Racial history has always been the thorn in America’s side; with a swath of injustices—slavery; lynching; segregation; and many other ills—perpetrated against black people. This very history is complicated by; and also dependent on; what constitutes a white person in this country. Many of the European immigrant groups now considered white also had to struggle with their own racial identities. In A Great Conspiracy against Our Race; Peter Vellon explores how Italian immigrants; a once undesirable and “swarthy†race; assimilated into dominant white culture through the influential national and radical Italian language press in New York City. Examining the press as a cultural production of the Italian immigrant community; this book investigates how this immigrant press constructed race; class; and identity from 1886 through 1920. Their frequent coverage of racially charged events of the time; as well as other topics such as capitalism and religion; reveals how these papers constructed a racial identity as Italian; American; and white. A Great Conspiracy against Our Race vividly illustrates how the immigrant press was a site where socially constructed categories of race; color; civilization; and identity were reworked; created; contested; and negotiated. Vellon also uncovers how Italian immigrants filtered societal pressures and redefined the parameters of whiteness; constructing their own identity. This work is an important contribution to not only Italian American history; but America’s history of immigration and race.
#2300476 in Books Ingramcontent 2016-11-01Original language:English 9.00 x 1.25 x 6.00l; #File Name: 1477312188356 pagesCrescent Over Another Horizon Islam in Latin America the Caribbean and Latino USA
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