Are Italians White?: How Race is Made in America

by Guglielmo,Jennifer

• ISBN13: 9780415934510
• ISBN10: 0415934516
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2003-08-14
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

When Italian immigrants landed on American shores they were outsiders: dark in complexion, culturally different, and unable to speak English. Over time the vibrant community assimilated and moved from being ethnically suspect to being racially privileged as America divided into black and white. This dazzling collection of original essays from some of the country's leading thinkers asks the rather intriguing question -Are Italians White? Each piece carefully explores how, when and why whiteness became important to Italian Americans, and the significance of gender, class and nation to racial identity. From tales of immigration to the stormy relationship between Italians and blacks, the volume presents a dynamic, insightful look at integration, community identity, radicalism, urban politics and creative expression. The authors also explore critical moments in community conflict from the murder of Yusef Hawkins in Bensonhurst to Frank Sinatra's visit to Italian Harlem in the 1940s. In thetradition of groundbreaking works likeHow the Irish Became WhiteandHow Jews Became White Folks,Are ItalianWhite?is sure to become a landmark work that defines and adds to the dialogue on the distinct relationship that Italian Americans have had throughout American history to both racialized discrimination and racial privilege.

Table of Contents

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS	xiii
INTRODUCTION: WHITE LIES, DARK TRUTHS	1	(16)
Jennifer Guglielmo
I. LEARNING THE U.S. COLOR LINE
1. COLOR: WHITE/COMPLEXION: DARK	17	(12)
Louise DeSalvo
2. "NO COLOR BARRIER": ITALIANS, RACE, AND POWER IN THE UNITED STATES	29	(15)
Thomas A. Guglielmo
3. RACE, NATION, HYPHEN: ITALIAN-AMERICANS AND AMERICAN MULTICULTURALISM IN COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE	44	(16)
Donna R. Gabaccia
4. WALKING THE COLOR LINE: ITALIAN IMMIGRANTS IN RURAL LOUISIANA, 1880-1910	60	(19)
Vincenza Scarpaci
II. RADICALISM AND RACE
5. MAKING THE ITALIAN OTHER: BLACKS, WHITES, AND THE INBETWEEN IN THE 1895 SPRINGVALLEY, ILLINOIS, RACE RIOT	79	(19)
Caroline Waldron Merithew
6. "IT IS PROVIDENTIAL THAT THERE ARE FOREIGNERS HERE": WHITENESS AND MASCULINITY IN THE MAKING OF ITALIAN AMERICAN SYNDICALIST IDENTITY	98	(13)
Michael Miller Topp
7. I DELITTI DELLA RAZZA BIANCA CRIMES OF THE WHITE RACE: ITALIAN ANARCHISTS' RACIAL DISCOURSE AS CRIME	111	(13)
Salvatore Salerno
8. SURREALIST, ANARCHIST, AFROCENTRIST: PHILIP LAMANTIA BEFORE AND AFTER THE "BEAT GENERATION"	124	(20)
Franklin Rosemont
9. THE FRONT LINES: HIP-HOP, LIFE, AND THE DEATH OF RACISM	144	(17)
Manifest
III. WHITENESS, VIOLENCE, AND THE URBAN CRISIS
10. WHEN FRANK SINATRA CAME TO ITALIAN HARLEM: THE 1945 "RACE RIOT" AT BENJAMIN FRANKLIN HIGH SCHOOL	161	(16)
Gerald Meyer
11. FRANK L. RIZZO AND THE WHITENING OF ITALIAN AMERICANS IN PHILADELPHIA	177	(15)
Stefano Luconi
12. "ITALIANS AGAINST RACISM": THE MURDER OF YUSUF HAWKINS (RIP.) AND MY MARCH ON BENSONHURST	192	(21)
Joseph Sciorra
IV. TOWARD A BLACK ITALIAN IMAGINARY
13. SANGLI DU SANGLI MEU: GROWING UP BLACK AND ITALIAN IN A TIME OF WHITE FLIGHT	213	(11)
Kym Ragusa
14. FIGURING RACE	224	(10)
Edvige Giunta
15. GIANCARLO GIUSEPPE ALESSANDRO ESPOSITO: LIFE IN THE BORDERLANDS	234	(16)
John Gennari
16. ITALIANI/AFRICANI	250	(9)
Ronnie Mae Painter and Rosette Capotorto
AFTERWORD: DU BOIS, RACE, AND ITALIAN AMERICANS	259	(6)
David R. Roediger
NOTES	265	(50)
CONTRIBUTORS	315	(4)
INDEX	319