With Hitler’s Germany, Italy became our enemy, part of the Axis Powers, which placed Italian Americans under additional pressure. In Italy, fascism grew in strength under Mussolini. Joe DiMaggio and Frank Sinatra emerged as important examples of Italian American culture. Things changed for the better slowly into the 1930s and ‘40s. Next to the word Complexion, a clerk wrote “Dark.” Fearing deportation, my grandfather became a naturalized citizen. In 1921, new immigration laws began to slam the doors. No wonder Italians and other immigrant groups settled into their own communities, helped form labor unions and, on the dark side, found power in organized crime families.Īs more and more Italians and others emigrated to America, politicians stoked the flames of xenophobia. Italians were said to be ignorant, filthy, disease-ridden, useless except for the most menial forms of labor. When former President Donald Trump called Mexican immigrants degenerate rapists and murderers, he was following an old script, whether he knew it or not. A century later, it has become perhaps the most contested American holiday of all time, an insult to Indigenous people, a dismissal of the genocide of Spanish conquistadors and a generator of a founding mythology which, if we were to be honest, had almost nothing to do with Italians. What was to be a one-time event turned into an annual celebration, and, under FDR, a federal holiday. In places like Louisiana, Italians lived close to Black communities and served everyone in their stores. Vile stereotypes and names were directed to both groups. The Italians since the time of the Civil War became associated by whites, especially in the South, with Black Americans. But at least the Irish, for the most part, had light skin. “No Irish Need Apply” was one sign of intolerance. The paranoid conspiracies included the idea that their primary loyalty was to the Pope, whose plan was to infiltrate the American way of life. Like the Irish, the Italians were reviled by white Protestant Americans because they were Catholic. America needed cheap labor, the fuel of industry. And my mom, Speranza, became Shirley.īy the time my grandfather set eyes on the Statue of Liberty for the first time in 1901, hundreds of thousands of Italian immigrants had made their way to America. But as these immigrants settled on the Lower East Side of NYC, in an effort to assimilate, their names began to change. What better name for a 4-year-old who gets on a ship bound for Ellis Island and the United States of America. If you translate that name into English, it can mean Pilgrim Mariner. The youngest of six children, he was given the most beautiful name: Pelegrino Marino. My grandfather was born in 1897 outside of Naples, Italy. But he did not change his name to soften his ethnicity. It was probably a good idea for Marion Morrison to change his name to John Wayne before climbing on his horse. And, maybe my favorite singer, Anthony Dominick Benedetto, rose to fame as Tony Bennett. An Italian named Dino Paul Crocetti became Dean Martin. Of course, these singers had role models of an earlier generation. The great Connie Francis (who recorded an album of Italian songs) was born Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero. Frankie Valli (a mildly Italian name) was Francesco Castelluccio.įreddy “Boom Boom” Cannon, who sang “Tallahassee Lassie,” was Frederick Anthony Picariello.Īnd it was not just the men who changed their names.
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