ancient glory of Rome in their support of Tripolis
conquest.70 LAraldo Italiano also ran a public subscription drive urging
Italian immigrants to support the cause with the headline For Heart,
Patriotism, and National Dignity.71 Quick to point out the fervency of
the New York City Italian colonies in support of the Tripoli invasion,
newspapers reported that the hearts of immigrants beat in unison with
that of mother Italy.72
Although loath to admit it, prominenti sought to capitalize on this
moment of conquest, especially during this crucial period, by tracing
Italys invasion of Tripoli as part of a legacy of imperialist conquest
stretching back to ancient Rome. Articles laden with jingoistic language celebrated how military conquest would serve as redemption
for Italians, and by extension Italian immigrants.73 LAraldo Italiano

positioned this battle neatly within the context of Roman history and
proudly asserted that Italian soldiers were fighting with heroism in
their blood against a horde of marauding barbarians. Il Progresso urged
the Italian military to re-conquer what used to belong to Rome.74
Some contended that Italys position was stronger now than in the past.
According to Bolletino della Sera, For centuries . . . the Italian people
and the great people of Rome had soldiers trying to civilize Africa. So
the civilized world should applaud Italy of today, stronger, better and
more noble than ancient Rome for proposing to civilize Africa and
transform its desert into fertile land.75 Differentiating between Italian
civilization and African savagery, mainstream newspapers neatly incorporated Calabrians, Neapolitans, Sicilians, and all other provincial Italian immigrants into a collective identity that could stretch its lineage
back to the Roman Empire: The people from the Italian Alps, crowned
with glory to the great and noble Sicily from the Adriatic to the Tyrrhenian sea littered with superb destinies where Galileo kept his head
bowed on the sacred work has responded with a great patriotic fervor
of the Italian Red Cross appeal in favor of families dead and wounded
in the fighting in Roman Tripoli.76
Viva lItalia! declared LAraldo Italiano as it reveled in the glory of
Italys attempt to bring light to the evil Ottoman Empire. However,
addressing this historically fragmented community of New York Italians, LAraldo cautioned that in this anxious moment, it was imperative to transcend differences and only be Italian. The paper fervently
hoped that success in Tripoli would erase the gray vision . . . of Adua in
front of our eyes and in our soul.77 Consistent with prominent efforts
to smooth over historical divisions among Italian immigrants, colonial
ventures into the dark continent served multiple purposes. Portraying
Italys motives as noble and benevolent, Italian language mainstream
newspapers defended military aggression with paternalistic rationales
resonant of the white mans burden. Graphically differentiating Italian
and Christian civilization from the Turk, the African, and the Muslim
barbarians, prominenti utilized aggression against an African other to
explicitly contrast civilized Italians with savage Africans. Italian immigrants were thus bombarded with patriotic and nationalistic rhetoric
and images attempting to replace immigrant insecurities with Italian
racial pride. Prominenti interpreted military ventures within the most

glorious example they could conjure: the Roman Empire. In the process, the glory of Rome would serve as an instrumental force in healing
the emotional and political wounds still lingering from the humiliation
at Adowa. Consistent with subscription drives to honor Italian heroes
such as Columbus and Dante, or efforts to have the Italian language
taught in New York City schools, proprietors such as Barsotti and Frugone tapped into the glory of Rome as a strategy in identity formation
well before Benito Mussolinis rise to power in the 1920s. With an eye
toward an American audience, as much as the Italian immigrant community, the prominenti press perceived and transmitted military dominance of an African country not only as evidence of Italian civilization
but as a venture that was seamlessly rooted in the newly imagined Italian past.
3
Native Americans, Asians, and Italian Americans
Constructions of a Multilayered Racial Consciousness
In 1891, roughly three months after the murder of eleven Italian men in
New Orleans, Louisiana, six months after the U.S. militarys massacre
of Sioux men, women, and children at Wounded Knee, and less than a
year after the U.S. Census Bureau declared that the American frontier
had been settled, Il Progresso Italo-Americano published an illuminating
article titled I Pelle Rossa (The red skin) in its expanded Sunday supplemental edition. Try to imagine the endless prairies and plains that
stretch to the West of the populous cities of the United States, Giuseppe
Balbi wrote. This is the home of the red skins. Balbis article presented
a sweeping portrait of Native Americans lives in the United States and
their dim prospects for survival in the future. Positioning Native Americans, or redskins (pelle rosse), as the press consistently identified them,
beyond the boundaries of civilization, Balbis article offered remarkable
insight into how the Italian language press constructed race, color, and
civilization during the early years of mass immigration.1
This chapter examines the presss perception of two groups that
generally remained outside Italian immigrant circles of familiarity but nonetheless attracted attention within the pages of the Italian
language press: Native Americans and Asian Americans. This conversation occurred during an intense period of crisis in national identity
sparked in no short order by the influx of eastern and southern Europeans whose race and color were dissected, questioned, and feared.2 Often
influenced by issues and events relevant to their own predicament and
experience in the United States, the press teased different meanings
from the plight and future of Native Americans and Asian Americans.
For example, although Native Americans (pelle rose [redskins]) and
>>57
58<<Native Americans, Asians, and Italian Americans
Asian Americans (la razza gialla [the yellow race]) remained consistently set apart by color, or more specifically by their nonwhite status,
the category of civilization remained the key determinant in assessing
the value of both cultures. As Italian language newspapers sought to
carve out their own niche during the early decades of mass immigration, both mainstream and radical publications revealed a fluid racial
worldview in which categories of color, civilization, and class often
intersected, overlapped, and at times operated at each others expense.
And, although savagery and nonwhiteness usually remained intimately
connected, Italian language newspapers exposed a willingness to entertain a more nuanced view of race that would disappear by the World
War I period.
Given the paucity of real-life interaction and familiarity with Native
Americans, Italian language newspapers found that pelle rosse provided
an impeccable exemplar with which to contrast the merits of Italian
immigration and Italian civilization. For the prominenti press in particular, Native Americans resistance to Americas civilizing influence
and their existence along the boundaries of society, rather than in
the modern urban spaces, starkly differentiated pelle rosse from other
nonwhite peoples.3 It is probably not a coincidence that Balbis article
detailing the decline and savagery of Native Americans is juxtaposed
with a large illustration of the recent monument built in Rome to honor
the executed Italian astronomer and philosopher Giordano Bruno. At
a moment of extreme hostility toward southern Italian immigrants,
determined prominenti newspapers such as Il Progresso Italo-Americano, in particular, exposed Americans to a class-based construction
of Italian identity through celebratory coverage of high-brow Italian
achievements. A necessary tangent to this portrayal required fostering a
sense of Italianness by constructing an other or others deemed outside
the acceptable spatial boundaries of civilization and whiteness.
Conversely, although the press positioned Chinese and Japanese
within an established racial hierarchy, the Asian American struggle
with immigration restriction and, worse, exclusion, touched a nerve in
the Italian language press as both the mainstream and the radical press
would see parallels in the United States effort to pass racially motivated
immigration restriction and coercive economic policies. Prominenti
newspapers, in particular, proved willing to entertain a more complex
Native Americans, Asians, and Italian Americans >>59
and malleable construction of civilization and savagery to suit their

own communitys needs. Despite Chinese and Japanese societal marginalization and nonwhiteness, the Italian language press used Americas continued exclusion of la razza gialla as another opportunity to
chide American racial and economic prejudice. Unlike Native Americans, defined as outside civilized society, this mutual interest served
to inform a much more positive view of Asian Americans, who were
described as worthy representatives of civilization.
However, as is demonstrated more fully in subsequent chapters,
prominenti newspapers, in particular, sharpened an ever-evolving racial
outlook as they became more erudite in the lessons of American race
and color. By the World War I period, the black/white divide emerged
as central to this equation. Unwilling to consistently defend Asian
Americans from white American transgressions, prominenti papers
chose instead to direct their wrath at efforts to stigmatize Italians as not
part of the white American mainstream. Viewing race and civilization
along a more simplistic, and rigid, binary of white and black, the Italian
language mainstream press advocated for Italian whiteness to the exclusion of any group defined as the darker other.
Pelle Rosse
At the very moment when Italian immigrants began to fill Ellis Islands
immigration processing hall and suffer the most extreme forms of
prejudice in the form of lynching, Native Americansthe first Americansendured the latest phase of white American aggression. On
December 29, 1890, members of the U.S. Seventh Cavalry regiment, led
by Colonel James Forsyth, indiscriminately massacred approximately
150 Lakota Sioux men, women, and children, wounding an additional
50 at Wounded Knee Creek on the Lakota Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. The massacre was but one, albeit brutal, aspect
of a larger pattern of violence, deception, and extermination of Indian
tribes that occurred intermittently over the course of the nineteenth
century. Less than three months later, Italian language newspapers
exploded over the gruesome news that eleven Italians, acquitted of
murdering New Orleans police chief David Hennessy, had been brutally and summarily murdered by a mob of local whites. For prominenti
such as Carlo Barsotti, government hostility toward Native peoples and

newly arrived immigrants could have presented a situation of shared
mutual interest, but it was not to be. Instead, uncomplicated references
to pelle rosse littered the pages of prominenti-owned and, to a lesser
extent, radical publications, as pelle rosse (similar to the term Africa
tenebrosa) became a phrase symbolizing savagery wedded to nonwhiteness. The Italian language press organically constructed a unique Italian American identity informed by notions of race, color, civilization,
and exclusion influenced in part by its understanding and perception of
Native Americans.
Italian language mainstream newspapers frequently appropriated
the image of Native Americans or, more specifically, the redskin (pelle
rosse) to express barbarism and savagery. Much like they would employ
the image of Africa tenebrosa, prominenti utilized a familiar language
of race, civilization, and color to construct and explain the acceptable
parameters of civilized behavior to their readers. And, although this
sort of negative racial imagery appeared in the radical press, it occurred
much less frequently there.4 For prominenti, however, recurrent episodes of Italian immigrant lynching, for example, offered a unique
platform to express their shock, horror, and indignation over American civilization while concurrently offering a glimpse into how these
newspapers constructed acceptable parameters of civilization. After
the New Orleans lynching in 1891, Il Progresso revealed its frustration
over American mistreatment of Italians and bluntly complained that
in New Orleans Italians were treated not even as semi-civilized black
skinned people, referring to African Americans, but as blood thirsty
pelle rosse.5 Chiding the lynch mob, and white Americans in general, Il
Progresso stated, The phrase goes that if you scratch a Russian you find
a Cossack. . . . To the citizens of the Crescent City we would change this
phrase to the following: if you scratch an American from New Orleans
you will find a Pellerossa [redskin].6 Surely intended to expose American hypocrisy, this critique simultaneously reminded white Americans
about their tangled and intimate history with the continents first
Americans: the wild and savage pelle rosse. Other newspapers such
as Cristofero Colombo just as easily substituted pelle rosse for savage,
declaring in 1891 that the civilized world was horrified over the lynching of eleven Italian immigrants and wondered if New Orleans was
inhabited by people descended from European races, or did there exist

[there] a population of pelle rosse?7 Italian immigrant readers revealed
a familiarity with these categories. In a letter written to Il Progresso
Italo-Americano shortly after the 1891 lynching, A. Gentini expressed
his outrage against the crimes committed . . . by the Pelli Rossi of New
Orleans, declaring them the shame of the 19th century and assaults
against civilization by barbarism.8
Ironically, the mainstream press did not exempt Italian immigrants
from its harsh judgment and criticism. An article titled Scenes of Savagery described how a mob in the Italian American community in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, took the law into its own hands and viciously
attacked another paesano accused of improper sexual relations with a
fourteen-year-old girl. Il Progresso remarked that the men surrounded
the accused and began a savage ceremony of deathacting and dancing
like Indians, singing songs of death. . . . the sad fact is that certain of our
countrymen have nothing to envy from the Pelli Rosse.9 In using the
trope of the savage pelle rosse to convey its disappointment and disgust,
Il Progresso served to scold, and in many ways caution, Italian immigrants by offering a graphic example of uncivilized behavior deemed
unacceptable to Italians.
*
In the late nineteenth century the American West and the frontier
elicited romantic visions in the European imagination and in the Italian mind. The great plains of the United States represented virgin lands
that had been conquered by the army of progress, leaving behind the
remnants of a dwindling Native American population.
Although Italian immigrants in New York City and Native Americans had very limited interaction, sensational stories related to Native
Americans ran intermittently within the Italian language press and
evoked scenes mimicking popular images of the wild and savage pelle
rosse. In 1891, Il Progresso Italo-Americano gave wide coverage to a sad
account of two young Italian immigrants, Alfonso Lauriano and Francesco Schetti, fighting in the U.S. Seventh Cavalry Regiment at Fort Sill,
Indian Territory, Oklahoma. In line with owner Carlo Barsottis penchant for highlighting crimes against Italians, it could not have been
clearer to the papers readers that Lauriano and Schetti had died valorously fighting on the side of civilization, whiteness, and progress.
According to the article, the Pelle Rosse captured Schetti after he had
lost control of his horse. Despite insurmountable odds, Schetti fought
back courageously with his cavalry sword but eventually died in battle.
According to Il Progresso, After he died, the savages scalped the victim as is their barbarous custom, and mutilated the rest of his body.
Sensational tales such as this helped establish clear boundaries between
civilized Europe and the nether regions of barbarism inhabited by pelle
rosse.10
The prominenti presss characterization of pelle rosse, unlike its treatment of African Americans, whom it often viewed with empathy, more
closely resembled its perception of black Africans. For example, writing in Il Progresso some months after Wounded Knee, Giuseppe Balbi
argued that with regard to skills, Native Americans are inferior to the
blacks of Africa, who are at least familiar with the art of making cloth
and dyeing it.11 To that end, mainstream newspapers worked within a
colonial mind-set, much as they did with respect to Africa, ultimately
justifying coercive policies as the natural, and inevitable, triumph of
civilization over savagery. Prominenti fascination with William Cody,
more commonly known as Buffalo Bill, is one measure of this framework. According to historian Paul Reddin, Codys Wild West Shows
offered eager consumers, within the United States and internationally,
a portrait of American life that many perceived to be wholly authentic. Codys productions reduced the Western saga to a morality play in
which Cody, along with scouts and cowboys, represented the forces of
good and civilization and Indians . . . symbolized evil and barbarism.12
To bourgeois Italians, Buffalo Bill symbolized not only the romantic
notions of expansion and adventure, in this particular case expansion
westward, but also the triumph of civilization over barbarism. After
all, Buffalo Bill had brought progress to the West in the form of postal
delivery; he blazed trails westward before railroads had simplified matters and, most important, had withstood the constant danger of Indian
violence.13
From January through April 1890, Codys Wild West Shows toured
Naples, Rome, Florence, Bologna, Milan, and Verona, arriving with
Indians, horses, and tepees to give the lazzaroni of Naples, or the
lumpenproletariat, a taste of the savage West.14 After Naples, Cody

took his show to Rome, where his arrival was widely anticipated.
Immense traffic jams developed throughout Italys capital city as thousands of carriages tried to make their way to the Monte Mario district
to capture a glimpse of the makeshift Indian village constructed for the
show. Constructing a nascent and newly emergent class-based italianita
coming out of Italian unification that owed much to exalted notions of
Italian civilization and race, prominenti newspapers closely followed
Codys tour, with front-page coverage containing headlines such as The
Wild West in Rome and replete with schedules detailing his arrival in
Italian cities.15 In addition, these stories often appeared alongside frontpage reports of Italys colonial ventures in Africa. Given the Italian civilizing mission under way in Africa in the 1890s, this was a receptive
message among Italian language newspapers struggling with immigrant
acceptance in the United States. For the Italian middle class, in general, Buffalo Bill represented military conquest and, in some ways, the
American equivalent of Italian King Victor Emmanuel II or folk hero
Giuseppe Garibaldi.16 The romance of the Wild West Shows suggested
and reinforced notions that the forces of nature ordain the advance of
civilization and progress against the insidiousness of barbarians.17
Unlike their critical view of white American oppression toward African Americans during this period, mainstream newspapers tepidly
responded to atrocities committed against Native Americans perceived
to live outside the boundaries of civilization. For radical papers, such as
Il Proletario, class considerations remained dominant despite positioning Native Americans as pelle rosse. The newspaper steadfastly critiqued
capitalism and colonialism by calling attention to the United States
stained history of relations with both African Americans and Native
Americans:
The bourgeois make the laws in their favor so that when an American
or European bourgeois want to take something they find any excuse.
In America, it was that the Indians didnt cultivate the land; in Africa
the pretext was that they were barbarians and savages. . . . the situation becomes worse every day so that the poor Indians, who were owners of the land, are now described as savage beasts to be massacred and
tortured.18
To be sure, the mainstream press clearly did not condone American actions. For example, as more facts became available following the
December 29 incident at Wounded Knee, headlines, often appearing
on the front page of Il Progresso, progressed from the mundane The
Subject of the Indians to the more sympathetic The Poor Indians.19
The Italian language mainstream daily Cristofero Colombo rebuked
American soldiers for acting without prudence . . . and out of sheer
ferocity and asked rhetorically, If this is the truth we ask who are the
savages?20 However, rather than genuine empathy, mainstream newspapers exploited Native American suffering by opportunistically rebuking American civilization in an effort to exalt their own status.
Indeed, Il Progresso commonly viewed Native Americans as the
aggressors in provoking violence between themselves and white Americans. Shortly after Wounded Knee, Il Progresso remarked that hostile
tribes were getting together to make war, noting that this was something they had done before.21 In 1891, Il Progresso underscored that
the definitive account of Native peoples valor, honesty, morality, and
industriousness had not yet been written. Certain people who have
lived among Native tribes declare they possessed rudimentary elements
of civilization and were more victims, than culprit. . . . others say they
are the worst of the savages, only dedicated to stealing and killing.22
Yet, despite what appeared to be an equitable assessment, the newspaper chose to print a damning and judgmental letter as the final word
on this subject. Written by Mr. Cioli, a Progresso subscriber from South
Dakota, the letter purported to provide readers with expert testimony
from someone who had actually lived among Native Americans for
three years and had become accustomed to their language, customs,
and character. Cioli described Native Americans as indolent thieves,
shameless, without morals of any kind, utterly dishonest, and traitors
beyond belief who were willing to use every method to deceive white
people. Ultimately, according to Cioli, only through intermingling
with whites could Native people improve their condition.23
Moreover, mainstream Italian language newspapers perceived Native
Americans as culpable for their own plight and solely responsible for
their demise, rather than as victims of white oppression. In 1906, Il Progresso published a story about an Italian immigrant and his Mexican
wife who were killed by pelle rosse in Arizona. Without commenting
upon what was viewed as a hybrid union at the time, the paper scornfully described these Indians as savage beings who resist every attempt
at civilization as well as humanitarian sentiment.24 For a prominenti
press wrestling with attempts to fashion an Italian American identity
deemed acceptable by white Americans, Native Americans willingly
and stubbornly squandered their chance at civilization. Referring to the
dwindling Ute tribe in Montana, Il Progresso feared that race hatred is
very profound in these few representatives of this very unhappy race
who have refused the civilization of the invaders.25 Balbi neatly summarized the viewpoint of the mainstream press when he argued that
the nomadic life means that they [Indians] do not dedicate themselves
to industry or agriculture. . . . this is the way the Indians of America
are, whose race, because of its resistance to the civilizing process, a
resistance more tenacious than that of Africans, is destined to be extinguished in the not too distant future.26
In the 1909 book Gli Americani nella vita moderna osservati da
un italiano, written by Alberto Pecorini, the future editor of Il Cittadino dedicates a chapter titled Una Razza che Muore (A dying race)
to explain the disappearance of Native Americans. Pondering how to
incorporate this race among whites, Pecorini concludes that maybe the
most generous thing we can do is let them die out.27 Throughout the
period of mass immigration, it appears quite obvious that the Italian
language mainstream press, in line with a majority of American society, did not envision a long existence for the pelle rosse. Immediately
after Wounded Knee in 1891, Il Progresso critiqued the United States for
only prolonging what was inevitable: Why they dont have the courage to terminate this unequal opera of destruction with a general massacre and end it once and for all. . . . it would be better to shorten the
Indians agony.28 In 1914, an article in Il Progresso titled The Last Redskin: A Race Destined to Expire became an unintentional bookend to
Giuseppe Balbis 1891 synopsis of Native Americans. Balbis confident
prediction in 1891 that the pelle rosse were soon to be extinguished was
confirmed, albeit wistfully, by Il Progresso: At the time of the discovery
of America the pelle rosse were counted by the millions, now they are
counted at approximately 350,000. You do not have to be a prophet to
know that these people are destined to vanish. In two or three generations there will no longer be any representatives of the pelle rosse who
persist in living outside the law and dying of misery.29 Ironically, by

conflating whiteness and civilization, redskins and savagery, the prominenti press could never reconcile these two worlds as they related to
Native Americans. For prominenti, the image of Native Americans
served as a stark reminder of the boundaries of American civilization
and barbarism. Illuminated by its coverage of Native Americans, the
press offered a narrative of assimilation and inclusion informed, in part,
by its construction of a counternarrative of pelle rosse marginality, resistance to civilization, and eventual eradication.
La Razza Gialla
Despite their marginalization in American society via immigration
restriction, Italian language mainstream and radical newspapers would
find more in common with Asian Americans, whether through their
role as workers or as victims of race-based immigration restriction,
than with Native Americans, who were perceived as outside the boundaries of civilization. In addition, factors deemed important in the process of Italian racial uplift, such as imperial success and more immediate domestic issues affecting both Asian and Italian communities,
informed a more positive racial view of Japanese and Chinese peoples.
Reflecting, in part, an Italian language press coming to terms with its
own idealistic constructions of Italian American identity, newspapers
balanced Chinese or Japanese otherness with declarations of worthy
civilizations informed by military prowess and ancient cultures. In
doing so, at least initially, the mainstream press, in particular, revealed
a willingness to maintain a fluid, multifaceted approach to racial construction.30 By World War I, however, mainstream newspapers such as
Il Progresso and Bolletino della Sera pursued a more rigid conception of
race and color, rendering subtle distinctions irrelevant.
Colonial conquest often served as a common measuring stick to
determine a nation-states arrival on the international scene, as well
as an indicator of superior racial status. Italian language mainstream
newspapers, engaged in their own attempt at racial uplift by championing the glory of Italian military ventures, reacted favorably to Japans
military accomplishments during the Russo-Japanese War of 19041905.
In the days leading up to the peace agreement brokered by President
Theodore Roosevelt in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Giuseppe Sergi,

a prominent Sicilian-born anthropologist, authored an article in Il Progresso titled The Yellow Race. Viewing Japan as a rising power, the
article probed the geopolitical and social ramifications of its military
victory over Russia. Sergi did not agree with some in the United States
who feared a yellow peril threatening the safety of the United States
and Europe; rather, he interpreted Japans burgeoning hegemony in the
Pacific as a positive result of the war. Even though they [the Japanese]
are the dominant power in the Orient, it is a good thing since it will
preserve the Asiatic race which has had civilization for thousands of
years, commented Sergi.31 Regarding China, Sergi maintained that the
yellow race possessed a history of civilization that enabled it not to be
bullied by white European colonialism:
The methods of colonialism that Europe never tires offrom treating indigenous peoples as inferior, or using conquered people as work
horses or worsewill not be possible in China. This is so because China
as a nation is not comprised of primitive tribes like those of the Damara
or the Daomei of Africa. In China the Europeans have shown to be less
civilized than the Chinese, who are extremely civilized. In fact, if Europe
were to conquer China it would be a disaster for humanity, a return to
barbarism, and would destroy one of the most ancient and important
models of world civilization.32
In a front-page article, Il Progresso maintained that Japan exhibited

all the tenets of a progressive civilized race, including European nations
such as Italy: In Japan popular education flourishes and people in
America are afraid of a yellow peril! . . . There are many schools and
illiteracy is very low, especially if compared to Russia and Italy. . . . it has
all the elements of civilization in its evolution. . . . This is what Japan
teaches usit is civility in its highest form.33
Yet, despite these positive perceptions, at times the Italian language
press did struggle with the inherent tension of implying racial equality among la razza gialla and the United States or Europe. Praise for
Japanese or Chinese civilization was often tempered by an emphasis
that Westerners had imparted civilization to Asian peoples. As coverage
of Japan and China increased during the period of the Russo-Japanese
War, articles that maintained support for Japan and China revealed an
interesting and familiar theme. For instance, La Luce, a paper from
Utica, New York, remarked that the true miracle of the yellow race is
how in a few years Japan had changed from feudalism to democracy
and in doing so had gained the sympathy of the civilized world. However, acknowledging the Japanese had not completely assimilated with
European culture, La Luce argued nonetheless that the Japanese had
learned to appropriate the spirit of American industry and civility. . . .
they have learned from us industrially and agriculturally.34 Similarly, an
article in LAraldo Italiano examining the evolution of Chinese medicine and its march toward modernity argued, Its possible to predict
a quick evolution that could bring China, as has happened with Japan,
toward an equal civilization with, and maybe superior to, the ones of
old Europe.35 Even Sergi, who maintained that we have no prejudice
towards any race or nationality but rather feel that any human faction,
and any type or color, should be respected along with its history, independence and existence, supported a racial hierarchy with Europe at
the top. Despite his positive view of China, Sergi explained that even
with its historic civilization China will return to its course of evolution
and probably emulate the white European races.36
Although newspapers such as the socialist Il Proletario never extolled
white, American, or European civilization as frequently, or blatantly, as
the prominenti press, an assumption of Western superiority pervaded
even its pages. At times one could find comments similar to those made
by the papers mainstream counterparts such as China did not accept
. . . the civility of Western civilization but they have something else in
common which is revolution.37 In Americans and Americanization,
Il Proletario portrayed a variety of races as less civilized than their
Western counterparts. In this discussion of the benefits of socialism to
humanity, the author, writing under the pseudonym Ilion, described
the influx of immigrants to the United States as a form of voluntary
colonialism. However, unlike European colonies such as Italian Eritrea,
Americans did not perform menial labor in the United States but rather
left such work to European immigrants. Ilion described a process of
Americanization whereby various races, such as the descendants
of the Irish immigrants who arrived in the 1840s and 1850s, ascended
from this menial status. Maybe in time, remarked Ilion, the Italians
and Poles will leave this bestial labor to other racespossibly the Chineseand rise above this bloody toil in favor of the kind of work performed by the more evolved races.38 Within Ilions racial hierarchy
the constant influx of immigrants into the United States had created a
leveling of the races by bringing less civilized peoples into contact
with more evolved people.39 It is this motivation that prompted Ilions
disclaimer that my observations are not here to create hate or conflict
between races but are just plain by all to see. This is why socialism is
not restricted to some races, but rather involves all humanity.40 Therefore, somewhat illogically, Ilion argued for the insignificance of racial
difference by delineating how racial difference would directly lead to a
socialist society.
Race-Based Immigration Restriction

Although entitled to legal entry and naturalization under the 1790
immigration law that permitted any alien being a free white person,
Italian immigrants consistently confronted accusations impugning
their racial characteristics and suitability for citizenship. White Americans often used unflattering comparisons to people of color as a vital
component in disparaging Italian immigrants. Although the most
immediate and salient comparisons would be to African Americans,
it was not unusual for Americans to describe Italian unskilled laborers as the Chinese of Europe. One Italian American editor in Detroit
maintained, Italians are maltreated, mocked, scorned, disdained,
and abused in every way. The inferiority of the Italians is believed to
be almost that of the Asiatics. However, one issue that affected both
communities, although to much different degrees, and seemingly created mutual sympathy remained the area of immigration restriction
and exclusion. Vigilant against attempts to target their race for restriction, Italian language newspapers remained wary of attacks such as the
one from a German language newspaper in Chicago that, borrowing
a phrase from a certain Anglo-American newspaper labeling Italians
the Chinese of the East, justified its desire for immigration restriction
from Italy by citing the Chinese exclusion laws.41 The Italian language
press found commonality in restriction laws targeting specific groups
for exclusion, and this became a crucial factor in informing a divergent
view of la razza gialla from pelle rosse. However, although both mainstream and radical Italian language newspapers interpreted Asian
restriction as an issue of race and class, by the period of World War I
both prominenti and radical newspapers worked more rigidly within a
paradigm of Asian racial otherness.
Roger Daniels has referred to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882
as the pivot on which all American immigration policy turned, the
hinge on which Emma Lazaruss Golden Door began to swing toward
a closed position. It initiated an era of steadily increasing restrictions
on immigration of all kinds that lasted until 1943.42 Exclusion laws and
gentlemens agreements limiting, if not discontinuing, Chinese and
Japanese immigration to the United States effectively placed these two
nonwhite races on the margins of American society. Between the years
1850 and 1890, some 290,610 Chinese immigrants arrived in the United
States, with their numbers increasing threefold from the 1850s to the
1870s.43 In response to the increasing number of Chinese newcomers,
the U.S. Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882, prohibiting the immigration of Chinese laborers for ten years and denying citizenship to eligible Chinese. The measure was unique in that it was the
first federal law ever passed banning a group of immigrants solely on
the basis of race or nationality. Congress amended and renewed the law
in 1892, 1902, and 1904 to shore up remaining loopholes and created a
policy so strict that it excluded all Chinese laborers and their spouses.44
The U.S. government pursued a somewhat similar policy with
respect to Japanese immigrants. After the United States annexed Hawaii
following the Spanish-American War in 1898, a majority of the Japanese immigration flowing to the Pacific States originated from Hawaii,
not Japan. However, annexation produced alarm among white Americans who sought to maintain the racial purity of American citizenship.
Because roughly half of Hawaiis population descended from Japan and
a quarter from China, Congress soon realized the potential problem
of admitting a territory that contained a nonwhite majority. Congress
repeatedly denied Hawaiis admission as a U.S. state until 1959. President
Theodore Roosevelt responded to growing anti-Japanese restrictions in
California, in particular the San Francisco School Boards attempt to
segregate Japanese schoolchildren, by directly intervening in Japanese
immigration policy in 1906. Unlike his negative opinion of Chinese
immigrants, Roosevelts perception of the Japanese race was generally

positive, but informed as well by their status as a rising international
power. Attempting to avoid an international incident, Roosevelt and
Secretary of State Elihu Root brokered with Japan what commonly
became known as the Gentlemens Agreement. In effect, the agreement
consisted of six notes exchanged over 1907 and 1908 outlining that the
Japanese government would not issue passports for laborers headed
to the continental United States. Under threat of a lawsuit, Roosevelt
pushed the leaders from Californias legislature and San Franciscos
school board to discontinue the policy of segregation with respect to
Japanese schoolchildren. On paper the Gentlemens Agreement barred
further Japanese immigration to the United States; in practice, however,
various loopholes, such as the immigration of picture brides, allowed
the Japanese population to expand. For example, the U.S. Census of
1900 listed 24,788 people of Japanese origin, but that number increased
to 67,744 in 1910 and 81,502 in 1920.45
For radical papers such as Il Proletario, Asian Americans, particularly
Japanese Americans living in California, fit nicely within a workingclass narrative that never properly suited Native Americans. According
to Il Proletario, exclusionary legislation aimed at Asian Americans simply reflected the capitalist classs attempt to scapegoat Chinese immigrants for the economic problems facing the nation. The capitalists
lied to Americans and trade unions alike in an effort to manipulate
the American public and conceal their own actions, claiming that the
Chinese, whom they described as an inferior race, dressed in filthy
Chinese clothes, and economized their wages in order to send it back
to China.46 Il Proletario targeted capitalisms pernicious exploitation of
the worker as the root of these injustices. Therefore, even immigrants
who allowed themselves to be used as replacement workers deserved
criticism for their shortsighted economic outlook. According to Il
Proletario, We have scabs from every nationality. The scab does not
recognize a country and the exploitation of capitalism has no nationality.47 The Italian Socialist Federation maintained that part of the reason
that most unions and newspapers, such as the Masons and Bricklayers
Union in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, supported Chinese exclusion was
directly related to the strong competition the Chinese posed to manual labor in the United States. Pressing for a class-based, transnational
alliance, Il Proletario protested against any form of organized labor that

would confuse its interests with that of capital: We cannot understand
organized workers who vote against their brothers of other nationalities
instead of the capitalist system, which is the first cause of all the evils.48
The discourse relating to Japanese immigrants was much the same.
Before World War I, Il Proletario ran a series of articles on the Japanese question written by the Italian American radical editor and poet
Arturo Giovannitti.49 The series focused on immigration legislation that
sought to exclude Japanese immigrants and severely hinder their economic progress. Similar to Il Proletarios analysis of Chinese restriction,
Giovannitti insisted that the motivation behind Californias Alien Land
Bill had more to do with class oppression than race hatred. He sardonically mocked American hypocrisy by noting the law had been inspired
by the descendants of the people who stole land from the Indians.50
According to Giovannitti, If the inalienable right to own property
is such a revered tenet, than how does the United States justify the
hypocrisy of denying these constitutional rights to certain citizens?
Further, he argued that such a law contradicted and subverted all the
alleged benefits that capitalism sought to offer the common citizen,
most notably the chance of social mobility. If the law denying the right
to own property is allowed to perpetuate, observed Giovannitti, it
undermines the alleged justification of capitalism that contends anyone
can become an Astor or Rockefeller.51 More broadly, however, Giovannitti interpreted the exclusion acts as a provocative capitalist strategy
aimed at securing and exploiting markets for American corporations.
He likened the effort to the infamous sinking of the USS Maine in 1898
that precipitated war between Spain and the United States: This is the
real reason and the only reason for the acrimony against the Japanese.52
According to Giovannitti, these acts of exclusion are something big
companies are pushing . . . in order to open up new countries to trade.
. . . more specifically these companies would welcome a war with Japan
as a way to capture the Asiatic and especially the China trade.53
Immigration Restriction and the Hardening of the Color Line

On June 18, 1909, New York City police officers discovered the murdered
body of Elsie Sigel, granddaughter of the famous Civil War general
Franz Sigel, in an apartment on West Forty-Eighth Street in Manhattan.

Miss Sigel was found stuffed into a trunk with a rope tightened around
her neck. The New York Times reported that Lung Lin (also known
as William Leon) and Chung Sin, the Chinamen who occupied the
apartment, had vanished and could not be found by police.54 Sigel, a
nineteen-year-old white woman who hailed from a middle-class New
York family, was described by the Times as a missionary worker on
the east side who was lured to the home of the Chinamen.55 Through
letters recovered by the New York City Police Department, it appeared
that Miss Sigel may have been involved in a love triangle with Mr. Leon
and Chi Gain, a manager of a nearby Mott Street restaurant.
Unlike most of the New York press, which latched onto Sigels murder in a sensational manner that reflected, in part, the publics obsession
and fierce concern with interracial relationships during this period, Il
Progresso remarked that this type of hybrid union between Chinese
and Americans was not something entirely new in Brooklyn.56 In fact,
marriages between members of the la razza gialla and Americans, usually in the form of missionary Sunday school instructors marrying their
Chinese students, had occurred since the late 1880s.57 Instead, Il Progresso expressed great surprise that hybrid unions of this sort could
still occur in the United States, where racial prejudice is as deeply
rooted as anywhere in the world. Further astonishing was that these
unions occurred across class lines as these schools had been frequented
not by wealthy Chinese men but predominantly by men from humble
and modest economic backgrounds working in laundries, or as servants and cooks.58
Il Progressos interpretation of the Sigel case is a clear example of how
the mainstream and, to a lesser extent, the radical press perceived a
changing racial landscape within the United States during the period
of 1910 through 1920. Il Progressos surprise that hybrid unions could
still occur in New York City, despite their presence since the 1880s, indicates a reworking of the race/color hierarchy. In so doing, Il Progresso
reflected the presss own progression toward a less nuanced and more
simplistic construction of race and color where ones race (American,
Chinese, Italian) became even more intimately fastened to ones color
(white, yellow, swarthy). Surprised that a society so deeply rooted in
racial prejudice would allow a union between Americans and Chinese,
the paper conflates American with white and facilely describes Chinese as the yellow race. As will be explored in chapters 4 and 5, Italian
mainstream newspapers, in particular, constructed an Italian American identity reliant upon the establishment of an Italian race defined as
civilized and white. Educated in U.S. racial policy for some two decades
and facing increasing attacks on their own racial suitability, prominenti
papers moved away from comparisons to nonwhite groups and increasingly made their case for inclusion based upon their civilization, whiteness, and Americanness.
It is through this lens of a progressing race-color connection that
the press weighed in on increasing calls for race-based immigration
restriction aimed at Asian Americans. Prominenti newspapers followed the debate over Chinese and Japanese restriction with keen interest as Italians continued to be targets of such restrictionist attempts.
Concerned that support for the precedent of race-based immigration
restriction could indirectly legitimize calls for Italian restriction, mainstream newspapers did criticize the concept of singling out one race for
exclusion. However, a more nuanced analysis reveals that apparent support remained mostly an exercise in self-interest. As exclusion became
increasingly tied to ones race and color, Italian language newspapers
endeavored to clearly mark the difference between Asians and Italians.
Therefore, predicating their own racial and color-based appeals for
inclusion on the insistence that Italians were civilized and white, prominenti never undertook a comparable approach with respect to Asian
Americans during this decade.
In 1913, Arturo Giovannitti, a famous Italian radical author, poet, and
activist, wrote an article for Il Proletario discussing the Alien Land Bill
and the Japanese in California. Although Giovannitti continued to work
within the confines of an economic interpretation, he stressed other
reasons for anti-immigrant policies and considered racial difference a
primary factor in Asian exclusion. Arguing that the continued influx
of Japanese into California would change not only the ethnicity of the
state but also the character of the nation, Giovannitti clearly acknowledged the role that race had played in policy makers perceptions. For
instance, he alluded to special laws singling out Asian immigrants
such as those restricting entry of Mongol women and those disallowing citizenship for Japanese immigrants. According to Giovannitti,
immigration laws requiring certain qualifications of the Japanese and

Chinese were race specific doctrinesapplied to members of the Asiatic (yellow) race and not asked of those Europeans of the Caucasian
race. Unlike mainstream newspapers, Giovannittis indictment of capitalism and the U.S. government did not abate. Yet incorporated within
this critique Giovannitti placed some blame on Asians for their own
exclusion. According to Giovannitti, the Japanese in the West are completely segregated because there is too much difference between their
race and the yankee race. This owed mostly to the fact that Asians did
not have the faculty and the willingness to assimilate to the host culture
due to racial differences.59 This rhetorical approach spoke to the radical tendency to privilege class, but it often indirectly acknowledged that
categories of race and color remained equal obstacles to full inclusion.
Moreover, Giovannitti clearly links Europeans to Caucasian/white and
Asians to yellow, further cementing the intimate connection between
race and color during this period.
Conversely, the mainstream press practiced a cautious approach
toward Asian immigration restriction that reflected the increasingly
rigid race/color paradigm in which Chinese and Japanese remained
marked as the yellow race. Mainstream newspapers such as Il Progresso
expressed concern that laws singling out Chinese laborers could, if
passed, give the impression that we are against Chinese of all classes
and that the guiding impulse of the bill is racial prejudice. The newspaper acknowledged the diversity of races and cultures arriving from
various parts of the globe and stated that the immigration laws should
be applied with flexible methods so as not to damage or offend the sensibilities of any one people. However, despite a rather tepid warning in
1908 that exclusionary laws governing Chinese immigration to American territories were in open opposition to the principles of the republic
and the spirit of our institutions, the mainstream press soon discovered the difficulty in maintaining full-throated racial support for Asian
inclusion.60
Concerned with American assaults on Italian racial suitability, the
mainstream Italian language press remained reluctant to extoll the
virtues of Japanese and Chinese civilization as a qualification for their
inclusion. Prominenti opposed Californias proposed Asian restriction laws in a superficial, self-interested manner as any hints of a racial
defense of la razza gialla ultimately undermined and contradicted their

own argument for Italian inclusion based upon on their races civilization, whiteness, and Americanness. For example, stories appeared
offering a platform for anti-Asian views, but, unlike instances when
Il Progresso used African American lynching as a platform to condemn American racial violence, the paper chose to remain silent. One
example from Il Progresso highlighted the story of Assemblyman Drew,
whom the paper described as one of the most radical agitators against
the Japanese.61 Drew had openly challenged the authority of the president by attempting to maintain segregation among the races in Californiaparticularly the white and yellow races. According to Drew,
In the history of races the amalgamation of whites with blacks and
yellow is prejudicial to the first and not useful to the second.62 Drew
maintained that the yellow race has brought with it to America all the
negative elements of civilization. . . . furthermore, the white race cannot
remain in a territory where the yellow or negro races are multiplying
through immigration or procreation. If a Japanese person buys a house
near a white person, the white person should absolutely leave because
there is too much difference between the two in custom, habits, etc. You
cannot have a strong and laborious generation with the amalgamation
of races.63 By 1909, Drews perception fit nicely with an emerging prominenti construction of race and color privileging white over nonwhite.
Bolletino della Seras consistent coverage of the Alien Land Bill debate
taking place in California during the spring of 1913 demonstrated the
extent to which prominenti viewed the issue of exclusion as one that
could potentially impact the Italian community.64 Indeed, the papers
disclosure that the Italian ambassador had asked Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan for more information regarding the specifics of
the Alien Land Bill demonstrated the wider concern Italians had about
racially motivated exclusion laws.65 Those concerns did not inspire the
mainstream press to rally around Asian inclusion based upon racial
suitability. Instead, lukewarm endorsements of Japanese rights appeared
all too willing to avoid any hint of their racial bona fides. So despite Il
Progressos sentiment that all foreigners, including the Japanese, had a
right to buy land because they were part of the pantheon of rights of all
people, nowhere in its intellectual defense of peoples rights did Il Progresso maintain Japanese racial characteristics earned them inclusion
in American society.66 More to the point, Bolletino della Sera quoted a

report from the Times of London that exonerated California exclusionists of racial profiling by stating that these tendencies are not provoked
by race hate, but rather by the instinct of self-preservation. The paper
perspicaciously observed with some confidence that although Japan
wanted to be treated the same as western nations, the people of the
white race have no intention of recognizing these rights.67
Despite rationalizations pointing to self-preservation rather than
race hate as the motivating factor behind the Alien Land Bill, it became
increasingly apparent that whiteness, and its perceived boundaries,
played the primary role. For Italian American mainstream newspapers promoting the Italian race as civilized and white, racial defenses
in support of la razza gialla would become impossible to maintain.
As the rhetoric surrounding Asian exclusion heated up between 1910
and 1920, Bolletino della Sera chose to highlight the words of Anthony
Caminetti, an Italian American state senator from California. Caminetti was not just another state senator but had been only the second
Italian American to serve in Congress (18911895) in the United States,
and the first from outside New York. Although many in New York City
may not have heard of Caminetti, Bolletinos decision to cite his views
probably owed much to prominenti pride in Caminettis achievements:
the first American-born descendant of Italian immigrants elected to the
California state legislature, a former congressman, and U.S. commissioner of immigration from 1913 to 1921.68 Either way, Italian Americans
read about one of their own race who not only supported the California restriction bill but bluntly declared its purpose was to prevent the
Japanese from being here. In fact, Caminetti emerged as a vociferous
critic of Asian immigration who, in his capacity as immigration commissioner, testified before a special hearing of the House Immigration
Committee in 1914 that Asiatic Immigration is a menace to the whole
country and particularly to the Pacific Coast. The danger is general. No
part of the United States is immune.69
With the publication of the forty-one-volume Dillingham Commission report describing southern Italians as an inferior race, in addition
to increasing hypernationalism unleashed by the war and energetic
pleas for immigration restriction, Italian fitness for citizenship was by
no means settled. Based upon an examination of Native Americans and
Asian Americans, it is clear that in the years leading up to this period

the Italian language press remained more willing to entertain a complex, multilevel racial consciousness. Categories of race, color, civilization, and class did not always work together in a uniform fashion, but
rather operated as a set of overlapping influences, either independent
of one another or in combination. In essence, depending upon the circumstances, whiteness did not necessarily need to be fastened to civilization as a measure of racial superiority and classification.
However, after two decades of intense exposure to American racial
norms, prominenti newspapers refashioned and reconstructed their
own racial hierarchy. Uneasy with complex characterizations that could
potentially reinforce existing negative stereotypes positioning Italians as
inferior and swarthy newcomers, Il Progresso solidified the connection
between race and color, civilization and whiteness, American and other.
Actively constructing an identity informed by an italianita defined as
Italian, American, and white, prominenti newspapers became less willing to negotiate the nuances of race and color. Instead, Italian language
newspapers employed a more rigid paradigm that constructed race,
color, civilization, and hence (Italian American) identity along a more
inflexible and crucial black/white binary. For Italian immigrant readers
of the prominenti press, Anthony Caminettis race, as much as his message, must have at least fleetingly soothed anxious feelings within Italian American communities. Exposed to a press that now constructed
race along a black/white binary and revealed an increasing unwillingness to allow civilization to trump ones nonwhiteness, Caminetti was
living proof that a pathway to whiteness, and ultimately full inclusion
as Americans, could yet be forged. In essence, he served as a glaring
example that Italians could be the excluders rather than the excludees.
4
The Education of Italian Americans in Matters of Color
Education in Matters of Color
In March 1891, Wiley G. Overton became the first African American

assigned to regular duty as a member of the Brooklyn police force. The
New York Times interpreted Overtons hiring as more of a political stunt
than an earnest attempt to hire a black man, for his appointment came
only after deliberate conversations between the mayor and police commissioner. Indeed, the Times suggested that Overton acquired his position through the lobbying of a T. McCants Stewart, whom the newspaper described as something of a politician. Stewarts agitation for his
brethren had enabled him to put several darkies into paying places.1
Overtons first days on the job did not go well. As he returned to the
station house after his first patrol, white officers from the Brooklyn precinct protested Overtons hiring by silently marching out of the precinct
house. They also refused to sleep in the same dormitory as Overton,
forcing him to find quarters elsewhere.2 New York Citys mainstream
Italian language daily Il Progresso Italo-Americano printed a front-page
article titled Sempre la Questione di Razza (Always the question of
race) focused on the plight of Wiley Overton and race prejudice in
New York and offered a pessimistic prediction. There is no reason or
logic, proclaimed Il Progresso, that can save one against the prejudice
of race. The newspaper noted that overt acts of violence by Overtons
colleagues in an effort to force him to leave his job would be unnecessary. The cruel knowledge that he was not wanted in this white mans
society would surely force Overton to voluntarily resign.3
Especially during the initial three decades of mass immigration,
whether reporting on white violence against blacks, institutional racism, or segregation, the Italian language mainstream press devoted
>>79
80<<Education in Matters of Color
ample space to the struggles African Americans faced in the United

States. More pointedly, Il Progressos coverage of the Overton story in
1891 illustrated the newspapers propensity to provide vibrant commentary along with basic reporting on events. In many ways, the Italian
language press found a usable framework or language to interpret its
own communitys travails, not through comparisons with other recent
immigrant arrivals but by reliance on the African American experience.
Italian language newspapers responded to violence directed at Italian
immigrants by condemning the same members of white mans society
so reviled by Il Progresso in Wiley Overtons case. These newspapers
stridently criticized self-appointed standard-bearers of white America
who claimed ancestry from Anglo-Saxon or Nordic racial stock for
questioning the Italian race while hypocritically oppressing African
Americans as a consequence of skin color and African ancestry. These
white men were often defined by who they were not rather than who
they were; these were the folks who were the non-black African American, the non-red Native American, the non-yellow Asian American, or
the non-swarthy southern Italian.4 Often, Italian immigrant newspapers
would locate their abuse at the hands of white Americans within the
historical framework of African American mistreatment, sympathetically identifying with the plight of African Americans and condemning
American racism. In turn, Italian language press coverage of African
American lynching, segregation, and race riots revealed expressions
of shared interest, or mutual victimization, at the hands of a common
white American oppressor.
One of the key observations emerging within newspapers such as Il
Progresso was that the foundation of American race prejudice depended
upon an intimate, and often interchangeable, relationship between color
and race. This was evident in Il Progressos estimation that, as a black
man in what they defined as a white mans society, Overton would
capitulate to the powerful, institutional forces arrayed against him.
These newspapers did not conflate race and color, but with their discussion of black and African, red and Native American, and yellow and
Chinese or Japanese, they maintained their strong correspondence. The
belief that skin color and race worked in tandem and spawned disproportionate power relations provided a sobering frame of reference for
Education in Matters of Color >>81
Italian immigrants who wrestled with their own reception as racially

inbetween.
This chapter illustrates how the Italian language press learned and
taught readers about race and color during the formative years of
immigration, how it interpreted white American racism, and how it
perceived African American victimization as a reflection of its own.
Second, it demonstrates how this coverage and discussion of American
racism served a critical purpose for how the Italian immigrant press
ultimately constructed an identity as white. Over the course of the late
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the Italian language mainstream press did not see a conflict in upholding Italian Americans as
a civilized race while simultaneously championing African American
rights and condemning white American racism. However, informed by
the realities of white American racism, the press constructed an identity more closely aligned with the dictates of a black/white binary. By
the World War I period, Italian immigrants staked a viable route toward
full inclusion, a path not available to African Americans, by championing their race as civilized, American, and white.
Italians in the South

Although a majority of Italian immigrants settled in industrial cities in
the Northeast and encountered American racial codes there, it was in
the American South that racial stratification and adherence to the color
line of black and white remained most rigid. The segregated South
was a stark context for news stories detailing the travails of southern
Italian immigrants who were perceived by many white Americans as
racially inferior and not quite white. Southern newspapers described
Italian immigrants in racial terms that ranged from being black as the
blackest Negro in existence to being white, or simply as Dagoes.5
Some plantation time books illustrated this confusion or betweeness
by separating African Americans, Dagoes, and whites in the payroll accounts.6 In 1906, a Mississippi school district revealed its own
uncertainty regarding the position of incoming Italian immigrants
when it could not decide whether Italian children should attend whiteonly schools. A New York Times front-page headline encapsulated the
tenuous situation of southern Italian immigrants when it stated: Italians a Race Issue: Mississippi Undecided Whether They Are White or
Not; To Jim Crow Them?; Not Wanted in White Schoolsin Gubernatorial Campaign New Race Issue Bobs Up.7
Informing the decision to immigrate southward were employment
opportunities generated by the perceived labor shortage created from
the abolition of slavery and exacerbated by many African Americans
leaving former plantations. Fearing a chronic labor scarcity, plantation
owners initially tried recruiting Chinese and Scandinavian immigrants.
However, unsatisfied with the results, they turned their attention to
southern European immigrants. Concern was aroused in state governments, professional and business organizations, and railroad agents. All
these entities, together with the Italian government, collaborated in an
effort to attract southern Italian immigrants to work on sugar and cotton plantations in Louisiana, Arkansas, and Mississippi. Another factor behind this recruitment drive was the white southern perception,
motivated by a virulent racist ideology, that African American laborers
were inadequate. Buttressed by scientific studies comparing Italian
and black agricultural laborers, Italians were consistently praised for
their industry, thrift, and reliability. Moreover, some white southerners
hopefully anticipated a smooth transition to immigrant labor.8
African Americans, however, reacted strongly to the prospect of
Italian labor in the South, as well as characterizations that diminished
their own labor skills and work ethic. The African American paper New
York Age commented, There is going to be only one rival to the Afro
American in the South in regards to labor and that is the Italian. . . . the
Italians are in great numbers and are doing a great deal of work that
the Afro-American ought to be doing. The article, titled Immigration
Evils, stated that usually one of the first things southern Italians learn
after entering upon these shores is prejudice against the Afro-American, and they strive to bar him from various branches of labor. . . . The
white American and Afro-American are shut out from employment on
nearly every side by foreign socialistic labor, which mostly consists of
Mafia-ites, highbinders, and anarchists.9 The fear that Italian immigration to the South would be a disastrous process for the African American was further illustrated in a letter written by J. O. Nixon to New York
Age in 1906. Nixon recommended African Americans hold the labor
of the South, warning that if the immigration movement which has

for its ulterior object the supplanting of Negro labor in the South . . .
should be successful it would be the greatest calamity that has befallen
the Negro since he set foot upon this continent.10
The indignation and anxiety over Italian immigration southward was
accompanied by an undercurrent of pride in the abilities and loyalty
of black labor and an expectation that as true Americans, this loyalty should be repaid. In many cases, African American opinion makers were quick to point out that the Souths experiment with Italians
would fail. After an Italian man was beaten in Mississippi for trying to
get Italian children into white schools, New York Age commented, the
new departure of the South in inviting foreign immigration to supplant
the tried and true black labor of that section is already bearing bitter
fruit.11 The African American Detroit Plaindealer satisfyingly recounted
how white southern newspapers extolled Italian workers and hoped
they would replace black labor. However, after the New Orleans lynching of 1891, it doesnt think so now. In a few years more when labor
troubles assume the attitude in the South that they have in the North
the South will begin to realize that it really has a problem on its hands.12
Rather than foster unfettered immigration of Italians, journalist Henry
Dotry assailed the federal government and declared, It is surely time
that the title American citizen meant something. There are hundreds
of thousands of white Americans and Afro-Americans who need caring
for.13
However, some prominent African Americans, such as Booker T.
Washington, believed that the studies forecasting success for the Italian laborer, particularly in the South, were premature in their conclusions and did not account for the accompanying difficulties in recruiting Italian labor. While acknowledging the skills of the Italian farm
laborer, Washington warned that these immigrants would be harder to
manage than African Americans: He is an alien; he does not desire to
settle in the country, as a rule, and remains only long enough to make
enough money to return to Italy. Welcoming the competition as a
good thing for African Americans, Washington remained doubtful
about the ultimate effect upon social conditions.14
White southerners and African Americans vigorously debated and
discussed the possibility that southern Italians could permanently alter
the social and racial landscape of the South and, writ large, the country.15
Given the uncertain racial status of Italian immigrants, the manner in
which these newcomers violated standing racial norms provoked suspicion and often made southern Italian immigrants vulnerable to racial
violence in the American South. For example, an article in the mainstream New York Sun in 1899 contended that southern Italians are willing to live in the same quarters with the Negroes and work side by side
with them, and seem wholly destitute of that anti-negro prejudice which
is one of the distinguishing features of all the white races in the South.16
Although altercations inevitably occurred between the groups, racial tension does not appear to have been the primary source. The daughter of a
sugar planter in Louisiana observed with surprise that, given the stiletto
agility of the Italians, and the ability of the negro with the quick razor,
it was amazing that we had so few troubles.17 Following the lynching of
three Italians in Louisiana in 1896, the New Orleans Times-Democrat, one
of the major mainstream newspapers in the region, noted with alarm
that at the burial African Americans and Italians mourned together and
went home from the scene almost terror-stricken. Indeed, in the town
of Hahnville, Louisiana, many whites feared that the Italians would join
with the African Americans to seek revenge for the murders.18
Fueling this fear of a racial alliance between Italians and African
Americans was the perceived indiscriminate manner in which Italian shopkeepers, merchants, and peddlers engaged in business transactions with and sold to African American customers. In Louisiana,
commercial activity brought Italian fruit peddlers into direct contact
with African Americans. To be sure, there were practical reasons for the
business relationship. Because the native white population dominated
the retail trade in many areas of Louisiana, Italian merchants saw the
African American community as a splendid market for cheap goods.
By catering to this market, Italian peddlers established themselves in
a competitive situation.19 However, selling fruit and employing African
Americans to help them with their fruit-vending businesses or owning saloons in African American communities did not carry much
prestige for Italians with the white population. Indeed, the fact that
an economic, and hence a social, relationship was forged drew the suspicion and ire of the native white community.20 An editorial in the New
Orleans Daily Picayune warned that Italians are able to make money
out of the negroes, and the result is a sort of traffic that causes serious
disagreements with the balance of the population.21
Some in the African American community placed great emphasis
on Italian migration to the South and expressed hope that their arrival
would signal the sort of positive changes to the region feared by whites.
Archibald H. Grimke, a noted African American journalist, lawyer, and
racial activist, wrote in the influential New York Age that the influx of
thousands of southern Italians into the South was akin to an arriving
storm. However, Grimke did not believe the result would have negative
consequences for African American southerners but rather thought
Italian propensity for knee-jerk violence and biological predilection for
revenge could be propitious to the [African American] race. He noted
that at no other time in history, save the Civil War, had the South faced
such an opportunity for change, both positive and negative. Predicting
radical changes to the Souths social, political, and industrial structures,
Grimke warned the white South to look out for Vesuvius and Etna, for
the extinction of many a Southern Pompeii of prejudice, of custom, of
tradition.
For Grimke, reliance on the most blatant stereotypes of the day pertaining to southern Italian violence informed his belief that Italian migration would alter the landscape of the South. Unlike African American
labor in the South, remarked Grimke, Italian labor will not be peaceful. . . . Wronged in any way, it will fight and fight hard. . . . The Italian
laborer, unlike the Negro laborer, matches violence with violence, and
fronts the mob with the mob. He is not afraid. He is not afraid to kill in
the open, he is not afraid to kill in the dark. Grimke was impressed by an
Italian unwillingness to back down from capital, to organize strikes, and
when necessary engage in violent uprisings to protect wages. He believed
African Americans did not really lack courage, but only initiative. In
time, though, they would learn not only through the Italian example but
also by inevitable battles with the brawling newcomer. Ultimately, this
would serve African Americans well. By fighting Italians, he will get his
courage to the sticking point to fight the white man. In exaggerated language, Grimke contended that Italian old-world violence and the volcanic lawlessness of the newly found freedom of long submerged classes
would bury forever the Old South and its antiquated half barbaric racial
system and party walls of race segregation.22
The African American Experience as a Model

The pernicious act of lynching, most virulently and consistently directed
at African Americans but targeting Italian immigrants on a much
smaller scale, played a key role in Italian American newspapers penchant for alluding to the experience of African Americans as a means to
understanding American racial violence. At the same time that southern Italian immigrants migrated in large numbers to the United States,
the American South consolidated and redeemed the region in a postReconstruction era. Lynching was not unique to southern life, as evidenced by the vigilante violence that gripped the West, but its proportion and significance remained unmatched outside of the South. The
percentage of lynchings that occurred in the South as compared with
other regions increased with each decade after the Civil War, from 82
percent of all lynchings during the 1880s to more than 95 percent during the 1920s. Since lynching deaths were initially recorded in 1882, 85
percent of all victims in the South were black. These percentages are
certainly higher in light of all the lynching that went unreported.23
The notorious lynching of eleven Italians in New Orleans would
make national headlines domestically and internationally, but it was
one incident in a long pattern of violence against Italians. Aside from
the 1886 Vicksburg, Mississippi, lynching of Frederico Villarosa that
predated the New Orleans lynching, in the 1890s alone, five other
lynchings of Italian immigrants occurred in various states. Including
1891, there were three in Louisiana and one in West Virginia; in Mississippi there were lynchings in 1886 and 1901; in Arkansas there was
one in 1901; in Florida there was one in 1910; and outside the South two
occurred in Colorado in 1891 and two in Illinois in 1914 and 1915. In
total, forty-six Italians were murdered at the hands of lynch mobs.
For Italian immigrants, victimization at the hands of American
lynch mobs offered not only an example of American lawlessness
and unchecked nativism but also a more disturbing racial perception.
According to journalist and author Gino Speranza, who had founded
the Society for the Protection of Italian Immigrants in 1901, the lynching of Italians made a tremendous impression on imaginative people
like my countrymen in the United States and in Italy. The lynchings
in Louisiana and Mississippi shocked the National conscience of Italy,
Lynching of Angelo
Albano and Castenge
Ficarrotta in Tampa,
Florida, 1910. Department of Special Collections, University of
South Florida.
and there is not a hamlet in that peninsula where the fact of such gross
failure of justice is not known.24 No doubt much of the shock and discomfort over Italian lynching stemmed from an awareness that it was
overwhelmingly directed at African Americans and had become intimately associated with white violence perpetrated upon blacks. Major
newspapers such as Il Progresso covered African American lynching
extensively and published translated articles from American periodicals stating that seventy percent of all victims of lynching between 1885
and 1903 were colored.25
As it had done historically, the Italian language mainstream press was

quick to defend Italian immigrants murdered at the hands of white mobs.
In their coverage of Italian lynching, mainstream newspapers often
relied upon the pernicious legacy of African American enslavement to
provide an appropriate model to express their outrage and disappointment in American civilization. For example, in 1896, after the lynching
of five Italians in Louisiana, Il Progresso blamed an environment of mob
violence, comparing it to the institutionalized violence wielded to maintain slavery before the Civil War.26 Civilized America was described in
disappointed terms as nothing more than a colossal hypocrisy where
former slave owners have one hand on the Constitution and the other
gripping the lash used to whip black slaves.27 In their condemnation of
American barbarism, Italian American newspapers neatly linked Italian immigrants with African Americans: innocent victims of American
outlaw justice. Across the Atlantic, Italian newspapers viewed the lynchings within the context of the United States regrettable history with race.
Especially in New Orleans, lamented Il Secolo, where there live the
descendants of slave traders and slavery, the ferocious acts that occurred
during the grand war of secession continue to happen. Il Diritto maintained that the ideology of reactionaries was still prevalent in the secessionist South even after the Civil War. . . . it is a shame that a great war
was fought to abolish slavery, a war that we admired them for, and yet
it did not mean anything. They went to war against human slavery and
[now] they let their own citizens commit crimes such as this.28
Similarly, African American newspapers saw the kind of mob violence perpetrated upon southern Italians as something that affected
the African American community as well. The Leavenworth (KS) Advocate wrote in 1891 that mob violence if carried on in that shape will
ultimately undermine our institutions. . . . Every citizen regardless of
nationality should protest against mobs, it matters not where they occur,
nor what the cause. After the lynching of three Italian immigrants in
Hahnville, Louisiana, in 1896, the African American Richmond Planet
editorialized that we are opposed to the lynching of white men or colored ones, no matter how heinous the crime committed. Such barbarous practices have no place in civilized communities.29
The acknowledgment of a common enemy found credibility within
the African American community and reflected a larger dialogue
between African American newspapers and the Italian language press.

After the New Orleans lynching in 1891, a headline in the New York
Age asked, Is the White South Civilized? In its condemnation of the
South, and especially the people who perpetrated the crime, the paper
recounted in outrage the lynching of the defenseless Italians. According to the Age, As defenseless as they were, under the protection of
lawful authority, and easily to have been protected by fifty men, they
were murdered by the the best citizens while the police looked on.30
After the lynching of 1899 in Tallulah, Louisiana, the Richmond Planet
editorialized that the lynching was without palliation or excuse. They
[the Italian victims] were charged with murder when there had been no
murder. They have since been charged with conspiracy when up to this
writing it has not been proven. . . . Lawlessness is rampant, and civilization in many sections has been overthrown.31 In 1891, the Detroit Plaindealer asserted that if
lynching was not a common and lauded practice [in the] South, the magnitude of this butchery might be attributed to a frenzy of the moment.
But lynching is a Southern art, the details of which are deliberately
planned and discussed. . . . The South is the only place in the civilized
world where a mob is the last resort for justice. This time the fury of the
mob is spent on eleven defenseless Italians, instead of Afro-Americans
as has usually been the case.32
The commentary offered in both African American and Italian American newspapers was remarkably similar. Both sarcastically
assailed the alleged civilization of the South, noting the hypocrisy of
the best citizens who engaged in murder while upholding the racial
superiority of whites.
Italian American radicals responded to Italian and African American
lynching with full-throated critiques of American race relations and,
much like the mainstream press, sharply questioned American civilization in the process. La Questione Sociale, the foremost Italian anarchist
newspaper, perceived the lynching of African Americans as a shameful and cowardly affront to American civilization.33 Among some radicals, interracial cooperation, support, and coalition building would be
the answer to American prejudice and violence. In 1899, shortly after
The Problem of Race, Il Fuoco, September 20, 1914. This illustration created by American artist Alice Beach Winter appeared in the radical journal Il Fuoco, started by Arturo
Giovannitti in 1914.
the lynching of five Italians in Tallulah, Louisiana, the socialist Il Proletario called upon all Italians in the United States to support an organization called the National Anti-mob and Lynch Law Association. The
purpose of this support would be to vindicate our countrymen who
were barbarically lynched in the South and West and to prevent other
similar atrocities.34 However, one of the more piercing critiques called
into question some of the dominant assumptions about race, color, and
sexuality in the United States. Responding to white American justifications of lynching in 1909, Il Proletario commented:
Who do they think they are as a race, these arrogant whites? From where
do they think they come? The blacks are at least a race, but the whites
. . . how many of them are bastards? How much mixing is in their pure
blood? And how many kisses have their women asked for from the
strong and virile black servants, as have they, the white males, desired
to enjoy the warm pleasures of the black women of the sensual lips and
sinuous bodily movements?35
Although American racism came under scrutiny, Italian radical

newspapers, unlike their mainstream counterparts, used Italian victimization not to promote italianita but as a means of educating the
masses about economic exploitation. According to Il Proletario, lynching was a means of worker control and really the most horrible consequence of tyrannical capitalism in this country.36 Using the African
American experience as a model, sovversivi (subversives) were comfortable threading a line from slavery to contemporary conditions
of wage slavery and did not shrink from their perception that wage
slavery was more brutal. Discussing peonage conditions faced by Italian laborers in Hawaii, Il Proletario declared that the treatment Italians receive in Hawaii is no different from that which Blacks received
before the Civil War. . . . It is the very slavery that United States law
abolished but still exists in the traditions and customs of inhumane
and avaricious owners.37 In fact, the old slavery was abolished not
through any pressure from abolitionists or antislavery politicians but
rather because the system became useless to capitalists. Wage slavery
was perceived as much more advantageous to the capitalists than
the old form of slavery, which targeted only blacks: Now capitalist
owners could augment their pool of workers by enslaving whatever
color people they wanted.38
African American slaves were viewed as part of a paternalistic
social web whereby white slave owners looked after their slaves in
order to maintain productivity.39 The fact that modern slaves were
equal under the law, unlike African Americans prior to the Fourteenth Amendment, prompted Italian American radicals to believe a
more pernicious system of slavery existed in the modern era. According to Il Proletario, Today, we are all equal in front of the law, but it
was better to be a slave without any worry for the future than to be a
free worker now. . . . the conditions of the new slavery are worse than
before. . . . There are Italian immigrants from the North and South
living in shanties. These people are so miserable and downtrodden
that they cannot rebel.40 In 1906, Carlo Tresca, at the time the editor of Il Proletario, scolded Italian American labor agents who lured
Italian immigrant workers to the South with false ideas of prosperity
and declared that the form of slavery created by the bourgeoisie is
the worst kind of slavery.41 Exasperated with Italians willingness to
accept these conditions, Il Proletario pondered, Dont they [Italian

workers] realize that they are treated worse than slaves to whom at
least food and shelter were provided?42
Italian American sovversivi constructed a contextual framework that
contrasted the brutal conditions of the wage slave with those experienced years before by African Americans. However, although holding
the system of capitalism and its attendant overseers as the primary culprits behind both the old and the new slavery, the Italian American
Left could not avoid recognizing the role race played in this system of
exploitation. Therefore, although some radicals declared race hatred
did not exist in the United States, distinctions based on race were frequently present in the press.43 According to Il Proletario:
Slavery was abolished in the United States in 1865, but is still practiced
under the American flag. I am not rhetorically using the word slaves
either, people are bought and sold, brought to places under armed guard,
and are prevented from escaping by threat of the gun. For one thing, the
new slavery is not the same as 35 years ago. Slaves are no longer Africans
taken from their land and brought here, but rather, the new slaves are
white, caucasian, and European.44
Although the article concluded by emphasizing that the proprietors

of slaves were business trusts, its class analysis is belied by the most
important distinction between the old and new slavery, which was
one of race. One could speculate that attempts to utilize black slaves as
a benchmark with which to measure the poor working conditions of
Italian immigrants simultaneously necessitated a process of distancing
from those very same people. Il Proletarios declaration that the new
slaves were not only white but also Caucasian and European demonstrated an implicit acceptance of contemporary racial hierarchies that
linked white and European, as well as an understanding that Italian
immigrants should not be perceived as completely interchangeable with
African American slaves.
Although much of the Italian language presss coverage of lynching
revealed empathetic comparisons to the black experience, at times, both
mainstream and radical newspapers conformed to white American
stereotypes about blacks, Italians, and violence. One graphic example
occurred in 1901 when a newspaper feud broke out between two of New
Yorks leading mainstream dailies, LAraldo Italiano and Il Progresso
Italo-Americano. This dustup over an attempted lynching of an Italian
in July exposed conflicting views on how closely to align with African
Americans, how the Italian press should interpret violence directed at
Italian immigrants, and whether Italians perceived themselves as part
of the white majority. It also highlighted the threat of race mixing and
miscegenation so commonly used as justification for lynching African
Americans.
On the night of July 10, 1901, John and Vincenzo Serio, brothers
from Cefalu, Sicily, and their friend Salvatore Liberto were asleep in
their hammocks on the porch of their home in Greenville, Mississippi.
Shortly after midnight they were awoken by a voice calling from the
nearby bushes. Upon asking for the person to identify himself, they
were met with rifle and pistol fire. John and Vincenzo were killed after
the first volley, their bodies riddled by half a dozen bullets. Salvatore,
hit by a bullet to the groin, was mortally wounded. It was reported at
the time of the murders that the men had been warned to leave the area
because they were suspected of stealing cattle. They fled the neighborhood, returning only after unknown parties had notified them that the
trouble had blown over and they would not harmed.45
An article in LAraldo Italiano, written by journalist Luciano Paris,
placed the murder within the context of a broader discussion of lynching. Paris, in a play on two dominant stereotypes of Italians and African Americans, claimed that he supported the practice of lynching in
special cases of habitual criminal offenses. He pointed to the hundreds
of African Americans who were lynched, shot, and burned alive each
year as proof of their continual violation of white women. Speaking of the Souths tendency to lynch Italians, Paris contended that they
were victims of mob justice stemming not from racial hatred but rather
from the Italian predilection toward violence. Although Paris opposed
state-sponsored execution, he perceived lynching as an act of popular
justice that had a legitimate role to play in maintaining order in the
United States.46 Remarkably, just a year earlier, the socialist Il Proletario
made similar comments that laid the responsibility of lynching at the
feet of its victims: As long as barbarian negroes unleash their anger
suppressed during slavery by raping young girls and Italians come to
this country to sell their labor at low prices and make justice with a
knife, the popular furor of summary justice will continue.47
The definition of lynching as an act of popular justice or as a result
of the nonconformist behavior of Italians and African Americans
was reinforced by Pariss use of a sociopsychological article written by
Nathaniel Southgate Shaler, a noted geologist and professor who served
as dean of the Lawrence Scientific School at Harvard. The article was
published in the English language journal International Monthly Magazine and received front-page attention from LAraldo Italiano under the
title The Psychology of Lynching.48 Shaler, who was born in Newport,
Kentucky, in 1841, recounted in his autobiography the imprint left by
African American domestic slaves who cared for him when he was a
child.49 Although most of his academic publications pertained to natural science, he wrote numerous articles about African Americans and
race throughout his career.
In the article cited by LAraldo Italiano, Shaler sought to understand
the rationale of lynch mobs. He concluded that those who lynched had
a need to feel superior to their victims; that mobs usually consisted of
the best citizens of towns; and that many who participated in lynching believed that its victims were bestial in nature and needed to be
eliminated. Shaler cited the case of hardworking white farmers in Georgia or Alabama who lived side by side with what he described as Ethiopian farmers as dark as charcoal. He noted that despite their black
skin, they would be expected to abide by the law. However, Shaler predicted, this would not be the case. Holding up the trope of white female
virtue, Shaler related the familiar story of a black man raping a white
woman. Moreover, after having gone to the police and suffering great
public dishonor, the white mans ordeal had just begun. Nine months
later a black-skinned baby was born. Shaler asks, Where is your shotgun? Where is the monster who did this? He is smoking a pipe in the
country prison. And who knows, in a few months he may be freed to
attack your family again. . . . however, the next time you will convene
one hundred of your friends who have wives, children, and sisters, and
instead of relying on the law will rely on the rope and gun.50
Shalers aim, much like Pariss, was to interpret mob violence as
a reaction to African American provocation. Shaler reverted to the
opinion of many whites of the period that African Americans needed
to be kept in check because they could not control their own brutish
sexual behavior. In effect, it was the white man who was the victim in
this scenario. This kind of rationale appeared in unison with the opinions expressed in LAraldo Italiano. In fact, the paper proclaimed that
Shalers study gives persuasive reasons to explain how and why white
Americans have developed certain characteristics and qualities. . . . ever
since we have learned and understood the English language, have we
found a writer who has examined the American moral plague of lynching with more astuteness than Professor Shaler?51
When the LAraldo Italiano expressed these views in the context of
the lynching of Italians in Mississippi, Il Progresso Italo-Americano
launched an all-out attack against what it considered anti-Italian, as
well as inhumane, opinions. An editorial in Il Progresso described Pariss acceptance of lynching as insane and cannibalistic. The paper considered LAraldo Italianos refusal to condemn this lynching a disgrace
and rejected the indecent words written about the two dead men.52
Il Progressos defense of the two Italians, as well as its opposition to
the sort of mob violence justified by LAraldo Italiano and Shaler, was
consistent with its reaction to previous crimes of this sort. Moreover,
the clash reflected a wider dispute among New Yorks Italian language
mainstream newspapers related to economic competition, leadership
status, and wider acceptance among the native white population. These
disputes were played out in the Italian language press and the community and often spilled over into the English language press. Carlo
Barsotti, owner of Il Progresso, often found himself at the center of the
controversy and was widely ridiculed by his competitors for putting his
own interests above those of the Italian community and promoting a
false Italian patriotism among immigrants.53
By invoking Shalers analysis, LAraldo clearly aligned itself with a
white American narrative that defended lynching as necessary to protect white citizens from dangerous black men. While Shalers argument focused on African Americans, Pariss inclusion of Italians would
ironically position these immigrants well below white Americans in
status. His suggestion that Italians should Americanize, and in essence
avert comparisons with African Americans, bespoke their indeterminate racial status.54 In fact, Paris posited a simile of lynching as a disease plaguing the United States just as yellow fever plagued Brazil. He
explained that those who ventured to Brazil did so willingly and, despite
taking precautions, ran the risk of contracting yellow fever. More fortunate, he said, are those, instead, who come to the United States and
can assure themselves immunity from lynch law just by living according to the way they see a great majority of the good citizens living. The
major difference between yellow fever and lynching lies in the fact that
the former strikes at random, while the latter instead strikes only those
who seek it.55 According to Paris, if Italian immigrants chose to flout
convention, they would pay a price. Unlike blacks, they had a choice,
and it was incumbent upon them to conform or face the wrath of
white oppression. For LAraldo Italiano, the most successful road to
acceptance and inclusion was not through the promotion of a vibrant
and unapologetic Italian racial identity but through overt demonstrations of white American values. And, although these paths may have
briefly diverged at the time, by 1919 both were intimately connected and
essential to an emerging Italian identity as white and American.
Understanding the Color Line

Discussion of broader racial issues relevant to African Americans permeated Italian language newspapers and frequently appeared alongside coverage of events within the immigrant colonie. Readers of Italian language newspapers surely noticed the articles, often appearing on
the front page, dealing with race riots, segregation, or examinations of
racial coexistence in America. The treatment of white injustices toward
blacks, as well as the stark realization that, in American society, membership within certain races and colors could literally cause death, must
have informed the immigrant readers understanding of the American
color line.
Italian American reporting reflected an understanding that whiteness carried certain advantages. The socialist Il Proletario denounced
African American exclusion from unions, bluntly contending, Isnt the
Black worker taken advantage of more than the white. . . . Black work
is beneficial to society just as much as whites. Nothe Black is Black.56
La Fiaccola simply explained that the misfortune of being born black
in civilized America was all that was necessary to precipitate white violence toward African Americans.57 However, it would be mainstream
newspapers such as Il Progresso that consistently maintained racial

oppression in the United States turned on color, more specifically white
oppression of blacks. After eleven Italians were lynched in 1891, Il Progresso remarked that although many thousands upon thousands in
New Orleans dress in the genteel styles of the 19th century . . . and have
the privilege of white facesthey are much worse than the savage Indians with red skins.58
Lynching frequently attracted attention. Although some articles simply recited the facts of each case and were devoid of commentary, the
headlines told a different story. Phrases such as The Country of Lynching, Lynching at Full Speed, Always Lynching, and Another Negro
Lynched reflected exasperation and disgust as well as an awareness
that the famous lynch law or the summary justice of Judge Lynch,
as it was often referred to, was a endemic problem within the United
States.59 During the era of the Jim Crow South, when increasing numbers of African Americans lived and worked in northern industrial cities such as New York, race riots involving blacks and whites became
an unfortunate occurrence. Il Progressos coverage of violent episodes
in which African Americans were surrounded by angry white mobs
shouting Lynch the Negro, kill him! were commonplace in the early
1900s. On July 11, 1905, Il Progresso published an article titled Race
Hatred, which detailed the plight of Henry Hart, an African American
involved in an altercation with a mob of whites in Manhattan. When
shots rang out between Hart and a James White, it led to a throng of
almost 5,000 people who descended upon Harts house, screaming
Lynch the blacks! Roughly a week later, Il Progresso covered a riot that
broke out in the San Juan Hill district of Manhattan, between SixtyFirst Street and Amsterdam Avenue and Sixty-Third Street and West
End Avenue, with the headline reading, Another Fight between Blacks
and Whites.60
The appearance of news stories related to local, and even national,
racial conflicts extended beyond simply covering the facts of each
occurrence. Whether it was Il Progressos coverage of a major race
riot or a local neighborhood skirmish, the paper demonstrated a keen
understanding of why race riots erupted throughout American society.
Under the headline The Struggle of Race in New York, Il Progresso
dedicated three columns of its front page to one such incident in August
1900. The riot broke out between whites and blacks in New York City
between Thirty-Fourth and Forty-Third Streets along Seventh Avenue,
precipitated by neighborhood whites who sought revenge for the murder of a white police officer. After the policemans funeral, violence
erupted and a large number of people started hunting for Blacks and
upon finding them began to beat them; even newspaper sellers ran after
Negroes.61
Il Progresso reported that the riot was not an isolated incident. By
nightfall other disorders had exploded all over the city, including the
foiled lynching of a black man who was then chased by an angry mob of
whites up Eighth Avenue and eventually forced to jump off a streetcar
to safety. A man named Schwartz was identified as the ringleader who
forced the streetcar to stop by hurling a rock and hitting the motorman.
Before he could throw another stone, Schwartz was physically subdued
by the police and cursed and stoned by an angry mob. At this point
300 police officers arrived to quell the disorder, although further violence ensued between police officers and crowd members. According to
Il Progresso, At 12:00 midnight, the streets were empty except for police
officers, noting that out of the seventy-two people wounded in the riot,
almost all were African Americans.62 The police reportedly beat many
and were criticized for using excessive force on both blacks and whites.
However, of the twenty-seven people arrested, only four were whites.
When they were brought to a West Side court, Il Progresso stated, even
Judge Cornell was amazed that only four white people were arrested
after such a grave disorder provoked by whites, saying theres no need
to beat all Negroes after only one of them has committed a crime.
The newspaper hoped that these scenes, which are a black eye on one
of the most civilized cities, would not be repeated. Summing up the
days sordid events, Il Progresso described how a man that was full
of livid hatred for the descendants of Ham made his way towards the
two beaten Negroes with a rope in his hands and began yelling Lynch
them, lynch them!! The rope was put around the Negros neck and the
drunken people started to pull the poor black who was blameless and
had not done anything wrong, except for having a different skin color
than his oppressor.63 Il Progressos explicit conflation of neighborhood
whites and civilized New York City as oppressors of blacks reflected
an understanding that race and skin color remained intimately related.
In addition to its critique of white American violence, the mainstream press also chose to highlight prominent Americans closely associated with the narrative arc of African American history as arbiters of
civil morality. For example, Abraham Lincoln garnered special attention for his role in emancipating black slaves and served as a powerful symbol in juxtaposition to contemporary injustice. According to
La Questione Sociale, Lincoln represented the American democratic
republic. . . . Lincoln was a martyr because he defended the abolition
of Negro slavery. And when he died, Lincoln said he could die happy
because he freed one and a half million human beings.64 When Italian anarchists extended their analysis of racial injustice beyond class
analysis and identified the ideology of white supremacy as the foundation of oppression, it was Lincoln who was invoked to pass judgment.
The eternal problem in America is the racial problem, declared La
Questione Sociale. The United States wants to give freedom, only in
words, to the Negro people, but they dont want to agree that this race
has to be treated equal to the white race. . . . Instead here is a solution posed by the Governorone that would submit the black race to
whites and make them slaves. Oh, what would the spirit of Lincoln say
about this?65 The socialist Il Proletario criticized American imperialist forays into the Philippines by invoking Lincolns legacy. Describing
poor Lincoln as the man who gave so much to redeem blacks from
slavery, the paper surmised that Lincoln would have been saddened to
see his descendants subjugate people fighting for their own independence.66 Italian American radicals often relied on Lincolns legacy as
the moral yardstick by which American behavior should be measured,
and the anniversary of his birthday usually elicited mention in the radical press.67
As segregation solidified in the American South and became commonplace in the North at the turn of the twentieth century, African
American leaders such as W. E. B. DuBois and Booker T. Washington
earned regular coverage. Between 1900 and 1907, DuBois and Washington had offered alternative visions for racial uplift, published influential
books such as Souls of Black Folk, started institutions such as the Tuskegee Institute, and created organizations such as the Niagara Movement,
the precursor to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Amid coverage of Italian immigrants, Italian
language newspapers frequently incorporated issues such as segregation, racial coexistence, and the roles played by leaders such as Washington and DuBois.
In 1901, the anarchist La Questione Sociale chided white Americans
who were alarmed by President Theodore Roosevelts White House
lunch with African American leader Booker T. Washington. The paper
remarked how ignorant Americans would prefer it if Roosevelt had
invited rich aristocrats that suck the blood from laboring classes rather
than this educated black man.68 An article titled Jim Crow in Il Progresso covered Booker T. Washingtons speech to the National Negro
Business League at its annual convention in New York City. The newspaper described Washington as a Black Moses and expressed admiration for his ability to overcome racial obstacles and create institutions
such as Tuskegee. Once again reflecting the newspapers conflation of
race and color, Il Progresso noted that although Washington was hailed
as one of the great leaders of the black race, he was surprisingly less well
known than Emperor Menelik of Ethiopia.69
The primary topic of his remarks, Il Progresso reported, was The
South to the Negroes. According to Il Progresso, Jim Crow, the derisive name that was attached to African Americans in the United States
thirty-five years after Uncle Toms Cabin was published and the Civil
War ended, was supported by the assumption, made by Charles Darwin, that the negro was the intermediary between man and beast. Very
methodically, Il Progresso provided examples illustrating prejudices of
the American South with respect to African Americans: the existence
of laws prohibiting the marriage of blacks and whites in Alabama; a
post office that was closed because its director was African American;
the mayor of Charleston blocking the nomination of an African American as tax collector because of his skin color; and, finally, the story of
the Irish woman in an Indianapolis hotel who had received a thousand
dollars for her heroic stand in refusing to make the bed of Booker
T. Washington. Building upon a sustained criticism of American racial
structuresa criticism that included the treatment not only of Italian
immigrants but also of marginalized groups such as African AmericansIl Progresso lamented racisms chilling expediency. African Americans were excluded from the process of social, political, and economic
justice, with skin color being the sole determinant for the assignment of
guilt. According to Il Progresso, Knowing how to die was more or less

all that was permitted to Jim Crow. Furthermore, without formality or
process, whites are there to lend a hand in this endeavor at the slightest
indication. Seemingly disconnected from its target of condemnation,
the newspaper rebuked white America, lamenting that only when the
great dawn of justice arrives will it free the white race from the chains
of prejudice and redeem them from their cruel past!70
In 1906, Il Progresso decided to reprint an article from the Tribune,
an English newspaper that published a story on H. G. Wellss personal
tour of the northern United States. Although Il Progressos motivation
for running the article is unknown, it filled three columns in the papers
Sunday edition. The substance of Wellss piece was an exploration of
racial coexistence in the United States, or, as someone asked Wells,
Will it ever be possible that blacks and whites can live together?71
Wells methodically exposed as bankrupt many of the defenses of black
inferiority proffered by those white Americans who identified themselves as fine Christians. In strong language Wells stated, Americans
want to continue with the perpetuation of what is a real nigger. The
truth is Blacks are gentle peopleeducated, refined, lawyers, doctors, diplomats whose ancestors took part in the Norman conquests
yet they cant ride on a train for whites only. . . . Its useless to remind
Americans that he is a more direct relative of these people than from
the immigrants from the Orient.72 Despite documenting numerous
examples of African American civility and education, Wells pessimistically predicted, Blacks and whites are not able to live next to each other
without injustices. The differences in race are too apparent unless the
population wants to ignore it. He concluded, Of all the races around
the world who have suffered, the Negro is still indicted for his blood
and his color as a sin.73 Suggestive of the Italian American presss interpretation of pelle rosse and la razza gialla, Wells and Il Progresso similarly conveyed an understanding that African Americans who were civilized and of a certain class must be closer to white. In the essay, Wellss
admiration for those civilized and educated African Americans, such
as Washington and DuBois, rested upon their divergence from average
African Americansdomestic workers and railroad porterswhich
solidified their status as the white-negro, the civilized Negro, or the
white-black.74
Wellss story in Il Progresso exposed Italian Americans to another

sympathetic account of the plight of African Americans. Yet, despite
Wellss criticism of white American racism, he still operated within a
paradigm of race that recognized whiteness as a civilizing force. For
Italian American readers, this must have carried multiple messages.
They were once again exposed to a critical account of white supremacy,
yet one that was interwoven with the idea that whiteness, or civilization,
could serve as a magic elixir for any who sipped from its glass.75 It must
have been disconcerting to read Wellss illuminating anecdote mocking white American denials of racial intermixing. The story involved
a white woman from Boston who gave birth to a child who was absolutely Negroid, with prominent lips, curly hair, and a flat nose. The
womans shock stemmed from the confidence she had that the young,
handsome, dark colored man from New Orleans she married was not
African American. To convince the woman that this was indeed the
case, and to explain his dark skin, the man had assured her that he had
an Italian grandmother. Although Wells had loosely compared Poles,
Jews, and Irish immigrants to African Americans, it is illuminating that
the only mention of Italian immigrants in the essay surfaced in connection with an anecdote so viscerally related to miscegenation and color.
For an Italian immigrant reading this article in Il Progresso, or maybe
reading it aloud to his family, Wellss account surely served as a jarring
reminder of not only their tenuous racial position in the United States
but also their complicated, and at times approximate, relationship to
whiteness.
What emerged during the first few decades of mass Italian immigration was a process whereby the press simultaneously performed the role
of observer and learner. The Italian American press interpreted discrimination and violence directed at Italian immigrants, most notably
lynching, through the prism of the African American experience. In
doing so, newspapers frequently reported on events and issues important to the African American community with an editorial comment
overwhelmingly sympathetic to African Americans and intensely critical of racial injustice based on color. Over time, however, this knowledge would serve dual purposes. Italian Americans willingness to
infer a community of interests with African Americans also served
to remind them of their own precarious racial position in American
society. For instance, alongside stories concerning African Americans,

Italian immigrants continued to read about Italian aqueduct workers in
Paterson, New Jersey, who engaged in a scuffle with American coworkers only to be targeted by a mob of 500 people and nearly murdered.
Other instances saw Italians threatened with lynching over simple
street arguments and altercationsmany times needing the protection
of policemen firing warning shots to quell the angry crowd. Stories with
headlines such as The Menace of Lynching, referring to the attempted
lynching of Italians in West Virginia, or those reporting how Italians
were chased by American mobs in Ohio shouting lynch the Italian
increasingly warned Italian immigrant readers about the perilous consequences if white Americans perceived them as the other.76
The gradual understanding of how categories of race and color operated in the United States, as well as the continued white American questioning of Italian racial status and, at times, color status, would prompt
Italian language newspapers to discard their analogy to the experiences
of African Americans. The realization emerged that an association with
African Americans could foster perceptions of dissimilarity between
Italian immigrants and white Americans. In addition to other factors
during the World War I period, including their own learning curve
with respect to race and color in the United States, the Italian American mainstream press sensed the urgent need to assert the immigrants
belonged because they were not only Americans but white Americans.
5
Defending Italian American Civility, Asserting Whiteness
Defending Italian American Civility
In 1909, the Citizen, a Santa Rosa, California, newspaper, published statistics listing individuals arrested for public drunkenness. The data were
arranged according to group identity, and the paper separated what it
called the white majority from Italians and Indians. The Reverend
J. M. Cassin of California was so incensed by the papers characterization of Italians that he wrote a letter to another Santa Rosa newspaper,
the Press Democrat, expressing his surprise and anger that Italians were
not considered part of the white race. Declaring this an insult towards
Italians, Cassin sarcastically chided the author of the article by noting,
Italy was the gentle lady of the world, the leader in the arts when this
writers country [the United States] was still primitive and had not yet
been discovered.1
Where once they had portrayed Italians as distinct from the white
majority, Italian language mainstream newspapers such as Il Progresso
Italo-Americano now aggressively responded to this perceived smear.
Seeing the Italian race as both civilized and white, many Italian language newspapers believed Americans could learn much from Italians
example. In 1909, Reverend Cassins outrage was informed by a feeling
that Italian immigrants continued to be defined as outside, or separate
from, the white majority. He was indignant at the implication that he
possessed dark skin and included a poem by an American poet to
clarify why some Italian immigrants were so grossly mischaracterized:
His hair is curly and black, his face is tan, his brow is covered with
honest sweat, and he earns what he can. He looks the whole world in
the eye, because he knows he is indebted to no one.2 Acknowledging
what others had described as olive, or swarthy, skin, Cassin attributes
>>105
106<<Defending Italian American Civility
this dark complexion to the tanning Italians experienced while working under the sun of Sonoma County. Further, the popular prejudicial
belief of a connection between nonwhite races and inherent laziness
and indolence is evident in Cassins surprise that such an insult could
be levied at these industrious and hard working people. For Cassin,
the exclusion of Italians from the white race was not only an egregious
mistake but also, within the context of American racial hierarchies, an
atrocious and unmerited insult. Il Progresso lauded Cassin and chose
to print excerpts from his letter. Referring to the nativist vitriol that had
been commonly directed toward these new immigrants from southern Italy, Il Progresso noted that this was not the first time American
papers had insulted Italians. Never before, however, had these insults
been hurled with so much malice and prejudice of race and nationality
like the article published in the Santa Rosa paper. Entitling the article
Italians and the White Race, Il Progresso agreed with Cassins assessment that the exclusion of Italians from the white race constituted an
insult to our nationality.3
This is not to suggest that Il Progressos forceful assertion of Italian
whiteness in 1909 signified a watershed moment. For example, newspapers continued publishing articles criticizing the bankruptcy of
American racial justice, although much of the most strident commentary appeared in the Italian American radical press.4 For example, in
1916, Il Proletario lauded an eleven-year-old African American boy who
refused to salute the American flag at his school. The paper commended
the boys brave action and stated that his words defied the arrogance
with which Americans believe in their countrys representation of all
humanity . . . words that should and could be found on the mouths
of many black men . . . who are treated like animals of the lowest species.5 For Italian language mainstream newspapers, however, articles
lacked the harsh criticism of white supremacy so prevalent during the
first three decades of mass immigration. Instead, defending Italian
nationality, race, and color marked a common theme throughout the
decade. During the period 1909 through 1919, major Italian language
mainstream newspapers forcefully constructed an identity as Italian,
American, and white built upon well-worn notions of Italian civilization and informed by their own checkered immigrant experience with
race and color. Over time, Italian American exposure to, and education
Defending Italian American Civility >>107
The Unrestricted Dumping Ground, Judge, June 6, 1903. Popular illustrations such as
this one, published in the political magazine Judge, depicted European immigrants as subhuman and swarthy. The imagery played upon contemporary stereotypes viewing Italians
as prone to criminality and violence. In particular, the vermin washing ashore adorn hats
labeled Mafia and carry swords labeled assassination.
in, the rigid color line of black and white in the United States, as well
as the impact of external factors such as immigration restriction and
World War I, narrowed Italian American conceptions of race and color
to a more basic rendering of black and white, civilized and savage. Cognizant of the strong association between ones racial grouping and ones
defined whiteness or nonwhiteness, newspapers such as Il Progresso
distanced Italian Americans from any taint of nonwhiteness and constructed a simplistic, and rigid, conception that reduced full inclusion
to a matter of black and white.
Reflecting this shift, criticism of white Americans would instead
revolve around their reluctance to fully incorporate Italian immigrants
into the white American race rather than white racial oppression of
African Americans. Consistent with this argument, Italian language
mainstream newspapers discontinued comparisons to African Americans and viewed any outside attempts to posit otherwise as extremely
dangerous. More specifically, when the violence was directed at Italians,

overt expressions of sympathy or community with African Americans
that had so often accompanied Italian American reporting on racially
charged topics such as lynching became almost nonexistent. Continued
demands for full incorporation into American society were inextricably
tied to establishing not only the civilized nature of the Italian race but
also their acceptability as whites. With renewed restrictionist attacks,
Americanization programs, African American migration northward,
a rising tide of black protest, and increasing violence against African
Americans, the intimate connection among categories of race, color,
and civilization remained explicit during an emerging period Matthew
Pratt Guterl described as bi-racialist.6 Littered with coverage and commentary that brutally relayed how American racial inequities turned
on color, Italian Americans learned how blackness, or even proximity
to blackness, could impose overwhelming obstacles to full inclusion
as Americans. And, although the Italian language press entertained
a complex construction of race and color, over time the black/white
binary would emerge as the most elemental, primary schism informing
construction of an Italian American identity as white. By 1919, it had
become clear to newspapers such as Il Progresso Italo-Americano, at this
point the largest Italian daily in the country, that full incorporation into
the American republic was intimately tied to ones whiteness.7
A Lesson in Civility to the American People

The Italian language press aggressively maintained biologically determined constructions of race, civilization, and savagery. Given the negative reception accompanying southern Italian mass immigration to the
United States, mainstream newspapers in particular sought to uplift the
Italian race in the eyes of their countrymen and countrywomen and
the wider American public. In defense of Italys civilized heritage, the
Italian American press took exception to American portrayals of Italian
immigrants as coming from a less desirable racial stock. Cultural pride
was thus linked to a sense of community with greater Europe and permeated responses to indignities suffered in the United States.
In essence, the Italian language press did not quarrel with biologically determined racial hierarchy but rather challenged American
assertions that Italians did not occupy the upper rungs of the racial ladder.8 Rooted in the earliest stages of the migrant experience, the Italian press actively maintained Italian civility, coupled with the Italian
desire to demonstrate to Americans they belonged. This conversation
over Italian immigrant inclusion or exclusion was not a one-way discussion. Although white Americans often defined Italians as racially
inferior, swarthy, and incapable of successfully assimilating into American society, Italian immigrants sought to influence, and in many cases
reshape, their own Italian American identity. For the Italian language
mainstream press, a strong desire to promote the decent, reputable
aspects of Italian civilization served as a buffer to negative American
portrayals depicting Italians as criminal, dangerous, or radical. In many
ways, this defensive reaction to a harsh American perception fostered
within Italian immigrants a sense of a greater italianita than they ever
experienced in their homeland. Newspapers frequently carried articles
covering any instance when an American publicly praised immigrants
for their industriousness or decency. For instance, events within the
colony as mundane as an appearance by Dr. Melville Knox Bailey at
Saint Michaels Church on the West Side of Manhattan in January 1906
garnered front-page attention. According to Bailey, once Americans
find out Italian immigrants are cultured people it would become easier
for both to be friendly.9
By the early 1900s, Italian language mainstream newspapers often
perceived assimilation as a process in which both host and immigrant
must play vital roles if success was to be achieved. To that end, the press
proceeded along multiple but related paths to inform countrymen and
countrywomen, as well as Americans, that Italian immigrants could
successfully integrate into the Republic. Often, articles were littered
with self-congratulatory references to Italian immigrants or Italian civilization, accompanied by recommendations that Italians adapt to their
new home. Some newspapers such as La Luce in Utica, New York, published articles in English to fully impress upon any American readers
that their aim was sincere. One article recounted how many immigrants
had experienced success in their new home, whether building banks or
owning them. It also reminded Americans of Italys storied past with
respect to the arts, literature, and music, naming the ever-present Dante
and Puccini. According to La Luce, a lack of familiarity was the root of
the problem: A complete understanding between our newer citizens

and our older is most necessary and desirable. Vowing to make this the
papers mission, La Luce stated, When at last there shall no longer be
any distinction between Italians and Americans we shall feel that our
work has been well rewarded.10 This type of rhetoric cautioned immigrant readers that they must do their part as well and understand that
once they arrive in the United States they have to forget old habits and
passions and become accustomed to the life and customs of the new
century.11
The presss construction and perpetuation of Italian civility intensified at moments when Italians were victims of American violence, especially forms that carried such loaded racial baggage as lynching. Italian
Americans capitalized on these murders by using them as a rhetorical opportunity to expose American claims of southern Italian racial
inferiority. For example, protesting the 1891 New Orleans lynching,
immigrants waxed patriotically about the importance of remembering the benefits that Italians had brought to the civilized world. One
pointed out that it was America that benefited particularly from the
Italian donations of progress and civilization embodied in Christopher
Columbus.12 In a sense, Italian Americans wanted to reaffirm in their
own mind, as well as convince Americans of, their place in the civilized
world.
The Italian American press deemed Italian civilization a construct
that Americans should learn from rather than decry. Expressing the
hope that the community meetings held in New York City to protest
the 1891 lynching would be conducted in the spirit of equality and independence, the Cristofero Colombo declared, We need to behave according to the highest standards of Italian civility. . . . in doing so we will
give a lesson in civility to the American people.13 Chastising the United
States for not protecting Italian Americans within its cities, Il Progresso
proclaimed that despite lynching, Italy continues to protect the life of
Americans in its country. . . . this is a lesson in civility that the United
States should learn from Italy. . . . Old Latin civility is not dead but gives
a lesson to the world.14 Clearly, the idea that civilization was an inherent quality based upon race resonated in Italian American outrage
over the lynching.
From the 1880s onward, Italian language newspapers stridently criticized Americans for their treatment of Italian immigrants, especially in
instances of lynching, and America was sarcastically mocked within the
pages of Italian language newspapers for savagery only befitting central
Africans or Native Americans. The assumption that the United States
engaged in behavior unbecoming of a civilized nation informed the
moral outrage and shock over lynching. Premised on the assumption
that America was a leading, if not the leading, civilized nation in the
world, most Italians pondered how heinous offenses such as lynching
could be committed.15 How can they be the most civilized people in the
world if they lynch people? asked Il Progresso. Lynching only occurs
in uncivilized nations. . . . And if it is a civilized nation, she [America]
has a duty to educate the barbarians from the South.16 Angry and disappointed Italian Americans targeted American claims of bearing the
white mans burden and transporting civilization to unenlightened
nations as hypocritical. Further, pointing to the uncivilized behavior
rampant within American borders, the press noted the irony in American missionary excursions into China and central Africa.17 Echoing earlier Italian press sentiment, the Italian foreign minister railed that the
violent incidents perpetrated upon Italian subjects in the United States
were crimes not only against Italians but against the interests and
laws of civilization.18 In this context, a revealing discussion of slavery
emerged in articles from the Italian press reprinted in Italian American
newspapers. From Milan, the daily Il Secolo wrote that we are admirers
of the great institutions of the United States such as individual liberty,
but we condemn the savage actions that a great nation has been unable
to escape from. . . . We Italians on this side of the ocean are much less
aggressive and more civilized.19
Italian language papers would continue to maintain Italian civility
and assail, when necessary, American civility throughout the period
1910 through 1920. However, unlike in the early decades of mass immigration, they now forcefully presented a redefinition of America and
Italian Americans. They argued their case for full inclusion by claiming
their bona fides as not only a civilized race but a white one. In doing so,
their sympathy for African Americans would lessen considerably, along
with their willingness to equate their experience with that of blacks.
Not a Persona Grata among the American People

Proponents of immigration restriction had fought a consistent battle to
arrest the steady flow of southern European, central European, eastern
European, Chinese, and Japanese immigrants in the late nineteenth and
early twentieth centuries. According to Desmond King, The thrust of
immigration debates from the 1880s was for tighter restrictions based
on categorizing immigrants. By the 1920s, there was little doubt that
U.S. immigration policy was to be selective and exclusionary in terms
of racial categories.20 After successfully passing the Chinese Exclusion
Act of 1882, Congress and pro-restriction forces pushed for more comprehensive and sweeping laws. That same year, Congress passed the first
immigration law with the power to restrict any convict, lunatic, idiot,
or any person unable to take care of himself or herself without becoming a public charge.21
During the 1890s, pro-restriction advocates began pressing for more
encompassing legislation and targeted their push toward a literacy test
to limit the rapidly rising tide of immigrants entering the United States.
One of the leading advocates for restriction in the Senate, Henry Cabot
Lodge, first advocated for passage of a literacy test in 1892.
By 1911, the special congressional commission charged with investigating immigration, commonly known as the Dillingham Commission,
published a forty-one-volume report that specifically advocated for
the adoption of a literacy test. Although Congress passed literacy test
provisions in 1896, 1909, 1913, 1915, and 1917, they did not become law
as successive presidents vetoed the legislation. However, influenced by
wartime fears and hypernationalism in 1917, Congress pushed through
an immigration bill containing a literacy test provision over President
Woodrow Wilsons veto.22
Earlier in the century, some in the Italian language press, perhaps
trying to ingratiate themselves to the host country, responded to calls
for literacy tests with equanimity, if not support. Italian language newspapers in New York, such as LAvvenire, promoted the need for Congress
to address what they themselves described as new, problematic conditions and adopt a new immigration law. Other papers lauded Italian
initiatives to appropriate funds to confront the problem of illiteracy
in the Mezzogiorno, which was perceived as a more direct solution to
the problem.23 However, the sense that Italy was being singled out for
exclusion by repeated attempts to pass literacy tests eventually sparked
an outpouring of criticism within the mainstream press. Informed by
economic, political, and moral concerns, after 1911 the Italian language
press responded with a spirited racial defense of continued Italian
immigration. For example, La Luce published a call to arms to demand
that President William Taft veto the Burnett bill, claiming that it was
nothing but a modified version of the Dillingham report. Calling the
law a social injustice, La Luce questioned the motives of restrictionists and asked if Americans realized that singling out Italians and limiting their numbers would retard the industrial progress of the nation.24
The weekly newspaper Il Cittadino published The Literacy Test Again,
an article in English in the papers regular front-page section titled
To Our American Readers. In it, the paper echoed these sentiments
and added that this bill would damage Americas reputation as a real
land of opportunity and refuge for unfortunate men willing and able
to better their condition.25 This section of the paper often published
articles that countered restrictionist arguments, discussed the nature of
citizenship, or expounded on the advantageous qualities of Italians, and
throughout the years 1915 to 1917 it voiced displeasure not with the goals
but with the methods of Americanization.
In response to external forces impugning their suitability for inclusion, their fitness for citizenship, and in effect their racial qualifications,
the Italian language press often insisted that the burden be placed on
America for encouraging an environment where Italian immigrants
remained isolated, thereby fostering an impression of political apathy. Who has made or is making a serious effort, proportionate to the
magnitude of the problem, exhorted Il Cittadino, to tell the immigrant all the things about the history, laws, institutions and purposes
of this country, which very strangely, he is expected to know? The
newspaper pointed to an example from California as a fine lesson to
our American friends of what was necessary to complete the transformation from Italian to American. Rather than being met with hostility and prejudice, Italians, if only sympathetically treated and properly
understood, would no doubt make much better citizens and would
feel much more inclined to love this country and identify their interests
with hers.26 Indeed, the real problem with Americanizing the Italian
immigrant did not lie with the motivations and qualities of Italians.27
Rather, the general belief among the Italians, according to Il Cittadino,
was that he was not a persona grata among the American people.28
One of the critical principles at the foundation of opposition to
restriction laws was a powerful and proactive argument for the benefits
and advantages of the Italian race. Faced with the prospect of dwindling
numbers, Italian language newspapers crafted an argument that not
only maintained Italian contributions to America but smugly reminded
Americans of their own brief history. For example, on Columbus Day
in 1916, Il Cittadino used the occasion to defend Italian immigrants, sarcastically remarking that they find themselves among a people who do
not seem to even care to understand them . . . and who either do not
know, or do not credit the Italians with the grandeur of their history
and their ancestry: who either know not or forget that their being here
in America themselves is due to the genius of one of the Italian race.29
Italys membership in the Allied forces fighting against Germany during World War I served to advance and bolster Italian American claims
of civilization. Although American entry into the war in April 1917
would intensify the focus on hyphenated Americans and unleash wartime propaganda, the Italian press perceived the United States alliance
with Italy as an opportune moment to capitalize on American rhetoric
extolling the virtues of its wartime ally. Many in the Italian American
press remained hopeful that World War I would serve as a watershed
moment for crystallizing their identity as Italians and Americans.
In preparation for what would be the third anniversary of Italian
participation in the war against Germany, Charles Evans Hughes, the
president of the Italy America Society, sent a telegram to the governor
of every state and the mayors of Americas eighty most important cities notifying those officials that May 24 would be a day of appreciation
for all that Italy had done in the war. The telegram went on to suggest
that everyone bring a flower to the various festivities planned in each
state and write a letter of appreciation to a friend in Italy.30 According to
Italian language mainstream newspapers such as Il Progresso, the event,
which was under the patronage of President Wilson and expected to
assume the importance of a great national event, presented Italians
with a chance to make another first impression. Il Progresso advised its
readers that Italy-America Day would be a day of apotheosis for our
Italy and we must demonstrate to the American people in every way

that we are entirely worthy. It is our mission to participate in all of the
festivities and to offer all our enthusiasm and generosity.31
For Italian Americans, American recognition of Italys important role
on the world stage and its acceptance as a member of the civilized world
only reinforced, and in many ways vindicated, what Italian language
mainstream newspapers had declared since their inception. On May 25,
1918, Il Progresso Italo-Americano gushed enthusiastically about how all
of the metropolitan New York English language newspapers exalted the
valor of Italy and the positive role it played in the war.32 Shortly after
the United States entered the war, Il Cittadino referred to the splendid
articles on Italy published recently . . . containing public and official
acknowledgement of the importance of Italy among the great civilized
nations now at war. The paper continued with pride that an altogether
different opinion and a new sentiment are awakening in this country
toward our race.33 For some, the patriotic fervor unleashed by the war
would be a blessing in that it would accelerate Americanization, and
theoretically full inclusion, more expeditiously than peacetime government measures. According to Il Cittadino, because Italian Americans
would be fighting for their Country, for a permanent peace and human
civilization and for their most cherished ideals of a liberty loving and
independent people, American entry into the war would unleash a
supernatural power that would coin real Americans faster than any
other process.34
However, the reception that Italian immigrants often received from
white Americans remained contemptuous and, for some observers of
Italian immigrant history, had much to do not only with race but also
with the questionable character of their whiteness. As Matthew Frye
Jacobson has argued, from the founding of American society, the idea
of citizenship had become thoroughly entwined with the idea of whiteness.35 Establishing and gaining acceptance as a civilized race required
the Italian American press to construct and refashion Italian American
identity. However, the other side of this coin, and also intimately connected to this conception of civilized race, was the notion of full inclusion as whites. Informed by Italian immigrants own history and education in American racial dynamics, the press simultaneously asserted
their whiteness more forcefully than ever before during this period and
distanced the Italian American experience from that of African Americans in a variety of ways.
Discussing the racial problem of the hyphen in the United States,
Il Cittadino explored whether there existed a distinct American race.
The paper offered its own racial taxonomy, not unlike those put forth
by many during this period of scientific racism, claiming that of the
100 million people in the country, 85 percent belong to the Caucasian
race, which predominates in Europe, and fifteen percent belong to the
Mongolic, Indian, and above all African races.36 Included within their
definition of the Caucasian race was the subgrouping labeled Latins in
which they located Italians, both northern and southern. Indeed, the
paper considered any racial separation between northern and southern
Italians on the part of immigration authorities as having no racial value,
but simply serving geographic purposes. In maintaining the whiteness
of Italians, the paper sustained its conception of American as white
when it bluntly stated it is taken for granted that, when we speak of
the American nation as a racial unit, we mean to neglect entirely the
negro element. The American nation is a white nation and, as such, we
think of it and consider it.37 According to Desmond King, the perception of America as white and Protestant was apparent to observers in
the 1910s and 1920s when the Americanization as assimilation movement was at its zenith. . . . the crucial point is how the notion of AngloSaxon, effected in Americanization, defined some groups in and others
out of the dominant conception of U.S. national identity.38 The immigration debate offered an opportunity to redefine who was an American
and provided newspapers such as Il Cittadino and Il Progresso a critical
opportunity to stress to white Americans that Italians were integral to a
master narrative of white supremacy.
In 1916, Il Cittadino published an eight-part series in English titled
The Facts Concerning Immigration in the United States written by
the papers editor Alberto Pecorini. These articles appeared on the
front page in a section titled To Our American Readers. Presented
as polemics against pro-restriction arguments that cited the negative
impact of immigrants upon American cities, employment, and racial
character, the articles usually ran two to three full-length columns.
Each essay concluded with accusations of moral turpitude on the part
of those Americans who sought to bar hardworking Italians. In one
part, focused on the history of American immigration, the paper cleverly maintained a constant thread connecting the history of old and
new immigrants. Both, it argued, were valuable additions. It is the
immigrant again, who has given the United States its dominating place
in the world, and in this last case it has been the immigrant of that particular class which is called by many people undesirable.39
In an explicit article titled A Social Phenomenon of All Times,
the newspaper panned immigration restrictionists who feared southern Italians would dilute the American race and maintained that the
fundamental value of these immigrants went beyond their economic
and social contributions to American society. Refashioning restrictionist claims that questioned Italian immigrant fitness for American
citizenship, Il Cittadino not only asserted their suitability for inclusion
but maintained that their continued immigration should rest above
all upon their whiteness. Thus, the newspaper explicitly constructed
a bipolar landscape, pitting white Americans, including Italian immigrants, against African Americans:
There remains the unshakeable fact that European immigration has preserved and still preserves the United States of America as a field of development for the white race. . . . From the close of the civil war to the present time there have come into the United States about twenty five million
white immigrants from Europe; these, with their children, constitute today
two thirds of the white population of the country. The ratio of the negro to
the white race in this country is now only ten percent, a relatively unimportant proportion: without European immigration it would probably be
twenty five percent and the United States of America would run the very
serious danger of becoming a nation of mixed blood. . . . If in the future
the day should come when the United States shall be compelled to assert
again its character as a white nation, those who will bear the consequences
of the assertion and those who will possibly have to fight to make it, will
be numerically only to a very insignificant extent descendants of the first
British settlers of three centuries ago and in an overwhelming majority the
children of European immigrants of the last two or three generations.40
As Italian language newspapers defended immigrants from American racial assaults in the form of restrictions and Americanization
campaigns, they fashioned an identity that upheld Italian civilization

and, somewhat interchangeably, offered a more aggressive insistence
upon Italian whiteness. Working within the paradigm established by
restrictionist proponents, the Italian language press maintained that
far from precipitating race suicide in America, Italian immigrants and,
more important, their descendants would be instrumental in maintaining white American hegemony. The trend toward maximizing differences between Italian immigrants and African Americans, stressing
Italian credentials as civilized and white, and manufacturing an oppositional mentality based upon color would continue throughout the
decade in various forms.
One powerful example appeared in cartoon form throughout 1915
in the Saturday edition of the mainstream newspaper Il Giornale Italiano. Published in Italian, the cartoon The Strange Sounds of Gianduiotto portrayed three little boys, one of whom was black and named
Gianduiotto and two who were white and seemingly Italian. Reminiscent of the children who Il Cittadino warned would bear the responsibility of ensuring white supremacy in the United States, the cartoon
offered an illuminating snapshot of the perceived relationship between
Italians and blacks in 1915. It immediately differentiated and demeaned
the African American character from the Italian characters as the name
Gianduiotto alluded to a variety of chocolate from Turin, Italy. If Italian
readers were not aware of gianduiotto chocolate, other titles such as The
Sounds of Little Chocolate made the point more explicitly.41 In addition,
the illustration of Gianduiotto showed the boy as having an oversize
head, large lips, and protruding ears and neatly conformed to contemporary caricatures of African Americans appearing in white American
newspapers and magazines.
The plot of each episode was similar. Gianduiotto is targeted as the
victim of a prank perpetrated by two Italian boys who consistently
resort to violence to conduct their schemes. For example, in one episode the Italian boys hide in a tree and heave bricks and empty cans
onto Gianduiottos head.42 Another episode has the Italians asking
Gianduiotto to play the piano for them only to tie him to the chair and
beat him with clubs.43 Despite the other boys cruelty, it is Gianduiotto
who inadvertently ends up on top and purely through good fortune is
offered money or employment by white folks.44 However, although the
Unexpected Fortunes of Gianduiotto, Il Giornale Italiano, March 21, 1915. Seeing

Gianduiotto ringing a bell to attract customers to an auction sale, the Italian boys have
their own sale in mind.
Italian boys are angered by Gianduiottos ability to capitalize on their

cruelty, they are not willing to perform the degrading jobs offered to
Gianduiotto. This reflected an uneasy economic reality for Italians.45 In
their push for full inclusion, Italians were inclined to disassociate themselves from black work, although for economic reasons many were still
employed in positions they increasingly viewed as stigmatized.
Two episodes in particular vividly reflect Italians continued status
anxiety, as well as their evolving perception that full inclusion required
a forceful distancing from African Americans. In one example, the Italian boys use a seesaw to catapult Gianduiotto over a brick wall. Upon
landing on the other side, Gianduiotto is greeted by a well-dressed, bonnet-wearing, blond white girl who exclaims, Look at the beautiful little
Negro. She tells Gianduiotto, If you play with me I will share my toys
with you. The final scene shows Gianduiotto walking out the girls front
door with toys under his arm as the Italian boys look on in great surprise. Who gave you those? ask the Italians. Gianduiotto confidently
replies: Go away! I play with the nobility now, not with the lower class
The Adventures of Gianduiotto, Il Giornale Italiano, March 7, 1915. Gianduiotto asks the
Italian boys to play, but instead they play a trick on him and catapult him over the fence.
like you!46 For Italian readers, Gianduiottos ability to leapfrog them

on the ladders of social and class status must have been disconcerting
yet, at the same time, instructive. Vividly stoking still prevalent fears
about their own place in American society, the adventures of Gianduiotto provided Italian immigrants with a clear picture of their primary
antagonist: African Americans.
Perhaps the most instructive episode has the young African American outside an auction house standing on top of a soapbox ringing a
bell. Noticing that the auctioneer has stepped away, the two Italian
boys approach with mischief on their minds. In a graphic depiction
of a slave auction, one Italian boy jumps onto an adjacent box and
begins auctioning Gianduiotto by shouting, How much will you offer
me for this piece of black ivoryone dollar? Who says two dollars?
Three dollars? Sold! Jolted by the sudden turn of events, Gianduiotto
exclaims, Hey, Im not for sale! and then is viciously knocked off the
box by one of the Italian boys. However, once again, the Italian boys
stay at the top is brief and ultimately unsatisfying as it is Gianduiotto
who is hired by a white onlooker to perform as Fatima, the dancing

Egyptian.47
Symbolically, the ascension of the Italian boys to the role of white
slave master surely impacted readers familiar with earlier Italian language mainstream newspaper interpretations that willfully positioned
Italian victimization and struggle within an African American context.
The cartoons plots demonstrated how Italian racial ascension could
occur, yet they concurrently reflected an uneasy, often competitive,
scramble for pecuniary success and social mobility marked by Italian
violence against blacks. And, although suggestions that African American success resulted solely from good luck created the impression
that hard work and industriousness were virtues belonging only to the
immigrant masses, they also served as a warning that hard work alone
might not be the surest path to full inclusion.
The Humiliation of Being Treated Like Negroes

To create an identity as American and white, it was necessary not only
to establish that Italians were a civilized race but also to emphasize
what they were not. Becoming American was intimately connected to,
and often interchangeable with, whiteness. The Italian American assertions of whiteness required a distancing from African Americans with
an ardor and urgency clearly lacking in the first two or three decades of
mass immigration. The Italian language press increasingly employed this
strategy in its quest to secure its groups status as acceptably white. This
reflected Jennifer Hochschilds contention that much of the history of
the 20th century suggests that some immigrants defined success as demonstrating that they are not like blacks.48 Although the Italian language
mainstream press had always acknowledged a strong correlation between
dark skin and inferior status, during the period 1910 through 1920 these
same newspapers reacted much more aggressively to any depiction of
Italians as nonwhite. Reflective of Reverend Cassins outrage in 1909,
newspapers such as Il Cittadino similarly conceded that the most degrading comparison for Italians in the United States was the humiliation of
being treated like Negroes.49 By 1919, Il Cittadinos resistance to even
the slightest representation that might damage Italians image reflected
how immutable the boundary between black and white had become.
For example, the paper attacked certain childrens textbooks for describing Italians as having dark skin and dark eyes. It accused the authors
not only of peddling malignant lies poisoning young minds but also of
engaging in a conspiracy against a great people.50
As Orlando Patterson has maintained, historically,
those who were visibly or vaguely white eagerly sought membership
within the Caucasian chalk circle and were usually welcomed as long as
they could prove no trace of African blood. . . . indeed, whiteness,
or rather non-blackness, became a powerful unifying force. . . . swarthy Sicilians and Arabs now found themselves one with blond Northern
Europeans, Irish Catholics with English Protestants, formerly persecuted Jews with Gentilesall were united in the great white republic
of America by virtue simply of not being tainted by one drop of the
despised Afro-American blood.51
Commentary condemning the violence that arose from white American racism, which had been common before the World War I period,
became much more infrequent and more muted by 1920. Il Progressos
coverage of the 1915 lynching of Giuseppe Speranza, a Sicilian immigrant residing in Johnston City, Illinois, serves as a useful example of
the change in tone and substance of press coverage. The paper explicitly stated Italians were a different color from blacks, even though it
repeated its mantra that white American racism had brutally affected
African Americans. Il Progressos criticism extended to Italian Americans for not forcefully speaking out to prevent Italians from falling victim to the same barbarous treatment. Il Progresso rooted the murder
in its own communitys failure to prevent crimes of this sort. To the
extent that they faced similar brutalities, such as lynching, the newspaper acknowledged that the two worlds of Italian American and African
American were interrelated. But it also acknowledged how unpopular
this link had become by its compulsion to stress differences in color.
We have always condemned lynching, the paper asserted, even when
the victims were a different color from us and were erroneously thought
to be inferior from the same population of Americans.52
By 1918, one could read a pseudodefense of lynching in the Italian language press that paralleled anything published in southern
newspapers of the period. Il Cittadino rationalized that great evils

often demand great remedies. The paper mildly criticized the lynching
of blacks but then offered that in some cases the [black] crimes were so
shocking and so frequent that the white population in determined self
defense disregarded legal proceedings . . . by instituting the Vigilante
citizens bodies that administered justice in a summary way. The lynching mob of today and the Vigilantes of yesterday are and were a product
of communities of energetic citizens.53 Il Progresso, the most prominent
daily newspaper, continued to report incidents of African American
lynching but rarely accompanied these reports with judgmental commentary such as in 1900 when the paper rebuked white mob violence
and white supremacy.54
In a noticeable shift throughout the decade, Italian American newspapers such as Il Progresso did not offer scathing critiques of white
American violence against African Americans even when murderous
riots starkly revealed racial fault lines across American society. Southern African Americans had been migrating to areas like East St. Louis,
Illinois, since 1910, searching for employment in industrial plants and
stockyards. As the black population grew, white residents began to
resent their presence, especially in the workplace. By 1916, tensions
boiled over as whites resentment of blacks turned on their use as strikebreakers, and political parties exploited and fanned racial antagonism
for their own gain. From May through July 1917, riots erupted in East
St. Louis, culminating in a murderous frenzy in July when thirty-nine
African Americans and nine whites lost their lives. During 1919, racial
violence would engulf the nation, as race riots broke out in twenty-five
towns and cities all over the country that summer and fall. The bloodiest riot occurred in Chicago, where twenty-three African Americans
and fifteen whites were killed in a murderous rampage.55
Despite continued coverage dedicated to race riots involving blacks
and whites, mainstream Italian language newspapers now refused
to include commentary probing and criticizing white American discrimination. Instead of viewing the race riots as examples of white
American oppression, the mainstream press appeared quite content to
let events speak for themselves. In the process, it offered a much different narrative than it had constructed in the 1880s, 1890s, and early
1900s. Three major race riots that occurred in 1917 and 1919 illustrate
how newspapers such as Il Progresso sustained a discussion of Italian

civilization rather than white racism and offered rationales for white
violence that diverged from the critiques of white supremacy of earlier
decades. Its coverage of these major race riots closely mirrored the prevailing white American perception that blacks stood outside the mainstream of American society.
After the riot in East St. Louis in 1917, Il Progressos headline read,
Disorders of Race in the West.56 The attack on the Negro quarters by a crowd of 2000 people filled with race hatred apparently
occurred when it was rumored that a white woman and two other
women who were of pure Caucasian race were violated. However,
the backdrop of the crowds fury was a rally of the Central Trades and
Labor Union, meeting at city hall to protest the continued importation of black workers into East St. Louis. Although the newspapers
accounts of the East St. Louis riots targeted odio di razza (race hatred)
as the cause of the violence, the only blame assigned was to employment competition between migrant southern blacks and East St.
Louis whites.57 The newspaper appeared unwilling to engage in the
type of rhetoric it had utilized earlier in its history. Although not
openly advocating the violence that erupted in East St. Louis, it did
not accuse white Americans of color-based racism, even though at the
union meeting white workers shouted, East St. Louis must remain a
white mans town.58
By 1919, in the aftermath of World War I, as strike waves beset the
nation and race riots intensified in frequency and ferocity, mainstream
newspapers such as Il Progresso continued to interpret events within
the Italian American context it had embraced throughout the decade.
Although the two major race riots in the summer of 1919 in Washington, DC, and Chicago received daily coverage in Il Progresso, the newspaper steered clear of the kind of moralistic condemnation of white
supremacy of earlier decades.59 For instance, during the Washington,
DC, race riots of July 1919, the newspaper acknowledged with dismay
the racial tensions that underlay an outbreak of violence that killed
thirty persons, forcefully accusing the American press of ignoring and
thereby tacitly condoning racial tensions.60 Although briefly condemning the race prejudice that lay at the root of the riot, Il Progresso curiously, and opportunistically, criticized America not for its treatment
of African Americans but for continued discrimination against Italian

Americans:
For us Americanized foreigners a story of this nature offers us a moment
to reflect, as well as a precious opportunity to present our civilizations
contribution to this countrys development, which represents one of the
greatest political and social experiments in the history of the world. . . . It
is symptomatic that these painful events have taken place in that peaceful city in which the heart of the American nation beats and which gives
visitors the impression of being a city sacred to the greatest hopes not
only of America but of the entire world. This is the impression that we
had last September when we went to implore the Government to strike a
blow against the racial prejudice that victimized our compatriots in the
army.61
Mainstream newspapers such as Il Progresso modified traditional

interpretations of race conflict involving African Americans. They no
longer expressed critical empathy but myopically focused on how matters of race and color could affect their groups status. Reflecting this
trend, it is not surprising that the newspaper perceived a major race
riot between whites and blacks as an opportune moment to trumpet the
cause of Italian civility, scold Americans for racism directed at Italian
Americans, and subtly remind white Americans that their adversaries
resided not in the Italian immigrant community but in growing black
enclaves.
Discussing the 1919 Chicago riot, Il Progresso declared that many
Italians had participated in the struggle against the negroes. In an
article carrying the headline Two Italians Had Been Killed, the paper
sadly identified the deceased as our countrymen Mario Lozzerano and
Aroldo Brignardello. There was no longer a question of where Italian
Americans positioned themselves in this battle of black and white. Italian American newspapers had always reported on violence between
Italians and many other groups, but for readers of Il Progresso the
Chicago race riot of 1919 offered a graphic example of how identities
become redefined. Maintaining their racial identity as Italians, Lozzerano and Brignardello were engaged in attacks against blacks in a twosided struggle reminiscent of Il Cittadinos warning of an impending
battle to save the white race. Il Progresso described the riot as a disorder of race hatred between blacks and whites, and in the evolving simplicity of Italian American racial construction, the two slain men were
firmly planted on the dominant side in the struggle of white against
black.
Part of the Solution

Throughout the immigration experience, the Italian American press, in
particular the national press, maintained a strong connection between
race and color as the foundation for unequal social, political, and economic power relations in the United States. Although its discussion of
race and color proceeded beyond a simple white and black dichotomy,
this binary schematic proved to be the most elemental and rigid marker.
During the formative years of mass immigration, newspapers such as
Il Progresso imbued their reporting of racially motivated murder, discrimination, and injustice toward African Americans with a moralistic ardor that consistently chided the white race for its sins. At the
same time, Americans frequently called into question the racial purity
of southern Italians, and with those queries came intermittent doubts
about their unqualified whiteness as well.
The Italian language press in New York proved to be a critical factor
in the process of Italian immigrant assimilation and the construction of
an identity as Italian, American, and white. In its adaptation to American racial dynamics, the Italian language press frequently expressed
empathy and understanding toward the plight of African Americans.
From acknowledging the strength of institutional racism that would
force Wiley Overton to resign from the Brooklyn police force to recognizing the pernicious evils of segregation, the Italian language press,
and by extension its readers, became educated in the perils of nonwhiteness. Over subsequent decades, the press would begin to distance the
Italian immigrant experience from the African American experience
and aggressively assert Italian American whiteness. Influenced by calls
for immigration restriction and World War I, mainstream newspapers
recognized that Americanness was intimately connected to, and often
dependent on, whiteness. For Italian language newspapers, this reality
meant reminding white Americans that Italian immigrants belonged
not only by appealing to the virtues of the Italian race but also by proving Italians whiteness. Reminiscent of Toni Morrisons observation that
European immigrants became American by buying into the notion
of American blacks as the real aliens, Italian Americans argued that
it would be their children who would help sustain an enduring form
of American whiteness.62 Noting that the differences separating Americans and Italians paled in comparison to those separating white Americans and African Americans, Italian Americans increasingly situated
themselves as part of the racial solution rather than the problem.
Epilogue
Following in the footsteps of prominenti such as Carlo Barsotti, Generoso Pope purchased Il Progresso Italo-Americano in 1928 for a little
more than $2 million. He proceeded to amass an impressive media
empire of newspapers and radio stations, including purchasing New
York Citys Bolletino della Sera and WHOM, using these instruments
to exhort Italians to learn English, naturalize, and register to vote.1
Although Popes stature increased within the community and city, over
the next few decades the importance of the Italian language press lessened. With immigration restriction preventing a new influx of Italians,
along with a maturing second and third generation, the vital role played
by Italian language newspapers grew more unnecessary for predominantly English-speaking Italian American communities.
Although the Italian American embrace of whiteness had been well
under way, the interwar period expedited the process.2 In the 1920s and
1930s, Benito Mussolinis Fascist regime in Italy, his colonial expansionism, and the impact of Fascism on the Italian American community
emboldened Italian American assertions of whiteness.3 Community
leaders, Italian Americans generally, and major Italian American dailies trumpeted the glory of Fascism and Mussolini, spurred on by the
widespread admiration that Mussolini won among Americans. Fascism
solidified the process of community formation among Italian Americans that had begun earlier, giving Italian Americans symbols of pride
and self-confidence that they had previously lacked. Similar to mainstream newspapers during the period 1910 through 1920, Mussolini and
Fascism reinforced Italian notions of civilization and provided Italian
Americans a sense of pride in their race.
>>129
130<<Epilogue
Nationalist rhetoric was highly charged with racial overtones that

justified the Italian invasion of Ethiopia in 19351936 as an attempt to
civilize that country, as well as to avenge the Italian defeat at Adowa
in 1896. The Italian invasion, generally considered the high point of
Italian popular consensus behind Mussolini, sparked protests within
black communities in the United States. In response, Italian Americans defended their national image and communities against what they
now perceived as African militancy in the United States.4 Much of this
occurred in northern cities such as New York, where large numbers
of Italian Americans and African Americans lived in close proximity.
Informed by a militant nationalism based on imperialism and race,
Mussolinis invasion of Ethiopia imbued Italians in America with a
sense of racial and ethnic uplift on the backs of people of color.
The United States entry into World War II in 1941 remains one of
the seminal moments in Italian American history. Just as previous wars
had done for other marginalized groups, World War II offered secondgeneration Italian Americans a chance to prove their undivided loyalty.
Faced with this opportunity, they volunteered and served in the U.S.
armed forces in great numbersperhaps as many as 200,000 from
New York alone.5 Italian Americans exposure to people of various ethnicities, as well as being stationed in different states or countries, began
to loosen ties to their communities. In effect, the war greatly accelerated the assimilation of all ethnic groups, especially Italians.6 However,
with America now at war with Italy, and with the federal governments
designation of 600,000 Italian resident aliens as enemy aliens, the
stigma of being un-American still had not fully disappeared. Now, subject to restrictions and regulations, Italian enemy aliens had to register
and obtain identification booklets complete with fingerprints and photographs. Government posters urging Italian Americans not to speak
the enemys languagespeak American, as well as signs in the windows of ethnic businesses promising no Italian spoken for duration of
war, underscored the level of mistrust and fear of Italian Americans.
One outcome of this trend was a 40 percent decrease in broadcasting
in immigrant languages between 1942 and 1948. Although President
Franklin D. Roosevelt removed Italians from the list of enemy aliens
in October 1942, Italian Americans did suffer some damage to their
morale and integrity. The fact that government documents in 1942
Epilogue >>131
described the complexion of Italian resident aliens as dark and swarthy suggests the degree to which Italian American whiteness remained
fluid. However, with wartime participation and the eventual shedding
of enemy alien status, Italian American status slowly improved.7
The interaction between Italian Americans and African Americans
after World War II came within the context of a changing America.
Emerging from the Great Depression and World War II, and buoyed
by government programs such as the GI Bill, many Italian Americans
acquired college degrees and, along with millions of other, predominantly white, Americans, flocked to suburban housing developments.
For those who stayed in the old neighborhoods, federal and state housing programs designed to offer low-income populations better housing
increased the number of African American residents and served as a
convenient scapegoat for what appeared to them as declining neighborhoods. By the 1960s, white ethnic hostility toward civil rights militancy,
a deteriorating war in Vietnam, government antipoverty measures and
programs such as school busing, and a stagnating economy informed
what has become known as the white ethnic backlash.
In New York City, Mario Procaccino, the Democratic candidate for
mayor in 1969, provided a case study through which to further understand this shift toward pan-ethnic whiteness and victimization. As African Americans and liberal opponents deemed Procaccinos rhetoric
racist and reactionary, the Italian-born Procaccino appeared perplexed
and frustrated over these attacks. On the campaign trail in Harlem,
Procaccino replied to a critic, I know what discrimination means. . . .
Ive suffered as much as any of you.8 Despite suffering hardship as an
Italian immigrant, Procaccino, like many other Italian Americans by this
period, remained unwilling to recognize or admit the benefits received
through whiteness.9 Ignoring their own reliance on governmental assistance during the New Deal and after World War II, many working-class
Italian Americans viewed Great Society programs as unnecessary and
unfair handouts to African Americans funded by white working-class
tax dollars. Instead, Italian Americans created an ethnic myth whereby
European immigrant achievement resulted solely from hard work. Saturated in racially informed stereotypes, African Americans emerged
as the polar opposite to this immigrant success story. Certainly, Italian Americans did not hold a monopoly on hostility toward African
132<<Epilogue
Americans during this period. Policies such as busing and quotas served
as further evidence to white ethnics, in general, that their histories
remained free of the sort of government handouts so maligned and connected in their minds with blackness. In many ways, by the 1960s and
1970s, Italian Americans had fully distanced themselves from a past of
racial inbetweeness.
On June 22, 1982, only thirteen years after Mario Procaccino ran for
mayor of New York City, a mob of Italian American teenagers murdered Willie Turks, an African American transit worker, in Gravesend,
Brooklyn. At the sentencing of the four convicted murderers, Judge
Sybil Hart Kooper stated in disgust, There was a lynch mob on Avenue
X that night. The only thing missing was a rope and a tree. The Turks
murder would be the first of three high-profile murders involving Italian American youths and African Americans in the 1980s. The killing
of Michael Griffith in Howard Beach, Queens, in 1986 and the killing
of Yusef Hawkins in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, three years later exposed
to the nation what appeared to be a long-simmering fear of, and aversion to, African Americans. Following Hawkinss killing on August 23,
1989, protesters filled the streets of Bensonhurst, seeking justice for a
heinous racial crime. Hawkins had been shot by a mob of Italian American boys protecting their turf from a perceived invader. As African
Americans marched through the streets of the mostly Italian American
neighborhood, they were greeted in some instances by racial taunts and
displays of watermelons. Although not all Italian Americans condoned
or engaged in this type of bigotry, in the minds of many New Yorkers, these acts came to define the current relationship between Italian
Americans and African Americans.10
Sadly, another incident in Howard Beach in 2005 provoked similar
thoughts and uncomfortably raised many of the same issues grappled
with almost twenty years earlier. On June 29, a group of white men
attacked three African American men in what appeared to be a terrible hate crime. The brutal altercation left Glenn Moore in serious
condition with injuries to his head, back, and legs, sustained primarily
from an aluminum baseball bat wielded by nineteen-year-old Nicholas Minucci, known in the neighborhood as Fat Nick. According to
the New York Times, Minucci told investigators that after the beating,
his companion yelled at the victims, This is what you get if you want
Epilogue >>133
to rob white boys. Anthony Minucci, Nick Minuccis uncle, defended

his nephew by emphatically stating, Hes not a racist. Were not racists.
Hes definitely not racist. Convicted of first-degree robbery as a hate
crime, Nicholas Minucci was sentenced on July 17, 2006, to fifteen years
in jail. After his sentencing Minucci stated to the court that his actions
had been deemed a hate crime only because of where they occurred:
Howard Beach. His lawyer, Albert Gaudelli, went one step further, telling reporters outside the courtroom that the term Howard Beach has
become synonymous with racism.11
Racial incidents pitting white Italian Americans against African
Americans marred the city and relegated the relationship between Italian Americans and blacks as one of outright hostility and distance.
Despite its relevance in the 1980s, the process of distancing from African Americans (people of color) was not a recent phenomenon but had
emerged some seventy years earlier. Although the Italian immigrant
past is replete with an understanding of what it meant to be black in
American society, it would be this understanding, as well as their own
darker past, that would point subsequent generations toward the once
unattainable goal of whiteness. The roots of the tragic racial events in
Howard Beach and Bensonhurst lie deep within the broader scope of
Italian American historya history earmarked by an uneven, complicated journey from immigrant to American in a highly racialized
society.
Notes
Notes to the Introduction
1. Commercial Herald, March 30, 1886.

2. Ibid.
3. Unidentified newspaper, Archivio storico del Ministero degli Affari Esteri,
Rome (hereafter ASMAE), Ambasciata di Washington, busta 59, fascicolo 18,
Linciaggio di un italiano accusato di stupro, 18861887. See also Consular
Agent Piazza to Italian Consul in New York, ASMAE, Ambasciata di Washington, busta 59, fascicolo 18, Linciaggio di un italiano accusato di stupro,
18861887; Vicksburg Evening Post, March 26, 1886.
4. See Italian Ambassador, Washington, DC, to Minister of Foreign Affairs, Rome,
ASMAE, Ambasciata di Washington, busta 59, fascicolo 18, Linciaggio di un
italiano accusato di stupro (Allegato: due numeri del Progresso italo-americano), 18861887.
5. Letter from Adelino Tirelli to Italian Consul, ASMAE, Ambasciata di Washington, busta 59, fascicolo 18, Linciaggio di un italiano accusato di stupro
(Allegato: due numeri del Progresso italo-americano), 18861887.
6. See Ancora del linciaggio dellitaliano a Vicksburg, Miss., Il Progresso ItaloAmericano, in ASMAE, Ambasciata di Washington, busta 59, fascicolo 18, Linciaggio di un italiano accusato di stupro (Allegato: due numeri del Progresso
italo-americano), 18861887.
7. New York Times, November 28, 1892.
8. Matthew Pratt Guterl, The Color of Race in America, 19001940 (Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press, 2001), 6.
9. For example, see Thomas A. Guglielmo, White on Arrival: Italians, Race, Color,
and Power in Chicago, 18901945 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003), 11.
10. Quoted in David W. Stowe, Uncolored People: The Rise of Whiteness Studies, Lingua Franca 6, no. 6 (1996): 70. The literature on whiteness is extensive
and growing. For some benchmark works, see David R. Roediger, The Wages of
Whiteness: Race and the Making of the American Working Class (London: Verso,
1999); Roediger, Towards an Abolition of Whiteness: Essays on Race, Politics, and
>>135
136<<Notes to the Introduction
Working Class History (London: Verso, 1994); Alexander Saxton, The Rise and
Fall of the White Republic: Class Politics and Mass Culture in Nineteenth Century
America (London: Verso, 1990); Theodore W. Allen, The Invention of the White
Race, vol. 1, Racial Oppression and Social Control (London: Verso, 1994); Eric
Lott, Love and Theft: Blackface Minstrelsy and the American Working Class (London: Oxford University Press, 1993); Noel Ignatiev, How the Irish Became White
(New York: Routledge, 1995); Ruth Frankenberg, White Women, Race Matters:
The Social Construction of Whiteness (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota
Press, 1993); Michael Rogin, Blackface, White Noise: Jewish Immigrants in the Hollywood Melting Pot (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996); Vron Ware,
Beyond the Pale: White Women, Racism and History (London: Verso, 1992); Ian
F. Haney Lpez, White by Law: The Legal Construction of Race (New York: NYU
Press, 1996); Karen Brodkin, How Jews Became White Folks and What That Says
about Race in America (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1994).
11. See, for example, Eric L. Goldstein, The Price of Whiteness: Jews, Race, and
American Identity (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2006); Jennifer
Guglielmo and Salvatore Salerno, eds., Are Italians White? How Race Is Made
in America (New York: Routledge, 2003); Matthew Frye Jacobson, Whiteness
of a Different Color: European Immigrants and the Alchemy of Race (Cambridge,
MA: Harvard University Press, 1998); Robert Orsi, The Religious Boundaries of an Inbetween People: Street Feste and the Problem of the Dark-Skinned
Other in Italian Harlem, 19201990, American Quarterly 44 (1992): 313347;
David R. Roediger, Working toward Whiteness: How Americas Immigrants Became
White: The Strange Journey from Ellis Island to the Suburbs (New York: Basic
Books, 2005); David R. Roediger and James Barrett, Inbetween Peoples: Race,
Nationality and the New Immigrant Working Class, Journal of American Ethnic History 16 (1997): 2829; Rudolph Vecoli, Are Italian Americans Just White
Folks?, Italian Americana 13 (1995): 149161.
12. See Brodkin, How Jews Became White Folks, 60; John Higham, Strangers in the
Land: Patterns of American Nativism, 1860-1925 (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers
University Press, 1955); Roediger, Working toward Whiteness, 1213.
13. Haney Lpez, White by Law, 27.
14. Orsi, Religious Boundaries of an Inbetween People, 318.
15. Roediger and Barrett, Inbetween Peoples, 29.
16. Jacobson, Whiteness of a Different Color, 67.
17. Guglielmo, White on Arrival, 8.
18. Ibid., 7
19. New York Sun, August 4, 1899; New York Times, November 28, 1892.
20. Roediger has argued that to uphold the category of inbetweeness one must
accept the messiness of the racial order in which immigrants found themselves, and placed themselves. See Roediger, Working toward Whiteness, 1213,
37.
21. Guterl, Color of Race in America, 13.
Notes to the Introduction >>137

22. With respect to Jewish immigrants, Eric Goldstein states: By casting light
on the constant, albeit unsuccessful effort to fit Jewishness into a black/white
framework, the book reveals white Americans anxious attempts to obscure the
fissures that divided them internally, underscoring just how tenuous the notion
of a stable, monolithic whiteness has been in American life. Goldstein, Price of
Whiteness, 23. Matthew Jacobson argues that the notion of a monolithic whiteness did not exist during this period as the category of Caucasian fractured
along multiple degrees of racial fitness. In his work The White Scourge, historian
Neil Foley asserts that in the first two decades of the twentieth century, whiteness also came increasingly to mean a particular kind of white person. Not all
whites, in other words, were equally white. See Jacobson, Whiteness of Different
Color; Neil Foley, The White Scourge: Mexicans, Blacks, and Poor Whites in Texas
Cotton Culture (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997), 5.
23. See Giorgio Bertellini, Duce/Divo: Masculinity, Racial Identity, and Politics
among Italian Americans in 1920s New York City, Journal of Urban History 31
(2005): 691.
24. Gail Bederman, Manliness and Civilization: A Cultural History of Race and Gender in the United States, 18801917 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995).
25. Quoted from Sally Miller, ed., The Ethnic Press in the United States: A Historical
Analysis and Handbook (New York: Greenwood Press, 1987), xii. See also Todd
Vogel, ed., The Black Press: New Literary and Historical Essays (New Brunswick,
NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2001), 23. Surprisingly, scholars of the Italian immigrant experience have historically understated the importance of
the Italian language mainstream press. This is in stark contrast to scholars of
other immigrant groups such as the Poles and the Greeks, who have demonstrated that in reading and responding to their press, the immigrants and
their descendants learned to actand thinklike Americans. Andrew Kopan
perceived the role of the Greek press in this way: Despite its role as a carrier of
ethnicity, the Greek ethnic press has also been a means of assimilation. Andrew
T. Kopan, The Greek Press, in Miller, Ethnic Press in the United States, 174; see
also A. J. Kuzniewski, The Polish American Press, in Miller, Ethnic Press in the
United States, 286.
26. Miller, Ethnic Press in the United States, xvi.
27. The editor explained she could not locate an available specialist in the field to
undertake the assignment. See ibid., xiii.
28. Between 1899 and 1909, a total of 1,517,768 southern Italians emigrated with an
illiteracy rate of 54.2 percent, and 311,243 northern Italians emigrated with a rate
of 11.8 percent. The illiteracy rate for all Italian immigrants arriving during this
period was 47 percent. See table 15 in U.S. Immigration Commission Reports,
vol. 4, Emigration Conditions in Europe, 41.
29. Italian language circulation figures from Nathan H. Seidman, The Foreign
Language Market in America: A Study of the Racial and National Groups in the
United States, Their Geographical Distribution, Occupations, Their Social and
138<<Notes to Chapter 1
Economic Standing, the Publications They Support, with Rates, Circulation and
Other Authentic Data for the Guidance of Advertising Agencies, and Advertisers
(New York: American Association of Foreign Language Newspapers, 1923), sec.
D, 3132; population figures from U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of
the Census, Fourteenth Census of the United States, 1920: State Compendium: New
York (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1924), table 12, p. 54; and
Seidman, Foreign Language Market in America, sec. D, 27; Jewish press circulation numbers from N. W. Ayer & Sons, American Newspaper Annual and Directory: A Catalogue of American Newspapers (Philadelphia: Newspaper Advertising
Agents, 1920), 652689; also see Robert Park, The Immigrant Press and Its Control
(New York: Harper and Brothers, 1922), 91.
30. May M. Sweet, The Italian Immigrant and His Reading (Chicago: American
Library Association: 1925), 17.
31. See Eliot Lord, John J. D. Trenor, and Samuel J. Barrows, The Italian in America
(New York: B. F. Buck, 1905), 245246.
32. George La Piana, What Do the Italians in America Read (1917), George La
Piana Papers, Harvard Theological Library, Manuscripts, 15.
33. See Vogel, The Black Press, 23.
Notes to Chapter 1
1. New York Times, April 3, 1927. An apocryphal story about Il Progressos origin
suggested that Barsottis decision to enter the publishing business ostensibly
revolved around Pietro Baldo, an Italian immigrant convicted of murder in
1879. Aggrieved by what he perceived as a tepid defense of his convicted countryman by LEco dItalia (the Echo of Italy), the only Italian language newspaper
serving a relatively small community of Italian immigrants in New York City,
Barsotti wrote a letter of protest to the paper. When the newspaper ignored the
letter, an insulted Barsotti decided to start Il Progresso, justified by his conviction that LEco dItalia was not defending and protecting the honor and integrity
of Italians living in the United States.
2. George Pozzetta, The Italians of New York City, 18901914 (PhD diss., University of North Carolina, 1971), 242243.
3. Klaus Bruhn Jensen and Nicholas W. Jankowski, eds., A Handbook of Qualitative
Methodologies for Mass Communications Research (New York: Routledge, 1991),
18; see Vogel, The Black Press, 23.
4. In the past two decades, significant shifts have taken place in the interpretations
of southern Italy. Scholarship has begun to move away from interpretations
that attempt to explain the peculiarities and idiosyncrasies of southern Italy
through a comparison with northern Italy. This approach, known as meridionalismo, evolved shortly after Italian unification as intellectuals strove to explain the
reasons behind the Souths apparent underdevelopment in relation to the North.
These interpretations were extremely influential in the subsequent historiography
on what became known as the southern problem. For example, the contrast
Notes to Chapter 1 >>139

between the northern and southern economies was explored through the notion
of dualismthe idea that two completely separate economies existed side by
side within the same country. During the 1980s, however, new scholarship began
to challenge the basic premises of meridionalismo, asserting instead that constantly interpreting the South through an implicit comparison with the North
distorted the realities of the Mezzogiorno. The older scholarship, revisionists
argued, positioned the South as a static, backward society completely separated
from any of the positive features of Italian history. In Latifundium: Moral Economy
and Material Life in a European Periphery (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1996), Marta Petrucewicz challenges this notion by focusing on the
economic, social, and moral functioning of a Calabrian latifondo. It ahistorically
implied that the South was a homogeneous region made up of various provinces
that possessed similar characteristics. In essence, the revisionists warn of the dangers of trying to analyze the South within the old historiographical framework
of a southern problem set forth by their predecessors. See Jonathan Morris,
Challenging Meridionalismo: Constructing a New History for Southern Italy, in
Robert Lumley and Jonathan Morris, eds., The New History of the Italian South:
The Mezzogiorno Revisited (London: University of Exeter Press, 1997), 119.
5. Gabriella Gribaudi, Images of the South: The Mezzogiorno as Seen by Insiders
and Outsiders, in Lumley and Morris, New History of the Italian South, 87.
6. Quoted in John Dickie, Stereotypes of the Italian South, 18601900, in Lumley
and Morris, New History of the Italian South, 122. See also John Dickie, Darkest
Italy: The Nation and Stereotypes of the Mezzogiorno, 18601900 (New York: St.
Martins Press, 1999); Vito Teti, ed., La razza maladetta: Origini del pregiudizio
antimeriodionali (Rome: Manifestolibri, 1993); Claudia Petraccone, Le due civilt:
Settentrionali e meridionali nella storia dItalia dal 1860 al 1914 (Storia e societa)
(Rome: Laterza, 2000).
7. The connections between late nineteenth-century constructions of masculinity, gender, and civilization are explored in Gail Bederman, Manliness and
Civilization.
8. See Gribaudi, Images of the South, 95; Dickie, Stereotypes of the Italian
South, 114121; see also Mary Gibson, Biology or Environment? Race and
Southern Deviancy in the Writings of Italian Criminologists, 18801920, in
Jane Schneider, ed., Italys Southern Question: Orientalism in One Country (New
York: Oxford University Press, 1998).
9. U.S. Immigration Commission Reports, vol. 5, Dictionary of Races or People, 82.
10. Thomas Kessner, The Golden Door: Italian and Jewish Immigrant Mobility in New
York City, 18801915 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1977), 7.
11. Annual report, U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1973.
12. U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Thirteenth Census of the
United States, 1910: Population (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office,
1913), table 13, p. 217.
13. U.S. Congress, House, Report of the Industrial Commission, vol. 15, Immigration,
57th Cong., 1st sess., 1901, H.R. 184, 465. See also Pozzetta, Italians of New York
City, 7176.
14. According to John Mariano, by 1918, the Italian colonies in New York City
numbered 310,000 in Manhattan; 115,000 in the Bronx; 20,000 in Richmond
(Staten Island); 235,000 in Brooklyn; and 55,000 in Queens. See John Mariano,
The Italian Contribution to American Democracy (Boston: Christopher Publishing House, 1921), 1922.
15. See Pozzetta, Italians of New York City, 97101; Mariano, Italian Contribution
to American Democracy, 1922.
16. Mariano, Italian Contribution to American Democracy, 19; Pozzetta, Italians of
New York City, 103.
17. Robert Orsi, The Madonna of 115th Street: Faith and Community in Italian Harlem, 18801950 (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1985), 16.
18. Mariano, Italian Contribution to American Democracy, 33.
19. Regarding skilled workers, between 1899 and 1910, 77 percent of southern Italians were employed in the category Laborers, including Farmers; for northern
Italians this figure was 66.5 percent. The category Skilled Occupations showed
the numbers to be 14.6 percent and 20.4 percent, respectively. See Mariano, Italian Contribution to American Democracy, 32; also see Pozzetta, Italians of New
York City, 9394; Kessner, Golden Door.
21. Ibid.; quoted in Edwin Fenton, Immigrants and Unions: A Case Study: Italians
and American Labor, 18701920 (New York: Arno Press, 1975), 53.
22. Fenton, Immigrants and Unions, 5354.
23. Pozzetta, Italians of New York City, 247.
25. Philadelphia was a distant second with seven Italian language newspapers
in 1920. See N. W. Ayer & Sons, American Newspaper Annual and Directory:
A Catalogue of American Newspapers (Philadelphia: Newspaper Advertising
Agents, 1920).
26. This is in contrast to ninety-five Yiddish newspapers published and circulated
during the same thirty-six-year period. See table XVI in Robert E. Park, The
Immigrant Press and Its Control (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1922), 313.
27. By 1920, Il Progresso published an edition for Philadelphia, and according to
Humbert Nelli, during and after World War I, Il Progresso became as influential in Chicago as the local hometown Italian newspaper, LItalia. See Humbert
Nelli, The Role of the Colonial Press in the Italian American Community of
Chicago, 18861921 (PhD diss., University of Chicago, 1965), 48. See also N. W.
Ayer & Sons, American Newspaper Annual and Directory, 1920, 680.
28. Rudolph Vecoli, The Italian Immigrant Press and the Construction of Social
Reality, 18501920, in James P. Danky and Wayne A. Wiegand, eds., Print Culture in a Diverse America (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1998), 20.

30. Pozzetta, Italians of New York City, 236237; Vecoli, Italian Immigrant Press,
20.
31. See, for example, Il Progresso Italo-Americano, August 11, 1891.
33. Alfredo Bosi, Cinquantanni di vita in America (New York: Bagnasco Press, 1921),
404.
34. Ibid.; N. W. Ayer & Sons, American Newspaper Annual and Directory, 1920, 680.
35. New York Times, July 6, 1945; Bosi, Cinquantanni di vita in America, 408.
36. Bosi, Cinquantanni di vita in America, 408.
37. Pozzetta, Italians of New York City, 240; Fenton, Immigrants and Unions, 599.
38. For example, LAraldo Italiano had a circulation of 11,200 in 1902; 12,500 in 1905
(compared with 6,500 for Il Progresso Italo-Americano); 12,500 in 1906; 15,132 in
1917; and 12,454 in 1920. See N. W. Ayer & Sons, American Newspaper Annual
and Directory, 1902, 1905, 1906, 1917, 1920.
39. Bosi, Cinquantanni di vita in America, 408; N. W. Ayer & Sons, American Newspaper Annual and Directory, 1920.
40. Pozzetta, Italians of New York City, 211212; United States, Hearings before the
Committee on Immigration and Naturalization, House of Representatives, 62nd
Cong., 2nd sess. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1912), 102; New
York Times, November 13, 1936.
43. N. W. Ayer & Sons, American Newspaper Annual and Directory, 1911, 629.
44. Fenton, Immigrants and Unions, 186, 599.
45. Seidman, Foreign Language Market in America, sec. D, 32.
46. N. W. Ayer & Sons, American Newspaper Annual and Directory, 1917, 652.
47. For some examples, see Il Cittadino, January 14, 1915; April 15, 1915; February 10,
1916; June 8, 1916; July 6, 1916; July 20, 1916; May 31, 1917.
48. California Immigration and Housing Bulletin, Commission of Immigration and
Housing of California, San Francisco, CA, 1920, p. 13.
50. The most recent monographs on Italian American radicalism include Marcella
Bencivenni, Italian Immigrant Radical Culture: The Idealism of the Sovversivi in
the United States, 18901940 (New York: NYU Press, 2011), especially chap. 3, A
Literary Class War: The Italian American Radical Press; Philip V. Cannistraro
and Gerald Meyer, eds., The Lost World of Italian American Radicalism (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2003); Donna R. Gabaccia and Fraser M. Ottanelli, eds., Italian Workers of the World: Labor Migration and the Formation of Multiethnic States
(Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2001); Donna R. Gabaccia and Franca
Iacovetta, eds., Women, Gender, and Transnational Lives (Toronto: University
of Toronto Press, 2002); and Michael M. Topp, Those without a Country: The
Political History of Italian American Syndicalists (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2001).
51. Socialist organs such as Il Proletario consistently carried labor news from around
the country. For some representative examples, see Il Proletario, September 9,
1899; March 31, 1900; April 20, 1901; April 19, 1902; August 23, 1902; December 31,
1902; October 9, 1904; September 2, 1906; November 28, 1914; see also Il Progresso
Italo-Americano, February 6, 1909; August 4, 1909; August 7, 1919.
52. On Italians and the Catholic Church in New York City, see Pozzetta, Italians
of New York City, 267304, esp. 289295; Orsi, The Madonna of 115th Street. For
some representative examples from the radical press, see Patriottismo barbaro,
Il Proletario, April 8, 1916; La Madonna del Carmine e LAraldo Italiano, Il
Proletario, July 21, 1900; Medio Evo in Secolo XX, La Questione Sociale, July 25,
1903; Cose di Paterson: La Madonna del Carmine, La Questione Sociale, July
27, 1907.
53. Vecoli, Italian Immigrant Press, 2528. Vecoli quoted a Department of Justice
report from 1920 that listed 220 foreign language radical newspapers in the
United States: 27 were in Italian, second only to Hebrew and Yiddish, which
together totaled 35.
54. Park, Immigrant Press and Its Control, 360.
55. Bruno Cartosio, Italian Workers and Their Press in the United States, 1900
1920, in Christiane Harzig and Dirk Hoerder, eds., The Press of Labor Migrants
in Europe and North America, 1880s1930s (Bremen: Publications of the Labor
Newspaper Preservation Project, University of Bremen, 1985), 426427.
56. Ibid., 433.
57. Elisabetta Vezzosi, Class, Ethnicity, and Acculturation in Il Proletario: The
World War One Years, in Harzig and Hoerder, Press of Labor Migrants in Europe
and North America, 453; Cartosio, Italian Workers and Their Press in the
United States, 434.
58. Vecoli, Italian Immigrant Press, 25.
59. Vezzosi, Class, Ethnicity, and Acculturation in Il Proletario, 435436.
60. Rudolph J. Vecoli, Free Country: The American Republic Viewed by the Italian Left, 18801920, in Marianne Debouzy, ed., In the Shadow of the Statue of
Liberty: Immigrants, Workers, and Citizens in the American Republic, 18801920
(Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1992), 2730; Fenton, Immigrants and
Unions, 194195.
61. Vecoli, Italian Immigrant Press, 18.
62. Il Progresso Italo-Americano, April 3, 1887; April 10, 1887.
63. See Pozzetta, Italians of New York City, 241, Vecoli, Italian Immigrant Press,
2021; George La Piana, What Do the Italians in America Read (1917), George
La Piana Papers, Harvard Theological Library, Manuscripts, 8.
64. For some representative examples, see Il Progresso Italo-Americano, August 9,
1886; February 18, 1887; October 8, 1893; August 11, 1896; August 14, 1901; July

27, 1905; June 29, 1909; August 19, 1910; January 23, 1915; May 24, 1915; May 10,
1918; LAraldo Italiano, July 25, 1901.
65. The two examples cited here refer to the subscription drive for the Garibaldi
statue and the earthquake that struck Italy in 1887. Il Progresso Italo-Americano,
March 5, 1887; April 16, 1887.
68. See Claudia L. Bushman, America Discovers Columbus: How an Italian Explorer
Became an American Hero (Hanover, NH: University Press of New England,
1992); Gerald McKevitt, Christopher Columbus as a Civic Saint, California
History 71 (1992/93): 516534; George E. Pozzetta and Gary R. Mormino, The
Politics of Christopher Columbus and World War II, Altreitalie, no. 17 (1998):
615.
69. Michele H. Bogart, The Politics of Urban Beauty: New York and Its Art Commission (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006), 108117; see also Pozzetta
and Mormino, Politics of Christopher Columbus, 69.
70. See Il Progresso Italo-Americano, December 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 17, 1890. See also
Pozzetta, Italians of New York City, 183184, in which he discusses Il Progressos subscription drive on behalf of Italians accused of murdering Chief
Hennessey.
71. Il Progresso Italo-Americano, November 4, 1906.
72. Ibid. Although Covello began teaching Italian at De Witt Clinton High School
in 1920the first class of its kind in that schoolit was not until May 1922
that the New York City Board of Education began offering Regents credits
that placed Italian on an equal footing with other languages. Covello, who
was appointed principal of Benjamin Franklin High School in East Harlem in
1934, argued strenuously that the children of immigrants needed knowledge
of their native language to give them a sense of identity in American society.
See Leonard Covello with Guido DAgostino, The Heart Is the Teacher (New
York: McGraw-Hill, 1958), 129137; and Francesco Cordasco, ed., The Social
Background of the Italo-American Schoolchild: A Study of the Southern Italian
Family Mores and Their Effect on the School Situation in Italy and America (New
York: Brill, 1967). For a broader perspective on immigrants and New York City
schools, see Stephen F. Brumberg, Going to America, Going to School: The
Immigrant Public School Encounter in Turn-of-the-Century New York City,
American Jewish Archives 36 (1984): 86135.
73. See Pozzetta, Italians of New York City, 242; Vecoli, Italian Immigrant Press,
2225; Fenton, Immigrants and Unions, 65.
74. Pozzetta, Italians of New York City, 235; Fenton, Immigrants and Unions, 5859.
76. La Piana, What Do the Italians in America Read, 1314.
77. New York Times, September 3, 1911. In 1914, Pecorinis broadsides expedited his
arrest for libel and brought a legal suit for $2,000 against Il Cittadinos publisher,
Civic Publishing Company. The aggrieved party was Giuseppe Musso, the president of the Intercontinental Telephone and Telegraph Company, who accused
Pecorini of using the pages of Il Cittadino to attack well-to-do and successful
Italians in the city. Pecorini claimed that Mussos company had defrauded some
of its investors. The New York Times, however, repeatedly praised Mr. Pecorini
and his newspaper for its actions on behalf of the Italian immigrant community.
Defending him from sharp critiques from rival newspapers LAraldo Italiano and
Il Giornale Italiano, the paper stressed that Pecorinis character for frankness,
uprightness, and fair dealing, and his honest efforts in behalf of his fellowcountrymen are well known. New York Times, September 7, 1911. The Times also
published multiple letters to the editor from Pecorini. See Italian Black Hand:
Why Did the Police Records of 700 Ex-Convicts Disappear?, New York Times,
August 21, 1913; and False Picture of Italy, New York Times, October 16, 1913.
79. Vogel, The Black Press, 23.
80. Park, Immigrant Press and Its Control, 294295.
81. Quoted from ibid., 79, 84, 87.
Notes to Chapter 2
1. Il Progresso Italo-Americano, March 16, 1891. After the lynching of three Italians
in Hahnville, Louisiana, in 1893, a letter written to Il Progresso from a man in
New York City echoed almost verbatim the sentiments of Marcheses letter.
Again, the word tenebroso was used to describe the African continent. Ibid., July
30, 1893.
2. Cristofero Colombo, March 18, 1891. An article in Cristofero Colombo expressed
outrage and surprise that such an atrocity would happen in a civilized nation
such as America. . . . if it had occurred in Africa this type of savagery would be
more understandable. Ibid., March 20, 1891.
3. LAraldo Italiano, August 11, 1896.
4. Cristofero Colombo, March 15, 1891.
5. See John Dickie, Darkest Italy: The Nation and Stereotypes of the Mezzogiorno,
18601900 (New York: St. Martins Press, 1999), 123.
6. Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflection on the Origin and Spread
of Nationalism (New York: Verso, 1984); see also Dickie, Darkest Italy, 18.
7. LEco dItalia, March 5, 1896; LAraldo Italiano, March 10, 1896; Il Progresso ItaloAmericano, March 16, 1891.
8. Il Proletario, March 16, 1899.
9. Il Grido degli Oppressi, July 14, 1892. Labeling Columbus the symbol of ferocity for his period, Il Grido degli Oppressi continued its criticism of European
colonialism, stating that the infantile passion of the savages for these bright,
shiny objects, such as mirrors, became for the civilized man a desire for gold
and power. In critiquing the relationship between colonizer and indigenous
peoples, Il Grido still worked within racial hierarchies juxtaposing civilization

and savagery. Ironically, its outrage at European colonial ventures is littered
with acknowledgments that civilized people should know and act in a more
humane mannernot necessarily that native people should not be treated this
way at all. See Il Grido degli Oppressi, June 30, 1892.
10. Il Proletario, December 15, 1900.
11. The implicit understanding of civilized versus uncivilized was ubiquitous in a
host of articles dealing with a variety of topics. Discussing the Russo-Japanese
War, Carlo Tresca held France up as the pioneering republic of civility. Il Proletario, April 16, 1905.
12. Filippo Manetta, La razza negra nel suo stato selvaggio in Africa e nella sua duplice
condizione di emancipata e di schiava in America (Turin: Tipografia Del Commercio, 1864), 44.
13. Giuseppe Giacosa, Impressioni dAmerica (Milan: Tipografia Editrice L. F.
Cogliati, 1898), 153.
14. Il Progresso Italo-Americano, July 29, 1899.
15. Ibid., March 16, 1891.
16. Ibid., August 5, 1899.
17. La Questione Sociale, October 27, 1906.
18. In addition to outright comparisons associating savage Africans with southern
Italians, for example, there was also a tendency to use Africans metaphorically
to illuminate a point. For instance, in an article criticizing the prominentiowned Italian language press in New York, Il Proletario maintained that these
newspapers were vehicles for exploitation and prostitution and exclaimed in
disgust that prominenti newspapers were full of such grotesque nonsense that
not even a Zulu would accept it. Il Proletario, October 28, 1916.
19. La Questione Sociale, November 26, 1904. After the fatal shooting of Giovanni
Bazzani, a young Italian boy who mistakenly trespassed onto a farm in Clinton,
Indiana, La Questione Sociale used this unpardonable crime to outline the
evils of private property in the United States. In its outrage, La Questione Sociale
complained, Is this how American farmers defend their property? These
crimes are so atrocious that they would horrify and disgust even savage beasts
from central Africa.
20. See Il Proletario, June 2, 1911. Common references to Africa as savage were
present in Il Proletario. In one article students on horseback from Harvard were
criticized for creating a slight melee after an altercation occurred between a
prostitute and the police. Il Proletario stated that the students resembled the
conquistadors of savage Africa. Il Proletario, March 1, 1912.
21. Ibid., July 19, 1902.
22. Ibid., July 21, 1900. Mainstream newspapers used similar images of barefoot
natives to convey the primitiveness of Africans. See Eco dItalia, March 26, 1896;
LAraldo Italiano, March 20, 1896.
23. Il Proletario, July 21, 1900.
24. See La Questione Sociale, July 25, 1903; also see similar comments regarding the
medieval aspects of the Feast of La Madonna del Carmine from Paterson, New
Jerseya vibrant anarchist Italian colony. La Questione Sociale, July 27, 1907.
25. Ibid., September 30, 1905.
26. Il Proletario, July 21, 1900.
27. Ibid., September 4, 1915. In 1915, Il Proletario used the same comparison to
condemn Americans for their violent behavior toward African Americans.
This attack was in defense of property ownership and the victims were Black,
however, the civil people of society will say it was perpetrated without racism,
without prejudice and was inspired by the highest sense of humanitarianism.
If this is civility I would prefer to associate myself with the Hottentots of the
Congo.
28. For a more thorough discussion of the European quest for colonies in Africa
in the late nineteenth century, see Thomas Pakenham, The Scramble for Africa:
White Mans Conquest of the Dark Continent from 1876 to 1912 (New York: Avon
Books, 1991).
29. Martin Clark, Modern Italy, 18711982 (New York: Longman, 1984), 47.
30. Christopher Seton-Watson, Italy from Liberalism to Fascism, 18701925 (London:
Methuen, 1967), 118.
31. For a fuller discussion of Italian colonialism in Africa in the late nineteenth
century, see Clark, Modern Italy, 4648, 99101; Seton-Watson, Italy from Liberalism to Fascism, 98182.
32. Umberto Levra, Il colpo di stato della borghesia: La crisi politica di fine secolo in
Italia, 18961900 (Milan: Feltrinelli, 1975), 713.
33. Pamphlet, Storia della Vittoria Italiana in Africa e disfatta di Ras Mangascia
(Florence: Tipografia Adriano Salani, Viale Militare, 1910). The illustration
depicted an African man dressed in a tunic, with braided hair held in place by
metal rods, and protruding teeth.
34. According to Stefano Luconi, Stimulating a sense of nationalistic identity out
of a military defeat . . . was rather difficult. However, despite the shame of losing to Meneliks indigenous forces, the emergence of a nascent national identity
cannot be underestimated, or dismissed, predicated solely on the eventual negative outcome (from the Italian perspective). Indeed, the prevalence of rhetoric
seeking to avenge the loss at Adua during the Libyan campaign was proof of the
effects that campaign had on identity formation in Italian immigrant communities. See Stefano Luconi, The Impact of Italys Twentieth-Century Wars on
Italian Americans Ethnic Identity, Nationalism and Ethnic Politics 13 (2007):
465491.
35. Leaflet, Connazionali, January 21, 1896, ASMAE, Ambasciata di Washington,
busta 107, fascicolo 14, Mobilitazione di italiani negli S.U. per la campagna
dAfrica, 1896.
36. Francesco Marrocco to Consul General, New York, April 17, 1896, Carlo
Ginocchio to Italian Ambassador in Washington, DC, April 2, 1896, ASMAE,

Ambasciata di Washington, busta 107, fascicolo 14, Mobilitazione di italiani
negli S.U. per la campagna dAfrica, 1896.
37. Consul General of New York, April 17, 1896, G. B. Rosasco to Italian Ambassador in Washington, DC, ASMAE, Ambasciata di Washington, busta 107,
fascicolo 14, Mobilitazione di italiani negli S.U. per la campagna dAfrica, 1896.
38. C. Pierorazio, Chicago, IL, to Italian Ambassador, Washington, DC, ASMAE,
Ambasciata di Washington, busta 107, fascicolo 14, Mobilitazione di italiani
negli S.U. per la campagna dAfrica, 1896.
39. Italian Consul, Denver, CO, to Italian Ambassador, Washington, DC, February
14, 1896, ASMAE, Ambasciata di Washington, busta 107, fascicolo 14, Mobilitazione di italiani negli S.U. per la campagna dAfrica, 1896.
40. Archangelo Pagani, Director of Agency for the Employment of Both Sexes in
New York City, to Italian Ambassador, Washington, DC, ASMAE, Ambasciata
di Washington, busta 107, fascicolo 14, Mobilitazione di italiani negli S.U. per la
campagna dAfrica, 1896.
41. Professor V. A. Scaletta, Montreal, Canada, to Italian Ambassador, Washington,
DC, ASMAE, Ambasciata di Washington, busta 107, fascicolo 14, Mobilitazione
di italiani negli S.U. per la campagna dAfrica, 1896.
42. LAraldo Italiano, March 11, 1896; Il Progresso Italo-Americano, March 19, 1896;
March 22, 1896.
43. LEco dItalia, March 5, 1896.
44. Il Progresso Italo-Americano, June 17, 1891.
45. LEco dItalia, March 26, 1896; LAraldo Italiano, March 20, 1896.
46. LEco dItalia, April 9, 1896.
47. Ibid., April 30, 1896.
48. In many articles the Italian word tenebrosa was attached to descriptions of
Africa. Similar to the mainstream Italian language press, particularly Il Progresso
Italo-Americano, the word, meaning dark or murky, was often used as an
adjective to describe the primitive African continent. See Il Proletario, March
24, 1917.
49. Il Proletario, January 5, 1912. For an excellent discussion of Italian American
radicals and the Italian invasion of Libya, see chap. 2, A Transnational Syndicalist Identity, in Michael Miller Topp, Those without Country: The Political
Culture of Italian American Syndicalists (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota
Press, 2001), especially 6281.
50. With a population of only 1,776 in 1910, Africo gained prominence as the site
for the story of Saint Leo, popularly known as Beato Leone, a revered figure
who had lived during the fifth century. Upon Leones death, a struggle ensued
between the people of Africo and Bova, where Leone had been born, over
where Leones body would ultimately rest. The townspeople of Bova eventually
succeeded in keeping the body but offered one of Leones fingers to the people
of Africo. Thereafter, the residents of Africo observed every May 12 as a solemn
feast day when the sick and indigent would pilgrimage to the river LaVerde,
where it was believed Beato Leone bathed, and pass under the box that contained Saint Leos finger. See Antonio Melis and Rosario Nardi, eds., Dizionario
geografico dei comuni e delle frazioni dei comuni (Rome: Societ TipograficoEditrice Romana, 1910), 3; see also Luigi Fossati, ed., Dizionario grafico-itinerario
(Milan: Bietti Editori, 1902); Giulio Palange, La Regina dai Tre Seni: Guida alla
Calabria magica e leggendaria (Soveria Manelli, Catanzaro: Rubbettino, 1994), 9.
51. Il Proletario, April 19, 1912.
52. Ibid.
53. Ibid.
54. Ibid. Michael Topp examined the relationship between the leaders of the Italian
Socialist Federation and the wider Italian immigrant community and revealed
that Il Proletario, the ISFs main organ, frequently carried disparaging remarks
about southern Italians, using the article on Africo as one example. According
to the author, The fact that articles portraying Southern Italians as backward
and even barbaric appeared in Il Proletario, whether they were representative
of views of most ISF members or not, made it clear that the syndicalists in the
ISF were themselves somewhat alienated, if not from the land where they were
born, then from the people they were seeking to organize. It appears, however,
that the racial constructs of radical Italian leadersboth northern and southern
Italianreflected these views more widely than previously thought. See Topp,
Those without Country, 6974.
55. Il Proletario, January 5, 1912.
56. Bolletino della Sera, September 28, 1911; September 30, 1911.
57. LAraldo Italiano, September 29, 1911. LAraldo retold the apocryphal conversation
between an Arab and an Italian in Tripoli: Its already known, as one Arab said
to an Italian, we are like a family without a father.
58. Il Progresso Italo-Americano, October 15, 1911.
59. Bolletino della Sera, October 6, 1911.
60. Il Progresso Italo-Americano, October 15, 1911; October 8, 1911; Bolletino della
Sera, October 7, 1911. LAraldo Italiano stated, The European colony of Libya is
like a loose flap of the mother country on the black continent. LAraldo Italiano,
October 9, 1911.
64. See examples in Il Progresso Italo-Americano, October, 2, 1911; October 17, 1911;
LAraldo Italiano, October 1, 1911.
65. Il Progresso Italo-Americano, October 2, 1911
66. See ibid., October 2, 1911; October 7, 1911; October 11, 1911. Both LAraldo Italiano
and Bolletino della Sera prominently noted, as if to suggest the imprimatur of
legitimacy, that the New York Evening Journal was part of William Randolph
Hearsts publishing empire. See Bolletino della Sera, October 6, 1911; LAraldo
Italiano, October 6, 1911; quotation is from LAraldo Italiano, October 1, 1911.

68. LAraldo Italiano, October 1, 1911.
69. Il Telegrafo, March 14, 1912.
70. Il Progresso Italo-Americano, December 17, 1911.
71. LAraldo Italiano, November 22, 1911.
72. Il Progresso Italo-Americano, September 30, 1911.
73. LAraldo Italiano, September 30, 1911; also see LAraldo Italiano, September 29,
1911; Il Telegrafo, October 18, 1911; October 23, 1911.
74. LAraldo Italiano, November 22, 1911; Il Progresso Italo-Americano, September 30,
1911.
76. LAraldo Italiano, November 22, 1911.
Notes to Chapter 3

2. See Alan Trachtenberg, Shades of Hiawatha: Staging Indians, Making Americans,
18801930 (New York: Hill and Wang, 2004), xxiii.
3. In 1906, Il Progresso reported on a band of 700 Indians in Utah and Wyoming
who had depleted the supply of wild animals and had turned their attention to
more domesticated animals, such as cattle. This had created concern among
local cattle raisers, who feared the killing of their livestock. Symbolically, this
story contextualized the position that Native Americans were seen to occupy.
Perceived to belong in the wild hunting for wild animals, it was only when
pelle rosse crossed the boundary into the white, European sphere of civilization
that they caused concern. The boundaries of civilization and savagery were
clearly delineated. Il Progresso Italo-Americano, August 10, 1906.
4. Radical newspapers such as Il Proletario often worked within a similar framework whereby Native peoples served a useful and familiar role in establishing
barbarism and savagery. This was the case in socialist diatribes against capitalism and colonialism, as well as against those who profited from these systems of
exploitation, such as Italian immigrant prominenti. Il Proletario, January 5, 1912.
5. Il Progresso Italo-Americano, April 10, 1891.
6. Ibid., March 18, 1891.
8. Il Progresso Italo-Americano, August 3, 1891. Aside from Il Progresso ItaloAmericano, other New York Italian American newspapers such as LEco dItalia
also appropriated pelle rosse to signify savage. Given the facile way in which
it was used, it appears that these sentiments were widespread within the Italian
American community. For more examples of the comparison of lynch mob
participants to redskins, see, Eco dItalia, March 17, 1891; Il Progresso ItaloAmericano, March 16, 1891; July 16, 1901.
9. Il Progresso Italo-Americano, August 2, 1910.
10. Ibid., February 26, 1891.

11. Ibid., June 7, 1891.
12. See Paul Reddin, Wild West Shows (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1999),
6085; quotation on 76.
13. Marcello Venturoli, La Patria di marmo: Tutta la storia del Vittoriano, il monumento piu discusso delleta umbertina, tra arte, spettacoli, invenzioni, scandali e
duelli (Rome: Newton Compton editori, 1995), 130133.
14. See ibid., 131.
15. See Il Progresso Italo-Americano, February 22, 1890; February 26, 1890; March 5,
1890; March 8, 1890; March 10, 1890; March 11, 1890; April 5, 1890; LEco dItalia,
April 19, 1890.
16. See Venturoli, La Patria di marmo, 131.
17. See, for example, Il Progresso Italo-Americano, March 5, 1890.
18. Il Proletario, December 31, 1909.
19. See Il Progresso Italo-Americano, January 14, 1891; January 24, 1891.
20. Cristoforo Colombo, January 7, 1891.
21. Il Progresso Italo-Americano, January 1, 1891.
22. Ibid., January 14, 1891.
23. Ibid.
24. Ibid., December 30, 1906.
25. Ibid., November 1, 1906.
26. Ibid., June 7, 1891.
27. Alberto Pecorini, Gli Americani nella vita moderna osservati da un italiano
(Milan: Fratelli Treves, 1909), 296297.
28. Il Progresso Italo-Americano, January 24, 1891.
29. Ibid., November 14, 1914.
30. There is little doubt that the Italian language press worked within a familiar language of race and color when discussing the Japanese and Chinese. Very similar
to its usage of pelle rosse to differentiate Native Americans, the press clearly
marked Chinese and Japanese peoples as nonwhite within the pages of its newspapers. Phrases such as the yellow Japanese, and also the Chinese were often
simply conflated as la razza gialla, or the yellow race, in both the mainstream
and the radical press. For example, see La Luce, May 28, 1904; Il Progresso ItaloAmericano, July 9, 1905; February 16, 1909; June 22, 1909; Il Proletario, December 13, 1913; February 21, 1914. Articles discussing prostitution and the forced
importation of women under the banner of the yellow and white slave trade
provide additional, illuminating examples of the importance of color as a defining difference among races. Headlines referring to la tratta delle schiave gialle,
or the yellow slave trade, and yellow slaves in California did not differentiate between Chinese and Japanese, who were interchangeably grouped into the
same racial category according to skin color. Conversely, headlines describing
white girls sold into sexual slavery referred to la tratta delle bianche, or the
white slave trade. Often, the term white simply became interchangeable with

American, as articles containing the headline White Slave Trade would
describe fifty American girls held in China. For yellow slave trade, see Il Progresso Italo-Americano, October 20, 1905; August 2, 1907. For white slave trade,
see Il Progresso Italo-Americano, October 24, 1905. See Il Piu Grande Paese, Il
Proletario, February 21, 1914; Il Congresso dell A.F. of L: I SocialistiLa razza
gialla, Il Proletario, December 6, 1913; Gli Schiavi Bianchi diretti alle Hawaii si
Ribellano, Il Proletario, February 2, 1901.
32. Ibid.
34. La Luce, March 12, 1904.
35. LAraldo Italiano, July 9, 1905.
37. Il Proletario, November 8, 1911.
38. Ibid., June 4, 1905.
39. Ibid.
40. Ibid.
41. See Donna Gabaccia, The Yellow Peril and the Chinese of Europe: Global
Perspectives on Race and Labor, 18151930, in Jan Lucassen and Leo Lucassen,
eds., Migration, Migration History, History: Old Paradigms and New Perspectives
(Berne: Peter Lang, 1997), 195196; for the Detroit quote, see David R. Roediger, Working toward Whiteness: How Americas Immigrants Became White: The
Strange Journey from Ellis Island to the Suburbs (New York: Basic Books, 2005),
46; Marco DEramo, The Pig and the Skyscraper: Chicago: A History of Our Future,
trans. Graeme Thomson (London: Verso, 2002), 158159.
42. Roger Daniels, Guarding the Golden Door: American Immigration Policy and
Immigrants since 1882 (New York: Hill and Wang, 2004), 19.
43. During the decade of the 1850s, a total of 41,397 Chinese immigrants arrived,
the majority of whom settled in California. In the 1870s, this number would
increase to 123,201. Leonard Dinnerstein and David M. Reimers, Ethnic Americans: A History of Immigration and Assimilation (New York: Dodd, Mead, 1975),
162163.
44. Michael Lemay and Elliott Robert Barkan, eds., U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Laws and Issues: A Documentary History (Westport, CT: Greenwood
Press, 1999), xxxiixxxiii.
45. See U.S. Census Bureau, Population Division, Historical Census Statistics on
the Foreign-Born Population of the United States: 18501990, table 4, Region or
Country or Area of Birth of the Foreign-Born Population (Washington, DC:
U.S. Government Printing Office, 1990).
46. Il Proletario, November 23, 1901.
47. Ibid., April 12, 1902.
48. Ibid.
49. Ibid., May 17, 1913; May 31, 1913.
50. Ibid., May 17, 1913.

51. Ibid.
52. Ibid.
53. Ibid., May 31, 1913.
54. New York Times, June 19, 1909.
55. Ibid.
56. Much like the English language press in New York City, the Italian language
press noticed the curious world of the quartiere cinese (Chinese quarter) well
before the Sigel murder and had published stories pertaining to other delitti
e misteri (crimes and mysteries) occurring in that part of the city. See frontpage article, with photographs, titled La delinquenza nel quartiere cinese
(The delinquency of the Chinese quarter), in LAraldo Italiano, August 27, 1905.
Regarding New York Citys English language press, see Mary Ting Yi Lui, The
Chinatown Trunk Mystery: Murder, Miscegenation, and Other Dangerous Encounters in Turn-of-the-Century New York City (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University
Press, 2005), 2. Given the circumstances surrounding the murder of a respectable white woman by a Chinese man, however, newspapers such as Il Progresso
Italo-Americano and Il Telegrafo offered coverage with front-page headlines
and photographs that would continue for months after the initial story broke.
In doing so, the Italian language mainstream press reinforced existing stereotypes that viewed Chinatown as a racialized space associated with crime and
Chinese men, and therefore off limits to any white women deemed respectable.
See Il Telegrafo, June 22, 1909; June 23, 1905; June 24, 1905; June 25, 1905; July 3,
1909; July 6, 1909; July 9, 1909. On the Sigel murder, see Lui, Chinatown Trunk
Mystery.
57. According to Il Progresso, the first of these marriages had occurred in Brooklyn
two decades earlier in 1889 and caused a public sensation. By 1903, however,
Chinese men marrying white, mostly working-class, women had become a
more frequent occurrence. See Il Progresso Italo-Americano, June 22, 1909.
Given the absence of antimiscegenation laws in New York, it is unsurprising, as
Mary Lui demonstrates, that interracial marriages had become more common
in New York City than in other parts of the country bound by legal barriers to
marriage. Due to the relatively small number of Chinese women in the United
States, within the Chinese immigrant community intermarriage became vital to
establishing families. According to Lui, in 1900, 60 percent of all marriages in
New York Citys Chinatown were between Chinese men and white women. See
Lui, Chinatown Trunk Mystery, 1011, 143174.
59. Ibid., May 17, 1913.
60. Ibid., April 5, 1908.
61. Ibid., February 16, 1909.
62. Ibid.
63. Ibid.

64. Bolletino della Sera ran almost daily coverage of the debate over the Anti-Alien
Land Bill. See, for example, April 2024, 1913; April 26, 1913; April 2930, 1913;
May 1, 1913; May 5, 1913; May 9, 1913; May 13, 1913; May 15, 1913; May 19, 1913.
65. Ibid., April 20, 1913.
66. Il Progresso Italo-Americano, April 21, 1913.
67. Bolletino della Sera, May 19, 1913.
68. Ibid., April 22, 1913. Both Caminettis father and mother had been born in Italy
(Calabria and Genoa, respectively), and he had served in the California Senate
since 1907, as well as serving as U.S. commissioner of immigration from 1913 to
1921. See http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/collections/italianamericans/timeline_
immigration.pdf.
69. New York Times, February 14, 1914.
Notes to Chapter 4

1. New York Times, March 15, 1891.

2. Ibid., March 29, 1891.
3. Il Progresso Italo-Americano, March 28, 1891.
4. The idea of understanding whiteness in relation to who was considered nonwhite corresponds to Ian Haney Lpezs work on the legal construction of race
and whiteness. Analyzing the racial prerequisite cases to naturalization during
the period 1870 through 1952, Haney Lpez argues that the established not so
much the parameters of Whiteness as the non-Whiteness of Chinese, South
Asians, and so on. See Ian Haney Lpez, White by Law: The Legal Construction
of Race (New York: NYU Press, 1996), 27.
5. George E. Cunningham, The Italian: A Hindrance to White Solidarity,
18901898, Journal of Negro History 50 (June 1965): 34.
6. Jean Ann Scarpaci, Italian Immigrants in Louisianas Sugar Parishes: Recruitment,
Labor Conditions, and Community Relations, 18801910 (New York: Arno Press,
1980), 222.
8. Upon migrating to southern states, Italian immigrants also labored in the lumber industry, railroad industry, and truck farming. See Scarpaci, Italian Immigrants in Louisianas Sugar Parishes, 5. On the efforts to promote immigration,
see Rowland T. Berthoff, Southern Attitudes toward Immigration, 18651914,
Journal of Southern History 17 (1951): 328360; Bert James Loewenberg, Efforts
of the South to Encourage Immigration, 18651900, South Atlantic Quarterly
33 (1934): 363385; Henry Marshall Booker, Efforts of the South to Attract
Immigrants, 18601900 (PhD diss., University of Virginia, 1965); Alfred Holt
Stone, The Italian Cotton Grower: The Negros Problem, South Atlantic Quarterly 4 (1905): 4247; Emily Fogg Meade, Italian Immigration into the South,
South Atlantic Quarterly 4 (1905): 217223; Lee J. Langley, Italians in the Cotton
Fields, Southern Farm Magazine 12 (1904), 89.
9. New York Age, February 21, 1891; May 16, 1891.
10. Ibid., July 12, 1906.

11. Ibid., October 10, 1907.
12. Detroit Plaindealer, April 24, 1891.
13. New York Age, May 16, 1891.
14. Booker T. Washington, letter to Anna Norwood Hallowell Davis, March 14,
1910, in Louis R. Harlan and Raymond W. Smock, eds., The Booker T. Washington Papers, vol. 10, 19091911 (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1981), 278.
15. Scarpaci stated, Direct economic competition for jobs obviously provoked
hostility against Italians in Louisiana. Further, she argued that much of the
hostility directed against Italians in a period of crime, as had been the case in
the Hahnville and Tallulah episodes, appeared to be connected with economic
competition. Scarpaci, Italian Immigrants in Louisianas Sugar Parishes, 253255.
Richard Gambino also emphasizes economic factors that led to the lynching
of eleven Italians in New Orleans in 1891 in Vendetta: A True Story of the Worst
Lynching in America, the Mass Murder of Italian-Americans in New Orleans in
1891, the Vicious Motivations Behind It, and the Tragic Repercussions That Linger to
This Day (New York: Doubleday, 1977).
16. New York Sun, August 4, 1899.
17. Florence Dymond, box 453, folder 10 titled Grinding, Florence Dymond Collection, Howard Tilton Memorial Library, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA.
18. Cunningham, The Italian, 32.
19. Scarpaci, Italian Immigrants in Louisianas Sugar Parishes, 211212.
20. Ibid., 150.
21. Quoted from ibid., 254.
22. New York Age, June 15, 1905.
23. Colin A. Palmer, Passageways: An Interpretive History of Black America, 1863
1965, vol. 2 (New York: Harcourt Brace, 1998), 109110.
24. Speranza wrote a letter to the New York Times in 1904 claiming that Italians did
not receive equal justice guaranteed under the Constitution. Acknowledging
the existence of Italian criminals, Speranza concluded, It cannot be denied that
there exists a popular prejudice against Italians as men of passion prone to use
the knife. New York Times, August 28, 1904.
25. Il Progresso Italo-Americano, December 26, 1905; see also Lantagonismo di
razza in America, Il Progresso Italo-Americano, October 12, 1906.
26. Il Progresso Italo-Americano, August 11, 1896.
27. Ibid., March 22, 1891.
28. Quoted in Il Progresso Italo-Americano, March 29, 1891.
29. Leavenworth Advocate, May 9, 1891; Richmond Planet, August 29, 1896.
30. New York Age, March 21, 1891.
31. Richmond Planet, July 29, 1899.
32. Detroit Plaindealer, March 20, 1891.

33. For reporting of African American lynching, see Lamericana, La Questione
Sociale, August 2, 1902; Civilt americana, La Questione Sociale, March 23,
1907.
34. See Contro il Linciaggio, Il Proletario, August 12, 1899.
35. Il Proletario, June 4, 1909.
36. I Linciaggi, Il Proletario, May 5, 1900. There are many other examples in which
Italian American socialists reduced racial attacks such as lynching to acts of
class warfare. After the brutal lynching of a black man in Colorado in 1900, a
disgusted Il Proletario described how the townspeople rejoiced as the young
black man was burned at the stake for allegedly violating a white girl. However,
in its commentary, rather than castigate a racial caste system that had allowed
this type of behavior, Il Proletario chose to direct its ire at churches and priests.
See La Settimana-Un linciaggio, Il Proletario, November 24, 1900.
37. Il Proletario, September 20, 1900.
38. Fatti e opinioni: Un Prete e la Schiavitu, La Questione Sociale, June 6, 1900.
39. La Buona Propaganda: Avanti, Schiavi, Il Proletario, July 25, 1914.
40. Ibid.
41. Verso La Schiavitu?, Il Proletario, April 1, 1906.
42. Italiani derubati a Springfield Mass., Il Proletario, January 13, 1900.
43. See Lavvenimento di New Orleans, Il Proletario, August 4, 1900. For some
examples of how racial distinctions were made in this paper, see La Vera
Civilta, Il Proletario, January 11, 1902; Decota, W. Va: Poeveri lavoratori!, Il
Proletario, June 26, 1904; La liberta del lavoro, Il Proletario, June 26, 1904.
44. La Schiavitu in America, Il Proletario, May 5, 1900.
45. Arkansas Gazette, July 13, 1901.
46. LAraldo Italiano, August 2, 1901; July 14, 1901. In these articles, Paris echoed the
general stereotype that Italians were prone to violence.
47. I Linciaggi, Il Proletario, May 5, 1900.
48. G. DeMarco, La Psicologia del Linciaggio, LAraldo Italiano, July 25, 1901.
49. Nathaniel S. Shaler, The Autobiography of Nathaniel Southgate Shaler (New York:
Houghton Mifflin, 1909), 27.
51. Ibid.
53. Papers such as Bolletino della Sera and LAraldo Italiano made specific efforts to
seek approval from American newspapers such as the New York Times, often at
the expense of Barsottis willingness to endlessly promote italianita. One event
occurred in 1910. At the heart of the matter was the promotion of a health
clinic in Harlem that had been reportedly underpromoted by the community,
especially the Italian language press. The Times commended newspapers such
as LAraldo Italiano and Bolletino della Sera for quickly spreading the word of the
clinic for the benefit of their Italian countrymen. The Times article reprinted in
English a pointed critique of Barsotti published in Bolletino. Although it did not
mention Barsotti by name, it was clear from the substance of Bolletinos critique
that the owner of Il Progresso was the intended target. The reproaches of the
American journal are for the most part just, but they do not apply to us. . . . It
is true that certain Italian papers which pretend to represent the majority put
forth their activities and forces for the erection of monuments. . . . We are and
always shall be against such charlatanism. . . . Moreover, we have always fought
rather for the erection of schools and educational institutions than monuments,
showing for a long time, as the Times has done today, that Italian youths should
be educated exclusively by American institutions. See New York Times, September 19, 1910. For some other representative examples of Italian newspaper
disputes crossing over into the English language press, see Has Made Himself
Disliked, New York Times, February 24, 1888, 2; Denounced by His Countrymen: Italians Object to Carlo Barsotti as Their Representative, New York Times,
May 24, 1891; Italian Editor Here Wins: Has Journalist Convicted of Libel
Another Defendant Freed, New York Times, December 23, 1912.
54. Shalers assessment in his autobiography that southern Italians carried the
mark of African blood and no trace of Greek only served to complicate
Pariss notion, based on Shalers work, of a facile transformation from Italian to
American. See Shaler, Autobiography of Nathaniel Southgate Shaler, 321.
56. Che razza di unioni, Il Proletario, September 13, 1902.
57. La Fiaccola, July 9, 1910.
59. For example, LAraldo Italiano, July 26, 1899; July 27, 1899; July 25, 1901;
August 3, 1901; Cristofero Colombo, June 21, 1892; August 3, 1893; Il Progresso
Italo-Americano, June 21, 1892; August 27, 1901. Headlines quoted in LAraldo
Italiano, August 3, 1901; Il Progresso Italo-Americano, August 21, 1901; June 21,
1892; August 27, 1901; December 9, 1906; La Luce (Utica, NY), June 27, 1908.
In research conducted around the dates of Italian American lynchings, these
were just a portion of articles located and do not represent the full range
of coverage pertaining to African American lynching from the period 1890
through 1915.
60. Tumulti a Brooklyn, Il Progresso Italo-Americano, August 24, 1900; Odio di
Razza, Il Progresso Italo-Americano, July 11, 1905; Un Altra Rissa Fra Neri e
Bianchi, Il Progresso Italo-Americano, July 19, 1905. Il Progresso commented, A
real battle began in that area due to the pervading race hatred that exists there.
See Volevano linciare una negra, Il Progresso Italo-Americano, August 23, 1906.
The article recounted the attempted lynching of a black woman in Brooklyn,
New York, by an angry mob.
61. La Lotta di razza in New York-Nuovi disordini, Il Progresso Italo-Americano,
August 18, 1900.
62. Ibid.
63. Il Progresso Italo-Americano, August 18, 1900 (italics mine).

64. La Questione Sociale, October 26, 1901.
66. Il Proletario, February 16, 1899.
67. In February 1904, the anarchist La Questione Sociale noted that Americans were
hypocritical to commemorate Lincoln if the values of capitalist America opposed
what Lincoln stood for. See La Questione Sociale, February 20,1904. For other
articles dealing with the martyred Lincoln, see Il Proletario, July 11, 1914; July 17, 1915.
68. Civilt americana, La Questione Sociale, November 9, 1901. See also Bianchi e
neri, Il Proletario, November 16, 1901.
69. Jim Crow, Il Progresso Italo-Americano, August 19, 1905.
70. Ibid.
72. Ibid. Two months later the New York Times reported on the speech given by W.
E. B. DuBois at Carnegie Hall in which he echoed these sentiments: As a subtle
and far-reaching blend of blood, you have in many great white men this negro
element coming in to color and make wonderful the genius which they hada
fact which was as true of Robert Browning and Alexander Hamilton as it was of
Lew Wallace and a great many other Americans who may wish to have it forgotten. New York Times, February 18, 1907.
74. Ibid.
75. Gail Bederman demonstrates that by the 1890s the dominant version of civilization interwove particular ideas about race and gender. According to Bederman, The discourse of civilization linked both male dominance and white
supremacy to a Darwinist version of Protestant millennialism. See Bederman,
Manliness and Civilization, 25.
76. Tentativi di Linciaggio in Brooklyn, Il Progresso Italo-Americano, August 6,
1907; Volevano Linciarlo, Il Progresso Italo-Americano, September 15, 1906.
The Menace of Lynching, LAraldo Italiano, July 25, 1901; Da Akron, Ohio:
Tentativo di linciaggio contro un italiano, Il Progresso Italo-Americano, February 7, 1911. These examples are but a small sample of articles detailing violence
toward Italian immigrants during this time.
Notes to Chapter 5

1. Gli italiani e la razza bianca, Il Progresso Italo-Americano, August 21, 1909.

2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
5. Patriottismo barbaro, Il Proletario, April 8, 1916.
6. See Matthew Pratt Guterl, The Color of Race in America, 19001940 (Cambridge,
MA: Harvard University Press, 2001), 6; on northward African American
migration and increasing militancy, see James Grossman, Land of Hope: Chicago,
Black Southerners and the Great Migration (Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
1991); Nicholas Lemann, The Promised Land: The Great Black Migration and
How it Changed America (New York: Vintage, 1992); Colin Palmer, Passageways:
An Interpretive History of Black America, vol. 2, 18631965 (New York: Harcourt
Brace, 1998), see chap. 6, The Generation of 1917, 106129.
7. Although I have engaged the most influential socialist and anarchist press available in the New York area, with a few exceptions what was left of the radical
press was fragmentary. An examination of New York radical papers such as La
Giustizia (the newspaper of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union),
Il Lavoro (the union newspaper of the American Clothing Makers of America,
19151932), and Lotta di Classe (the newspaper of the Shirt and Cloak Makers
Union, 19121917) unearthed no real discussion of race or color. In addition,
during the war period, major radical newspapers such as Il Proletario focused
almost exclusively on issues related to interventionist and anti-interventionist
positions. After April 1917 and American involvement in the war, radical papers
suffered extreme suppression and harassment, resulting in their virtual elimination in the short term. Therefore, this chapters focus on the mainstream press
has as much to do with its active role in constructing identity as with its availability and popularity.
8. A common example illustrating this comes from the socialist Il Proletario.
Protesting against the unlawful imprisonment of its political allies in Italy,
the newspaper wondered how this could occur in the Italy of 1899: Italy was
barbarian, but now we do not occupy the last rung in the ladder of civilized
nations. Il Proletario, May 10, 1899.
9. Il Progresso Italo-Americano, November 8, 1906.
10. La Luce, December 14, 1907.
11. LAvvenire (Utica, NY), January 24, 1903.
14. Il Progresso Italo-Americano, August 10, 1899 (italics mine).
15. On the question of American civilization, see travelers accounts such as that
of Giuseppe Giacosa. Notwithstanding all the vituperative attacks in the press,
some Italians continued to endorse Americas self-proclaimed role as a civilizing nation. Giacosa, a well-known playwright from northern Italy who toured
the United States in the 1890s, declared that anyone who has lived here for any
length of time must readily acknowledge that the [American] people behave in
a more civilized and dignified manner than ours. Giuseppe Giacosa, Impressioni dAmerica (Milan: Tipografia Editrice L. F. Cogliati, 1898), 153.
17. Ibid., March 16, 1891.
18. Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Rome, to Ambassador, Washington, DC,
April 7, 1900, Linciaggio di Tallulah: bills Davis e Hitt: 19001901, ASMAE,
Ambasciata di Washington, busta 103, p. 8, n. 1866.

20. Desmond King, Making Americans: Immigration, Race, and the Origins of the
Diverse Democracy (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2002), 48.
21. 1882 Immigration Act, chap. 376, 22 Stat. 214, 47th Cong., 1st sess., August 3,
1882.
22. Congress first passed an immigration bill with a literacy test provision in 1896,
but President Grover Cleveland vetoed the bill. Congress again passed a literacy
test provision in 1909 and 1913 and President Taft vetoed both. In 1915 and 1917,
Congress passed a literacy test but had to override President Wilsons veto in
1917 for the bill to become law. Michael Lemay and Elliott Robert Barkan, eds.,
U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Laws and Issues: A Documentary History
(Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1999), esp. 4148.
23. LAvvenire, June 21, 1902; January 31, 1903.
24. La Luce, January 1, 1913.
25. Il Cittadino, January 14, 1915
26. Ibid., April 15, 1915.
27. La Luce, February 8, 1913.
28. Il Cittadino, July 20, 1916; May 31, 1917.
29. Ibid., October 12, 1916.
30. Il Progresso Italo-Americano, May 15, 1918.
31. Ibid., May 23, 1918.
32. Ibid., May 25, 1918.
33. Il Cittadino, May 31, 1917.
34. Ibid., December 6, 1917. See Christopher Sterba, Good Americans: Italian and
Jewish Immigrants during the First World War (New York: Oxford University Press,
2003); Christopher Capozzola, Uncle Sam Wants You: World War I and the Making
of the Modern American Citizen (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008).
35. See Jacobson, Whiteness of a Different Color, 25.
36. Il Cittadino, February 10, 1916.
37. Ibid.
38. King, Making Americans, 20.
39. Il Cittadino, July 6, 1916.
40. Ibid., June 8, 1916.
41. The title did change but usually maintained a similar composition, for example,
The Sounds of Gianduiotto, The Adventures of Gianduiotto, and The Curious
Sounds of Gianduiotto. Other titles included The Sounds of Little Chocolate and
The Expected Good Fortune of Gianduiotto. See Il Giornale Italiano, March 7, 1915;
March 21, 1915; April 4, 1915; April 18, 1915; April 25, 1915; June 13, 1915.
42. Ibid., April 25, 1915.
43. Ibid., June 13, 1915.
44. In one story, two white men, astonished by Gianduiottos musical talent, come
to his rescue and hire him. As the men take the boy away on a flatbed truck,
he is chased by the Italian boys, who ask for remuneration for creating this
160<<Notes to the Epilogue
opportunity for him. Gianduiotto tells them, Take my music as payment as

he continues to play the piano as the truck pulls away. Ibid.
45. For example, in various episodes Gianduiotto is alternately hired to perform
in drag as Fatima the Egyptian dancer or as a human target in a carnival game.
Ibid., March 21, 1915; April 4, 1915.
46. Ibid., March 7, 1915.
47. Ibid., March 21, 1915.
48. Jennifer Hochschild, Facing Up to the American Dream: Race, Class, and the Soul
of the Nation (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1996), 246.
49. Il Cittadino, May 31, 1917.
50. Ibid., June 26, 1919.
51. Orlando Patterson, The Ordeal of Integration: Progress and Resentment in
Americas Racial Crisis (Washington, DC: Civitas/Counterpoint, 1997), 69.
53. Il Cittadino, February 21, 1918.
54. See, for example, Il Progresso Italo-Americano, November 18, 1918; June 29, 1919;
September 1, 1919. For an example of critical commentary, see Il Progresso ItaloAmericano, August 18, 1900.
55. Palmer, Passageways, 118121.
56. Il Progresso Italo-Americano, May 30, 1917.
57. Ibid., May 31, 1917. Regarding the East St. Louis race riot, see also Il Progresso
Italo-Americano, July 4, 1917; July 7, 1917. For more coverage of racial disorders
in Chester, Pennsylvania, see Il Progresso Italo-Americano, July 29, 1917; July 31,
1917.
58. Palmer, Passageways, 119; quoted from Elliot Rudwick, Race Riot at East St. Louis,
July 2, 1917 (Urbana: Southern Illinois University Press, 1964), 28.
59. For the Washington, DC, riot, see Il Progresso Italo-Americano, July 21, 1919; July
23, 1919; July 24, 1919; July 26, 1919; July 29,1919. For the Chicago race riot, see
Il Progresso Italo-Americano, July 29, 1919; July 30, 1919; July 31, 1919; August 1,
1919; August 2, 1919; August 8, 1919.
60. Ibid., July 23, 1919
61. Ibid.
62. Toni Morrison, On the Backs of Blacks, Time, special issue, November 18,
1993, vol. 142, no. 21, 57.
Notes to the Epilogue
1. Philip V. Cannistraro, Generoso Pope and the Rise of Italian American Politics,
19251936, in Lydio F. Tomasi, ed., Italian Americans: New Perspectives in Italian Immigration and Ethnicity (New York: Center for Migration Studies, 1985),
264288.
2. Historian Rudolph Vecoli takes a somewhat different approach: Rather than
the Americanization of the Little Italies during the interwar years, it would then
be more accurate to speak of their Fascistization. See Vecoli, The Making and
Notes to the Epilogue >>161
Un-making of the Italian American Working Class, in Philip V. Cannistraro

and Gerald Meyer, eds., The Lost World of Italian American Radicalism (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2003). For an opposing view, see Madeline J. Goldman, The
Evolution of Ethnicity: Fascism and Anti-Fascism in the Italian American Community, 19141945 (PhD diss., Carnegie Mellon University, 1993. Although Fascisms effect on Italian American communities, vis--vis the growth of an Italian
nationalism intertwined with racism, was undeniable, in many ways these
trends were intimately enmeshed with becoming American. The interpretation
of Mussolinis nationalist policies must be examined through an American context where the pressures of assimilation and Americanization were constantly at
work.
3. On Italian Fascism and its effect on Italian America communities, see John Diggins, Mussolini and Fascism: The View from America (Princeton, NJ: Princeton
University Press, 1972); Philip V. Cannistraro, Blackshirts in Little Italy: Italian
Americans and Fascism, 19211929 (New York: Bordhigera, 1999); Stefano Luconi,
La diplomazia parallela: Il regime fascista e la mobilitazione politica (Milan:
Angeli, 2000).
4. For the reaction of the Italian American community to the African American
uprisings over the Ethiopian invasion, see Nadia Venturini, African American Riots during World War II: Reactions in the Italian American Communist
Press, Italian American Review 6, no. 2 (Autumn/Winter 19971998): 8097;
Venturini, Neri e Italiani ad Harlem: Gli anni Trenta e la guerra dEtiopia (Rome:
Edizioni Lavoro, 1990); Fiorello B. Ventresco, Italian Americans and the
Ethiopian Crisis, Italian Americana 6 (Fall/Winter 1980): 427. For the African
American reaction to the invasion, see Joseph E. Harris, African-American
Reactions to War in Ethiopia, 19361941 (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University
Press, 1994); William R. Scott, The Sons of Shebas Race: African Americans and
the Italo-Ethiopian War, 19351941 (Bloomington: University of Indiana Press,
1993). See also Thomas Guglielmo, White on Arrival: Italians, Race, Color, and
Power in Chicago, 18901945 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003), chap. 6,
Fascism, Empire, and War.
5. Cannistraro and Meyer, Lost World of Italian American Radicalism, 24.
6. For an overview of the impact of the war on Italian Americans, see Gary R.
Mormino and George E. Pozzetta, Italian Americans and the 1940s, in Philip
V. Cannistraro, ed., The Italians of New York: Five Centuries of Struggle and
Achievement (New York: New-York Historical Society, 1999), 139153.
7. Federal Bureau of Investigation case files for Italian enemy aliens Antonio
Buonapane and Peter Cassetti reveal that even up through 1942, Italians were
still not defined as white. FBI Case Files, July 24, 1942, August 3, 1942, Class
146 Files, Folder 146-13-2-017-36, Alien Enemy Unit, Department of Justice,
National Archives II, College Park, Maryland. For insight into Italian Americans experience as Americas enemy aliens, see Stephen Fox, The Unknown
Internment: An Oral History of the Relocation of Italian Americans during World
162<<Notes to the Epilogue
War II (Boston: Twayne, 1990); Lawrence DiStasi, ed., Una Storia Segreta: When
Italian Americans Were Enemy Aliens (Berkeley: American Italian Historical
Association, 1994).
8. Procaccino quoted in Peter Vellon, Immigrant Son: Mario Procaccino and the
Rise of Conservative Politics in Late 1960s New York City, Italian American
Review 7, no. 1 (SpringSummer 1999): 130. See also Maria Lizzi, My Heart Is
as Black as Yours: White Backlash, Racial Identity, and Italian American Stereotypes in New York Citys 1969 Mayoral Campaign, Journal of American Ethnic
History 27, no. 3 (2008): 4380.
9. See Lizabeth Cohen, Making a New Deal: Industrial Workers in Chicago, 19191939
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990); Matthew Frye Jacobson,
Roots Too: White Ethnic Revival in PostCivil Rights America (Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press, 2006); Stefano Luconi, From Paesani to White Ethnics:
The Italian Experience in Philadelphia (New York: SUNY Press, 2001); Roediger,
Working toward Whiteness.
10. Helen Barolini, Buried Alive by Language, in Chiaroscuro: Essays of Identity
(West Lafayette, IN: Bordighera, 1997); Giorgio Bertellini, New York City and
the Representation of Italian Americans in the Cinema, in Cannistraro, Italians
of New York, 115128; John Kifner, Bensonhurst: A Tough Code in Defense of
a Closed World, New York Times, September 1, 1989; Joseph Sciorra, Italians
against Racism: The Murder of Yusef Hawkins (R.I.P.) and My March on Bensonhurst, in Guglielmo and Salerno, Are Italians White?, 192209.
11. New York Times, June 30, 2005; July 18, 2006.
index
Adowa, 4445
The Adventures of Gianduiotto, 120
African Americans: alliance with, 8384;
business transactions with, 8485; discontinuing comparisons with, 1078,
118, 121, 12627; humiliation of being
treated like, 12126; militancy of, 130;
as model, 8696; newspapers, 35; prejudice examples, 100101; prominenti
sympathy for, 23; resentment of, 123;
sexual behavior of, 9495; sympathy
for, 23, 80; unions excluding, 96;
Wells on, 1012
African savagery: Cristofero Colombo
on, 144n3; Ethiopia and, 47; goals of,
39; identity and, 39; metaphorical use
of, 145n18; newspapers and, 3739; Il
Proletario on, 146n20; radical newspapers and, 4142; Southern Italy and,
4243
Agricultural crisis, 44
Albano, Angelo, 87
Alien Land Bill, 72; Bolletino della Sera
on, 7677; Giovannitti on, 7475;
whiteness and, 77
American Clothing Makers of America,
158n7
American Federation of Labor, 26
Americanization, 95; campaigns, 12; racial
hierarchy and, 6869
American race, 116

American South, 8185; employment in,
153n8; Grimke on, 85; inbetweeness in,
8182; lynchings in, 86
Anarchist newspapers, 23, 30
Anderson, Benedict, 38
LAraldo Italiano (Italian Herald), 11; on
Asian Americans, 68; circulation, 25,
141n38; Civilization and Chivalry of
the Italians, 5253; founding of, 25;
journalists employed by, 25
Asian Americans: LAraldo Italiano on,
68; civilization of, 67; colonialism and,
67; crime and, 152n56; differentiating
from, 74; Drew on, 76; exclusion of,
59; exploitation of, 71; Giovannitti on,
7475; immigration restrictions and,
58, 66; La Luce on, 68; newspapers on,
150n30; Il Proletario on, 6869, 7172;
racial hierarchy and, 5859; Roosevelt
and, 7071; Sergi on, 67, 68; working class narrative of, 7172. See also
Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882
Assimilation process: La Luce on, 10910;
newspapers and, 9, 137n25
Bailey, Melville Knox, 109
Balbi, Giuseppe, 57, 62
Baldo, Pietro, 138n1
Balletto, Agostino, 26
>>163
164<<index
Bargolino Benefit Association, 20

Barrett, James, 6
Barsotti, Carlo, 2325; death of, 15; fundraising by, 3233
Bazzani, Giovanni, 145n19
Bederman, Gail, 9
Bertelli, Giuseppe, 29
Bertellini, Giorgio, 8
Bi-racialism, 3, 108
Boardinghouses, 24
Bolletino della Sera (Evening Bulletin), 11,
23; on Alien Land Bill, 7677; circulation of, 26; Fenton on, 26; founding
of, 2526; Libya coverage of, 5051;
political orientation of, 26; Pope purchasing, 129
Bosi, Alfredo: on Ciambelli, 26; on Il
Progresso Italo-Americano, 25
Bresci, Gaetano, 28
Brignardello, Aroldo, 125
Brisbane, Arthur, 52
Browning, Robert, 157n72
Bruno, Giordano, 58
Bryan, Jennings, 76
Buonapane, Antonio, 161n7
Calabria, 4950
Caminetti, Anthony, 77, 78
Caminita, Ludovico, 30
Campanilismo (trust), 19
Cantelmo, Ercole, 25
Capitalism, 72
Cartosio, Bruno, 29
Cassetti, Peter, 161n7
Cassin, J. M., 1056, 121
Catholic Church, 8
Cavour, Camillo, 17
Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, 112; amendments to, 70; Daniels on, 70; immigration restrictions increasing after, 70
Churches, 22
Ciambelli, Bernardino, 26
Ciancabilla, Giuseppe, 30
Il Cittadino (Citizen), 4, 105; on American

race, 116; founding of, 27; on immigration restriction, 11617; on literacy
test, 11314; on lynching, 123; New York
Times on, 27; A Social Phenomenon
of All Times, 117; To Our American
Readers, 27
Civic League Publishing Association, 27
Civilization, 15; of Asian Americans, 67;
Cody symbolizing, 6263; debates,
4041; Giacosa on, 40, 158n15; Jackson
on, 115; masculinity and, 17, 157n75;
newspapers on, 4041; slavery as, 40;
travelers accounts and, 158n15; whiteness and, 4, 115, 158n75
Clark, Martin, 44
Class: Asian Americans and, 7172;
identity based on, 3, 58; lynching and,
155n36; Native Americans and, 63
Cleveland, Grover, 159n22
Cody, William Buffalo Bill, 62; civilization symbolized by, 6263
Colonialism: agricultural crisis and, 44;
Asian Americans and, 67; Clark on,
44; LEco dItalia on, 46; Franchetti on,
4647; Frisina on, 4950; Il Grido degli
Oppressi on, 144n9; immigration as
voluntary, 68; justifications for, 4647;
Libya and, 4755; as measuring stick,
6667
Color: race connected with, 75; race separated from, 78; racism and, 80; slavery and, 150n30
Color line: immigration restriction and
hardening of, 7278; understanding,
96103
Columbus, Christopher, 15; Il Grido degli
Oppressi on, 39, 144n9; myth of, 32
Columbus Day, 32
Il Comitato Italiano, 45
Commercial Herald, 1; Il Progresso ItaloAmericano on, 2
Community studies, 19
index >>165
Conditionally white, 5
Covello, Leonard, 143n72
Crispi, Francesco, 4445
Cristofero Colombo, 37; on African savagery, 144n3; Il Progresso Italo-Americano
merged with, 25; on Wounded Knee,
64
Daniels, Roger, 70
Dante Alighieri Society, 26
Darwin, Charles, 100
Death benefits, 20
Detroit Plaindealer, 83; on lynching, 89
DiBiasi, Agostino, 25
Dickie, John, 38
La Difesa, 29
Dillingham Commission, 17, 77, 112
Dini, Alberto, 37
Il Diritto, on lynching, 88
Dotry, Henry, 83
Drew, Assemblyman, 76
Dualism, 1617, 139n4
DuBois, W. E. B., 99; New York Times on,
157n72
Earthquake relief, 31
East Harlem, 19
LEco dItalia (Echo of Italy), 138n1; on
colonialism, 46; exile mentality of, 24;
founding of, 24
Employment: in American South, 153n8;
LAraldo Italiano, 25; assistance, 20;
classified, 31; lynching and, 154n15;
skilled, 140n19; unskilled, 20
Enemy aliens, 130, 161n7
LEra Nuova, 30
Eritrea, 44
Espionage Act, 29
Esteve, Pedro, 30
Ethiopia, 44; African savagery and, 47;
justification for invasion of, 130; nationalism and war in, 4546; support
for war in, 4546
Ethnic myths, 131

Evening Bulletin. See Bolletino della Sera
Extralegal violence, 1
Faggi, Angelo, 29
Fall of Rome, 32
Fascism: Vecoli on, 160n2; whiteness and,
4, 129. See also Nationalism
Feast of Saint Alfio, 50
Feast of Saint Rocco, 22
Federazione Socialista Italiana del Nord
America (FSI), 28
Female virtue, 1
Feminine, 17
Fenton, Edwin, 26
Ficarrotta, Castenge, 87
Foley, Neil, 137n22
Forsyth, James, 59
Franchetti, Leopoldo, 4647
Fraternal organizations, 20; psychological
and social rules of, 21
Frisina, Leonardo, 4950
Frugone, Frank, 2526; New York Times
on, 26
FSI. See Federazione Socialista Italiana del
Nord America
Fugazy, Louis V., 2324
Fusco, Coco, 5
Galleani, Luigi, 30
Gambino, Richard, 154n15
Garibaldi, Giuseppe, 24
Gaudelli, Albert, 133
Gentini, A., 61
Gentlemens Agreement, 71
Giacosa, Giuseppe, 40, 158n15
GI Bill, 131
Giolitti, Giovanni, 48
Il Giornale Italiano, 25
Giovane Italia, 28
Giovannitti, Arturo: on Alien Land Bill,
7475; on Asian Americans, 7475; on
immigration restriction, 72, 7475
166<<index
La Giustizia, 158n7
Goldstein, Eric, 137n22
Gori, Pietro, 30
Great Society programs, 131
Greek newspapers, 137n25
Gribaudi, Gabriella, 17
Il Grido degli Oppressi: on colonialism,
144n9; on Columbus, 39, 144n9
Griffith, Michael, 132
Grimke, Archibald H., 85
Il Gruppo Diritto allEsistenza (Right to
Exist Group), 30
Guglielmo, Thomas, 67
Gulino, Giuseppe, 25
Guterl, Matthew Pratt, 3, 108
Hamilton, Alexander, 157n72
Haney Lpez, Ian, 153n4
Harney, Robert, 9
Hart, Henry, 97
Hawaii, 7071
Hawkins, Yusef, 132
Hennessey, David, 32, 59
Higham, John, 5
Hochschild, Jennifer, 121
House Committee on Immigration and
Naturalization, 26
Howard Beach, 13233
How the Other Half Lives (Riis), 19
Hughes, Charles Evans, 114
Hypocrisy, 60
Identity: African savagery and, 39; classbased, 3, 58; Italian language learning
and, 33; newspapers and, 3135. See
also Italianita; Nationalism
Imagined communities, 38
Immigration: Mulberry Bend district and
problems with, 19; protection laws, 26;
as voluntary colonialism, 68
Immigration restriction, 12, 15; Asian
Americans and, 58, 66; capitalism and,
72; Chinese Exclusion Act increasing,
70; Il Cittadino on, 11617; color line

and, 7278; Giovannitti on, 72, 7475;
Italian Socialist Federation supporting, 7172; King on, 112; opposition
foundation for, 114; Il Proletario on,
7172; race-based, 6972; on Southern
Italians, 17. See also Chinese Exclusion
Act of 1882; Dillingham Commission;
Gentlemens Agreement; Literacy test
Inbetweeness: in American South, 8182;
Barrett on, 6; challenging, 67; confusion of, 6; Guglielmo on, 67; Orsi on,
5; refining, 7; Roediger on, 6, 136n20
Industrial Workers of the World (IWW),
29
Intercontinental Telephone and Telegraph
Company, 143n77
International Ladies Garment Workers
Union, 158n7
Interracial relationships: Lui on, 152n57; Il
Progresso Italo-Americano on, 7374
Irish Catholics, 2122
Italian American Educational League, 26
Italian American Progress. See Il Progresso
Italo-Americano
Italian Herald. See LAraldo Italiano
Italianita, 3, 15, 78; Libya and, 53
Italian language learning, 143n72; identity
forged through, 33; Il Progresso ItaloAmericano on, 33
Italian Socialist Federation: immigration
restrictions supported by, 7172; on
Southern Italy, 148n54
Italian unification, 16
Italian victory in Africa. See Vittoria
Italiana in Africa
Italian Vigilance Protective Association, 26
Italy-America Day, 11415
IWW. See Industrial Workers of the
World
Jacobson, Matthew Frye: on racial hierarchy, 6; on whiteness, 6, 115, 137n22
index >>167
Japanese question, 72
Jewish literacy, 10
Jewishness, 137n22
Jim Crow, 100
Judge, 107
King, Desmond: on American race, 116;
on immigration restriction, 112
Kooper, Sybil Hart, 132
Kopan, Andrew, 137n25
Labor agents, 24
Labor hierarchy, 7
La Piana, George: on literacy rates, 10; on
newspapers, 34
Lauriano, Alfonso, 6162
Il Lavoro, 158n7
Leavenworth Advocate, 88
Leon, William, 73
Leone, Beato, 147n50
Lesser, Crueze de, 17
Levra, Umberto, 45
Liberto, Salvatore, 93
Libraries, 10
Libya: American reactions to war in,
52; annexation of, 48; Bolettino della
Sera coverage of, 5051; colonialism
and, 4755; European reactions to
war in, 52; fundraising for war in, 53;
italianita and, 53; motivations for, 51;
Il Proletario on, 4849; prominenti
and, 5355; radical newspapers on,
4849
Lincoln, Abraham: Il Proletario on, 99; La
Questione Sociale on, 99, 157n67
Literacy rates, 137n28; Jewish, 10; La Piana
on, 10
Literacy test, 26, 112; Il Cittadino on, 113
14; Cleveland veto on, 159n22; La Luce
on, 113; Taft veto on, 159n22
Lodge, Henry Cabot, 112
Lombroso, Cesare, 17
Lpez, Ian Haney, 5
Lotta di Classe, 158n7

Lower East Side, 19
Lower West Side, 19
Lozzerano, Mario, 125
La Luce: on Asian Americans, 68; on assimilation process, 10910; on literacy
test, 113
Luconi, Stefano, 146n34
Lui, Mary, 152n57
Lynching, 37, 60; of Albano, 87; in
American South, 86; Il Cittadino on,
123; class and, 155n36; as control, 91;
defense of, 1; Detroit Plaindealer on,
89; Il Diritto on, 88; employment and,
154n15; equality and, 110; of Ficarrotta,
87; Gambino on, 154n15; headlines, 97;
Leavenworth Advocate on, 88; legitimacy of, 93; newspapers on, 8889;
New York Age on, 89; Paris on, 93,
9596; Il Progresso Italo-Americano
on, 4041, 88, 95, 122; Il Proletario
on, 9091, 9394; pseudodefense
of, 12223; La Questione Sociale on,
8990; rationale for, 9495; Richmond
Advocate on, 88; Richmond Planet on,
89; savagery of, 111; Il Secolo on, 88;
Shaler on, 9495; Speranza on, 8687;
Vicksburg, 13; of Villarosa, 13; yellow fever simile, 9596
Malatesta, Errico, 30
Manetta, Filippo, 40
Margherita di savoy, 2
Mariano, John, 21, 140n14
Masculinity, 140n7; civilization and, 17,
157n75
Massachusetts Society of the Colonial
Dames, 27
May Day, 28
Mazzini, Giuseppe, 24
McBride, Andrew, 30
The Mediterranean Race (Sergi), 17
Meridionalismo, 139n4
168<<index
Mezzogiorno. See Southern Italy

Minucci, Anthony, 133
Minucci, Nicholas Fat Nick, 13233
Moore, Glenn, 13233
Morrison, Toni, 127
Mulberry Bend district, 19
Musso, Giuseppe, 143n77
Mussolini, Benito, 129
Mutual aid organizations, 20; psychological and social roles of, 21; religious
traditions and, 22
National Anti-mob and Lynch Law
Association, 90
Nationalism: Ethiopia war and, 4546;
Luconi on, 146n34; newspapers appealing to, 33; World War I and, 15
National Order of the Sons of Italy, 21
Native Americans, 12, 57, 59; as aggressors,
64; class and, 63; contrasting with, 58;
descriptions of, 64, 65; exploitation
of suffering of, 64; hunting by, 149n3;
hypocrisy and, 60; Pecorini on, 65; Il
Progresso Italo-Americano on, 62, 64
66; radical newspapers on, 63, 149n4;
savagery of, 6061, 6566; sensational
stories about, 6162; sympathy for, 64
Negro question, 3
Nelli, Humbert, 140n27
New Deal, 131
New Negro movement, 3
New Orleans Times-Democrat, 84
Newspapers: African American, 35;
African savagery and, 3739; analyzed
as cultural production, 35; on Asian
Americans, 150n30; assimilation process and, 9, 137n25; circulation figures,
1011; on civilization, 4041; community reflected in, 23; geographical location of, 23; Harney on, 9; identity and,
3135; importance of immigrant, 911;
increase in, 2223; influence of, 2230;
La Piana on, 34; in libraries, 10; on
lynching, 8889; nationalism appeals

of, 33; Park on, 28, 35; in Philadelphia,
140n25; political identification of, 23;
prominenti ownership, 24; prominenti
phase of, 2324; race riot coverage,
12324; racial hierarchy in, 39, 41;
reading aloud, 10; rivalries, 3334, 46,
93; socialist, 23; stereotypes in, 9293;
Vecoli on, 31; Vogel on, 35, 137n25. See
also specific newspapers
New York Age: Immigration Evils, 82; on
lynching, 89
New York Evening Journal, 148n66
New York Times: approval from, 155n53;
on Il Cittadino, 27; on DuBois, 157n72;
on Frugone, 26; Pecorini defended by,
143n77
Niagara Movement, 99
Niceforo, Alfredo, 17
Nixon, J. O., 8283
Il Nuovo Proletario, 29
Opera, 8
Oppositional culture, 28
Orsi, Robert, 5
Our Lady of Loretto, 22
Our Lady of Mount Carmel, 22; condemnation of, 27
Overton, Wiley G., 126; Il Progresso ItaloAmericano on, 7980
Padrones, 24
Paris, Luciano, 25; on lynching, 93, 9596
Parisi, Paolo, 25
Park, Robert: on newspapers, 35; on radical newspapers, 28
Paterson, New Jersey, 30
Patterson, Orlando, 122
Pecorini, Alberto, 116; arrest of, 143n77;
books authored by, 27; on Native
Americans, 65; New York Times defending, 143n77; prominenti attacked
by, 34
index >>169
Pelle rosse (redskin). See Native
Americans
Petrucewicz, Marta, 139n4
Polidori, Vincenzo, 24, 25
Pope, Generoso, 129
Popular justice, 1, 93, 94
Poverty, 16
Pozzetta, George, 32
Press Democrat, 105
Procaccino, Mario, 13132
Il Progresso Italo-Americano (Italian
American Progress), 4, 23; Bosi on,
25; circulation figures, 1011, 25; on
Commercial Herald, 2; criminal defense of, 3233; Cristofero Colombo
merged with, 25; expansion of, 25;
founding of, 15, 138n1; on interracial
relationships, 7374; on Italian language learning, 33; The Last Redskin:
A Race Destined to Expire, 6566; on
lynching, 4041, 88, 95, 122; masthead,
25; on Native Americans, 62, 6466;
office of, 24; on Overton, 7980; Pope
purchasing, 129; race riot coverage by,
9798, 12426; relief funds sponsored
by, 32; on Washington, 100; whiteness
asserted by, 106
Il Proletario (Proletariat), 11, 2829; on
African savagery, 145n20; Americans
and Americanization, 6869; on
Asian Americans, 6869, 7172; circulation of, 29; ideological split, 29;
on immigration restrictions, 7172;
labor news in, 142n51; on Libya,
4849; on Lincoln, 99; on lynching,
9091, 9394; racial hierarchy and,
4142; raiding of, 29; on savagery, 40;
on slavery, 9192; on Southern Italy,
148n54
Prominenti: African American sympathy
from, 23; influence of, 3335; Libya
and, 5355; national celebrations defined by, 32; newspaper ownership, 24;
newspaper phase of, 2324; Pecorini

attacking, 34; Pozzetta on, 32; public
image concerns of, 3334; radical
newspapers attacking, 3435
La Questione Sociale, 11; Ancient and
Modern Cannibalism, 41; banning of,
30; circulation of, 30; founding of, 30;
on Lincoln, 99, 157n67; on lynching,
8990
Race: American, 116; color connected
with, 75; color separated from, 78;
immigration restriction based on, 69
72; markers, 7. See also specific races
Race riots: newspaper coverage of, 12324;
Il Progresso Italo-Americano coverage
of, 9798, 12426; after World War I,
12425
Racial hierarchy, 38; Americanization
and, 6869; Asian Americans and,
5859; biologically determined, 1089;
Jacobson on, 6; in newspapers, 39, 41;
Il Proletario and, 4142; radical newspapers and, 41; reconstruction of, 78;
Sergi on, 68; slavery and, 92
Racial transparency, 4
Racism: color and, 80; hard, 7; Roediger
on, 7
Radical newspapers, 27; African savagery
and, 4142; elimination of, 158n7;
influence of, 28; on Libya, 4849; on
Native Americans, 63, 149n4; number
of, 142n55; Park on, 28; prominenti attacked by, 3435; racial hierarchy and,
41; religious traditions and, 4243. See
also Anarchist newspapers; specific
radical newspapers
La razza gialla (the yellow race). See
Asian Americans
Reddin, Paul, 62
Redskin. See Native Americans
Regional rivalries, 21
170<<index
Religious traditions, 2122; mutual aid

organizations and, 22; radical newspapers and, 4243. See also specific
traditions
Richmond Advocate, 88
Richmond Planet, 89
Right to Exist Group. See Il Gruppo
Diritto allEsistenza
Riis, Jacob, 19
Roediger, David, 5; on inbetweeness, 6,
136n20; on racism, 7
Roosevelt, Theodore, 30, 100; Asian
Americans and, 7071
Root, Elihu, 71
Rossi, Adolfo, 25
Roversi, Luigi, 25
Sanitation Department, 20
Savagery, 4, 37; American defense of, 52
53; feminine and, 17; of lynching, 111;
of Native Americans, 6061, 6566; Il
Proletario on, 40; of Southern Italy, 38.
See also African savagery
Schetti, Francesco, 6162
Secchi di Casali, G. P., 24
Il Secolo, 88
Sedition Act, 29
Segregation, 99
Self-congratulatory references, 109
Self-definition, 8
Self-representation, 4
Sergi, Giuseppe, 17; on Asian Americans,
67, 68; on racial hierarchy, 68
Serio, John, 93
Serio, Vincenzo, 93
Serrati, Giacinto Menotti, 28
Sexual slavery, 150n30
Shaler, Nathaniel Southgate: on lynching,
9495; on Southern Italy, 156n54
Shirt and Cloak Makers Union, 158n7
Sigel, Elsie, 7273
Situationally white, 5
Slavery: civilization as, 40; color and,
150n30; Manetta on, 40; modern,

9192; Il Proletario on, 9192; racial hierarchy and, 92; sexual, 150n30; Tresca
on, 91; wage, 91, 92
Society for the Protection of Italian
Immigrants, 86
Southern Italy: African savagery and,
4243; Cavour on, 17; as feminine,
17; Gribaudi on, 17; immigration
restrictions on, 17; Italian Socialist
Federation on, 148n54; Italian unification ignoring, 16; Lesser on, 17;
Lombroso on, 17; Niceforo on, 17;
perceptions of, 1617; poverty, 16; Il
Proletario on, 148n54; revisionists,
139n4; as savage, 38; scientific validation of inferior, 17; Shaler on, 156n54;
shifting interpretations of, 139n4
Spanish-American War, 25
Speranza, Gino, 8687
Stereotypes, 9293
Stewart, T. McCants, 79
Stoddard, Lothrop, 3
The Strange Sounds of Gianduiotto,
11821
Sweet, May, 10
Taft, William Howard, 159n22
Il Telegrafo, 25
Tenebrosa. See African savagery
Tirelli, Adelino, 2
Tocci, Felice, 24
Topp, Michael, 148n54
Trading with the Enemy Act, 29
Treaty of Lausanne, 48
Tresca, Carlo, 2829; on France, 145n11;
on slavery, 91
Tribuna Illustrata, 49
Triple Alliance, 44
Trust. See Campanilismo
Tunis, 44
Turks, Willie, 132
Tuskegee Institute, 99
index >>171
Unemployment insurance, 20
Unexpected Fortunes of Gianduiotto,
119
Unions, 96
The Unrestricted Dumping Ground, 107
Ute tribe, 65
Valentine, Ernesto, 25
Valentino, Rudolph, 15
Vecoli, Rudolph, 23, 33; on fascism, 160n2;
on newspapers, 31
Verrazzano, Giovanni da, 15
Vicario, Giovani, 25
Villarosa, Frederico, 13
Vittoria Italiana in Africa (Italian victory in Africa), 45
Vogel, Todd, 35, 137n25
Wage slavery, 91, 92
Wallace, Lew, 157n72
Washington, Booker T., 83, 99; Il Progresso
Italo-Americano on, 100
Wells, H. G., 1012
White, James, 97
White ethnicity, 5
Whiteness: advantages of, 9697; Alien

Land Bill and, 77; asserting, 4, 106,
11718, 129; civilization and, 4, 115,
157n75; defined by who they were
not, 80; fascism and assertions of, 4,
129; Foley on, 137n22; hierarchy of,
6; indifference to, 6; Jacobson on,
6, 115, 137n22; literature on, 135n10;
pathway to, 78; Patterson on, 122;
premises of, 45; Il Progresso ItaloAmericano asserting, 106; as racial
transparency, 4
Wild West Shows, 62; Italian tour, 6263;
romance of, 63
Wilson, Woodrow, 112
Winter, Alice Beach, 90
Working class narratives, 7172
World War I, 29, 11415; nationalism and,
15; race riots after, 12425
World War II, 13031; enemy aliens during, 130, 161n7
Wounded Knee, 59; Cristofero Colombo
on, 64
Yellow race. See Asian Americans
About the Author
Peter G. Vellon is Associate Professor of History at Queens College.

He was born in Queens, New York City, and earned his PhD from the
Graduate Center, The City University of New York. He is the author of
several articles on Italian American history.
172<<

A Great Conspiracy Against Our Race PDF

Transféré par

Informations du document

Description originale:

Titre original

Copyright

Formats disponibles

Partager ce document

Partager ou intégrer le document

Options de partage

Avez-vous trouvé ce document utile ?

Ce contenu est-il inapproprié ?

Droits d'auteur :

Formats disponibles

A Great Conspiracy Against Our Race PDF

Transféré par

Droits d'auteur :

Formats disponibles

A Great Conspiracy against our race

Culture, Labor, History Series

General Editors: Daniel Bender and Kimberley L. Phillips

A Great Conspiracy against Our Race

NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS

1. The Italian Language Press and the Creation

2. The Italian Language Press and Africa

3. Native Americans, Asians, and Italian Americans:

4. The Education of Italian Americans in Matters of Color

5. Defending Italian American Civility, Asserting Whiteness

About the Author

In 1997, I had the good fortune of meeting Philip V. Cannistraro at the

in completing two chapters. I have also benefited from the support of

In 1886, in response to a lynching in Vicksburg, Mississippi, the local

Americans belonged racially. Coverage of racially charged events such

A Great Conspiracy against Our Race explores the vital institution

history embraces categories in addition to black. What these works

from their privileged color status as whites. This distinction between

Even if one were to uphold Guglielmos separation of race and color,

examining how newspaper owners, editors, and journalists evaluated a

The Importance of the Italian Language Press

The organization of this manuscript follows a thematic format yet

racial vocabulary, especially as it would relate to its initial, empathetic

outside attempts to posit otherwise as extremely dangerous. Continued

16<<The Italian Language Press and Racial Identity

motivating prominenti such as Barsotti to trade in the discourse of

Italian immigrants did not arrive with a collective Italian consciousness,

The Italian Language Press and Racial Identity >>17

to sociologist Gabriella Gribaudi, the South was considered a frontier

18<<The Italian Language Press and Racial Identity

Italian Immigrants and New York City

The Italian Language Press and Racial Identity >>19

20<<The Italian Language Press and Racial Identity

The Italian Language Press and Racial Identity >>21

22<<The Italian Language Press and Racial Identity

and saints were wildly dissimilar to Irish American Catholic norms

The Italian Language Press and Its Influence

The Italian Language Press and Racial Identity >>23

24<<The Italian Language Press and Racial Identity

The Italian Language Press and Racial Identity >>25

26<<The Italian Language Press and Racial Identity

The Italian Language Press and Racial Identity >>27

Throughout the period, many mainstream newspapers came in

28<<The Italian Language Press and Racial Identity

Radicals in turn created an oppositional culture and celebrated

The Italian Language Press and Racial Identity >>29

30<<The Italian Language Press and Racial Identity

Along with Italian socialists and syndicalists, Italian anarchists were

The Italian Language Press and Racial Identity >>31

Uplifting the Race in the Pages of the Press

32<<The Italian Language Press and Racial Identity

In total, Il Progresso sponsored nineteen relief funds between the years

The Italian Language Press and Racial Identity >>33

Italian immigrants and lobbied to have the Italian language taught in

34<<The Italian Language Press and Racial Identity

The Italian Language Press and Racial Identity >>35

the colony.78 However, imperceptible to Pecorini, and even Barsotti and

A day after the brutal lynching of eleven Italian immigrants in New

38<<The Italian Language Press and Africa

issues in their homeland. Coming out of Italian unification in 1860,

The Italian Language Press and Africa >>39

Frequently New Yorks Italian language press constructed Africa as a