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"Italians during this period (1876- 1930) were the targets of mass lynchings & subject to slurs like “guinea” (a person of mixed-race ancestry), “dago”(because Italians were paid as a “day goes” rather than salaried), & wop (as in “without papers”).
-Laura Smith
#Swarthy
-Laura Smith
#Swarthy
Described as “links in a descending chain of evolution” an 1882 editorial wrote:
“There has never been since New York was founded so low and ignorant a class among the immigrants who poured in here as the Southern Italians who have been crowding our docks during the past year."
“There has never been since New York was founded so low and ignorant a class among the immigrants who poured in here as the Southern Italians who have been crowding our docks during the past year."
Italy was a melting pot as in ancient times was first inhabited by the : Nuraghi, Latini, Ausoni, Umbrians , Etruscans, Veneti, Ligurians, Sabines, & Oscans. Later the Greeks would travel and mix in by 800 B.C.E. as they colonized Sicily.
Italy didn't become an official State until 1861, while in greater time the region speak 'Italiano' a dialect rooted out of Vulgar Latin. Moors migrated after 711 C.E. as today , Italy in certain pockets still has an Arabic influence. Greeks, French , & Albanians mixed in as well
Sicily is an island off Italy separated by 1.5 miles of water from the mainland (Strait of Messina) with nearly 75% of the region engulfed with hills & mountains. The Mafia began around the 1800s first to have protection of the citrus trade in the city of Palermo
The Muslim conquest of Sicily began around 827 C.E. when North African Muslims in the Tunisia area entered Southern Italy , they later conquered as they had Italians in that region speaking Maltese Arabic. Currently many languages such as French & Romanian are also spoken
Sicilian ceramic pieces have a legend that traces back to the 11th century in the Arabic district of Kasla in Palermo, Italy. Today it's referred to as maiolica pottery , maiolica is a term coined by the Spaniards in the 13th century.
Southern Italians especially from Sicily, Naples , & Sardinia area migrated to America first in the early 1800s. Majority Moorish descendants who were considered "free people of color" others who were "white" were still relabeled for living in proximity & working sugar fields
Markets/small businesses were created in Louisiana with towns that occupied "African-Americans" & Italians as they catered to each other , lived amongst each other & also mixed in , the proximity in the south made whites view Italians as not "fully white" as they were persecuted
600,000 Italian immigrants were forced to carry “enemy alien” identity papers, a requirement similar to the registration system used by Nazis to track down Jews, because of thier status & darker skin they were restricted from working near waterfront areas only hired as laborers
During the WW II era Italians have hidden history of government taking land creating internment camps as over 10,000 were taken from thier homes and also thrown into concentration camps with the Japanese in President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued the infamous Executive Order 9066
