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Are Italians White?: How Race is Made in America
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.
344 pages, Paperback
First published September 18, 2003
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
June 28, 2010
I'm not sure where to start except to say that this book has been transformative for me. "Are Italians White?: How Race is Made in America" is a collection of works that details the social construction of whiteness in America and specifically how that has affected Sicilians and Italians. I found myself in every piece. It was as if I was finally having the conversations I've been dying to have with others. I felt myself getting teary with certain pieces.
Albeit academic and a little dry depending on the author and subject matter, "Are Italians White?" is engaging and as multicultural as my Sicilian heritage. It is a true eye-opener that asks us to question whiteness, Italianness, and racism.
Albeit academic and a little dry depending on the author and subject matter, "Are Italians White?" is engaging and as multicultural as my Sicilian heritage. It is a true eye-opener that asks us to question whiteness, Italianness, and racism.
August 3, 2016
In case you're wondering, the answer is yes. The various essays in this book repeatedly point out that while Italians were considered inferior to WASP white people in the US, there was never a serious sustained effort to deny they were white with all the benefits that implies. The book looks at the complicated relationship of Italians with other whites and with blacks; in the early 20th century many Italian-Americans were against racism of all sorts, post-WW II as they moved further up the hierarchy, they were more likely to dump on blacks to prove their own whiteness. However there are stories of cross-race solidarity and mixed-race individuals that demonstrate lots of exceptions. Interesting.
November 27, 2008
Surprisingly non-academic and not-surprisingly insightful. I usually expect self-promulgating, excuse-making shit when I read this kind of stuff (i.e. my class made me do it, blech), but this is really way more evolved and interesting. Highly recommended to all my fellow progressive, somewhat self-loathing paisans and then some.
October 19, 2017
bad title, great essays.
March 15, 2021
Are Italians White?: How Race is Made in America by Jennifer Guglielmo and Salvatore Salerno (2003, Routledge Publisher)
For about the last 20 years, I’ve been seriously interested in all things Italian. I’ve read the biographies of all the “Primus inter pares” or First Among Equals of the Roman elites, the history of Italy as a country and how Italians came to the United States (including my own family) and what it meant to be an Italian immigrant. My dad, his siblings and his parents never talked about this when I was growing up. Italians just did not discuss these things.
Italians, like many immigrants, faced discrimination. This bigotry was different from most émigrés but in many ways similar to African Americans. African Americans, Hispanics, Asians and Italians were often distinctly different from other newcomers because of the color of their skin.
One of the essays in this book told the story of how a grandparent’s information was recorded by a census taker. They recorded her heritage as Italian and then asked about her color. The grandmother did not respond to this question, but the color noted by the Census taker was not black or white, but “dark”. This was interesting because she was very fair skinned and would easily get burned if out in the sun for any length of time.
She was “dark” because she was Italian.
This 328 page book has an acknowledgment, 16 essays, an afterward, notes, information about the contributors and an index. The contributors include authors, professors, a Hip Hop producer, artists, and a filmmaker. As you can imagine this led to some interesting reading.
Italy did not become a country until the 1860’s. At that time Northern Italy had most of the industrial and financial businesses. They had the wealth.
The south had the land. My great and great-great grandparents were farmers, shepherds, and seamstresses. Like the majority of Southern Italians, they were known as being Terrone. Terrone is an offensive term that describes living standards and cultural differences that were quite different from the more European north.
The Italian word "Terra" means land or dirt so a Terrone is one who works with dirt. Most of the Italian immigrants to American in the later 1800’s and early 1900’s were of the dirt. Poor, uneducated, culturally different and insular. If you weren’t family, you were other. If you weren’t from the same village, you were other. This made becoming part of the American Melting Pot almost impossible. This made making Italians “the other” by white Americans easily accomplished.
My grandparents and parents never talked about coming to America, growing up in America and the many challenges they had to face. They just often accepted life as it was, worked hard, loved their family and made America their home.
Italians in America were paid less than other immigrants and frequently accepted the most dangerous, back breaking jobs. Whites were usually paid the most, then the Irish, African-Americans and finally the Italians being paid the least. If there is any good news in this story, Italians could become citizens unlike many Asians.
A small, but because of their impact, significant number became unionists, Socialists and Communists. These organizations allowed them to fight the unchecked capitalism of the times. Since all Italians were automatically thought to be murders, thieves, gangsters and assassins; it’s not surprising that the small number of Italian individuals who were violent just added to this bias.
Sadly, as we pushed to become a part of White America, all too many Italians became racists themselves. Frank Rizzo, a notorious Philadelphia Police Commissioner and Mayor, used racism to rise to power often employing what was described as ‘Gestapo Tactics’ to get there.
Conversely, several famous Italians supported racial equality and integration. Frank Sinatra, for example, went to the 1945 “race riot” at Benjamin Franklin High School in New York. Sinatra would also refuse to work in clubs that would not allow African Americans entry. Even one of his famous “Rat Pack” members, Sammy Davis Jr, was not only Black but Jewish.
Are Italians White? When I’m asked my race, I respond “White”. When I’m asked who I am, I say Italian (and according to my 23&Me findings, several other ethnic and racial groups as well, including .5% North African).
So, should you read this book?
Since you have so many different authors with different perspectives, as you might expect, there is a great variation of themes and issues. This variation may lead to an interest in some topics and not so much in others. You can pick which chapters are your “deep dive” .
“Are Italians White” is not a read in a week and done, kind of book. It is a read an essay or two, think about it and then read a bit more book. It makes you think. It makes you ponder your own roots.
So, should you read this book? Yes. If you are Italian you should read this book. If you are interested in immigration, how we develop a concept of “race”, racism, bigoty, race politics, and the concept of “Whiteness”.
Yes, read this book.
For about the last 20 years, I’ve been seriously interested in all things Italian. I’ve read the biographies of all the “Primus inter pares” or First Among Equals of the Roman elites, the history of Italy as a country and how Italians came to the United States (including my own family) and what it meant to be an Italian immigrant. My dad, his siblings and his parents never talked about this when I was growing up. Italians just did not discuss these things.
Italians, like many immigrants, faced discrimination. This bigotry was different from most émigrés but in many ways similar to African Americans. African Americans, Hispanics, Asians and Italians were often distinctly different from other newcomers because of the color of their skin.
One of the essays in this book told the story of how a grandparent’s information was recorded by a census taker. They recorded her heritage as Italian and then asked about her color. The grandmother did not respond to this question, but the color noted by the Census taker was not black or white, but “dark”. This was interesting because she was very fair skinned and would easily get burned if out in the sun for any length of time.
She was “dark” because she was Italian.
This 328 page book has an acknowledgment, 16 essays, an afterward, notes, information about the contributors and an index. The contributors include authors, professors, a Hip Hop producer, artists, and a filmmaker. As you can imagine this led to some interesting reading.
Italy did not become a country until the 1860’s. At that time Northern Italy had most of the industrial and financial businesses. They had the wealth.
The south had the land. My great and great-great grandparents were farmers, shepherds, and seamstresses. Like the majority of Southern Italians, they were known as being Terrone. Terrone is an offensive term that describes living standards and cultural differences that were quite different from the more European north.
The Italian word "Terra" means land or dirt so a Terrone is one who works with dirt. Most of the Italian immigrants to American in the later 1800’s and early 1900’s were of the dirt. Poor, uneducated, culturally different and insular. If you weren’t family, you were other. If you weren’t from the same village, you were other. This made becoming part of the American Melting Pot almost impossible. This made making Italians “the other” by white Americans easily accomplished.
My grandparents and parents never talked about coming to America, growing up in America and the many challenges they had to face. They just often accepted life as it was, worked hard, loved their family and made America their home.
Italians in America were paid less than other immigrants and frequently accepted the most dangerous, back breaking jobs. Whites were usually paid the most, then the Irish, African-Americans and finally the Italians being paid the least. If there is any good news in this story, Italians could become citizens unlike many Asians.
A small, but because of their impact, significant number became unionists, Socialists and Communists. These organizations allowed them to fight the unchecked capitalism of the times. Since all Italians were automatically thought to be murders, thieves, gangsters and assassins; it’s not surprising that the small number of Italian individuals who were violent just added to this bias.
Sadly, as we pushed to become a part of White America, all too many Italians became racists themselves. Frank Rizzo, a notorious Philadelphia Police Commissioner and Mayor, used racism to rise to power often employing what was described as ‘Gestapo Tactics’ to get there.
Conversely, several famous Italians supported racial equality and integration. Frank Sinatra, for example, went to the 1945 “race riot” at Benjamin Franklin High School in New York. Sinatra would also refuse to work in clubs that would not allow African Americans entry. Even one of his famous “Rat Pack” members, Sammy Davis Jr, was not only Black but Jewish.
Are Italians White? When I’m asked my race, I respond “White”. When I’m asked who I am, I say Italian (and according to my 23&Me findings, several other ethnic and racial groups as well, including .5% North African).
So, should you read this book?
Since you have so many different authors with different perspectives, as you might expect, there is a great variation of themes and issues. This variation may lead to an interest in some topics and not so much in others. You can pick which chapters are your “deep dive” .
“Are Italians White” is not a read in a week and done, kind of book. It is a read an essay or two, think about it and then read a bit more book. It makes you think. It makes you ponder your own roots.
So, should you read this book? Yes. If you are Italian you should read this book. If you are interested in immigration, how we develop a concept of “race”, racism, bigoty, race politics, and the concept of “Whiteness”.
Yes, read this book.
May 7, 2011
I had to read this for a class project a while back. Since I am Italian, I found this read incredibly educational. I never would have imagined Italians were considered both white and black when first arriving in America!
If you are Italian, and would love to learn more about your peoples' history, read this book. If you love history and learning about cultures, this book could go either way... it really depends on whether you find Italy and racism interesting subjects to read about.
If you are Italian, and would love to learn more about your peoples' history, read this book. If you love history and learning about cultures, this book could go either way... it really depends on whether you find Italy and racism interesting subjects to read about.
January 17, 2023
I am currently reading books on the Italians, the Irish and Eastern European Jewish immigrants in the the very racially and ethnically stratified United States of the past. This looks like it is one of the great ones in that field. "Are Italians White?: How Race Is Made in America" is a very informative and engaging book for those with an interest in such "not fully white" ethnic histories. Guglielmo's collection provides a really detailed and griping picture of how, 1880 and 1924, more than 4 million Italians immigrated to America, but after a while this community began to be seen as “racially suspect.” When that happened, they were increasingly barred from some social organizations, schools, film theaters, churches, and even, surprisingly, labor unions. I have also very recently read "Race, Politics, and Irish America," so what jumped out at me in this book was that the Italians, like the Irish, seem to have brought the ethnic divisions of the motherland to America: the Italians who met with the biggest degree of prejudice were mostly of Southern roots, which seems similar to the divisions between Protestant Scotch-Irish and famine Irish Catholics in the United States. I highly recommend
August 4, 2017
A bit dry at times, though thoroughly interesting & well-thought out, this piece explores many perspectives of race, ethnicity, & immigration, ultimately arriving at the only semi-conclusive answer that while, now, yes, they are, this was not always so.
May 24, 2023
if you're italian american, you simply have to read this.
December 13, 2017
Fantastic series of essays on the construct of "whiteness" and how immigrant Italians were both excluded and included in the perks that come with. Excellent read for those trying to expand their understanding of race *and color* theory.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews