A great conspiracy against our race : Italian immigrant newspapers and the construction of whiteness in the early twentieth century / Peter G. Vellon.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Vellon, Peter G.

Series:

Culture, labor, history

Culture, labor, history series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Italian American newspapers--History--20th century.

Italian American newspapers.

Italian Americans--Race identity--History--20th century.

Italian Americans.

White people--Race identity--United States--History--20th century.

White people.

Immigrants--United States--History--20th century.

Immigrants.

Italian Americans--Social conditions.

Italian Americans--Cultural assimilation.

History.

White people--Race identity.

United States.

Italian Americans--Cultural assimilation--History--20th century.

Italian Americans--Social conditions--20th century.

United States--Race relations--History--20th century.

Race relations.

Physical Description:

x, 172 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

New York : New York University Press, 2014.

Summary:

"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 have also had to struggle with their own racial consciousness. 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"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

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.

Notes:

"Also available as an ebook"--Title page verso.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780814788486

0814788483

OCLC:

877843643

Publisher Number:

40024150058

Online:

Cover image