A darker past: The development of Italian American racial consciousness, 1886--1920.
Item
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Title
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A darker past: The development of Italian American racial consciousness, 1886--1920.
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Identifier
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AAI3074689
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identifier
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3074689
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Creator
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Vellon, Peter.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Philip V. Cannistraro
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Date
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2003
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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History, United States | Sociology, Ethnic and Racial Studies
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Abstract
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This work will examine how Italian immigrants interpreted questions of race and whiteness upon their arrival in the United States and how Italian racial consciousness gave way to a unique Italian American racial outlook. This process would take decades and be informed not only by racial attitudes cultivated in Italy, but an exposure to, and emerging awareness of, American racism. This hybrid consciousness was characterized by racial distinctions based upon various, often overlapping categories of analysis, such as skin color, racial hierarchy, and concepts of "civilization" and "savagery.";Although they had been exposed to aspects of "blackness" in Italy, southern Italian immigrants did not enter the country with a pre-formed idea of whiteness in place, nor did they immediately choose whiteness upon arrival. Indeed, Italian immigrants were perceived by Americans as an inferior race and characterized as between white and black. It would only be after decades of experience in United States society that Southern Italian immigrants would be in a position to see themselves as "American" and "white." The Italian American reaction to the lynching of Italian immigrants and African Americans in the South---the home of Jim Crow---revealed a growing understanding of how racial hierarchies worked in the United States. It was this knowledge which re-enforced and expedited the process whereby Italian immigrants distanced themselves from a darker past and groped unevenly toward acceptance not only as American, but as white.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
