When southern Italians began emigrating to the U.S. in large
numbers in the 1870s-part of the "new immigration" from southern
and eastern rather than northern Europe-they were seen as racially
inferior, what David A. J. Richards terms "nonvisibly" black.
The first study of its kind, Italian American explores the
acculturation process of Italian immigrants in terms of
then-current patterns of European and American racism. Delving into
the political and legal context of flawed liberal nationalism both
in Italy (the Risorgimento) and the United States (Reconstruction
Amendments), Richards examines why Italian Americans were so
reluctant to influence depictions of themselves and their own
collective identity. He argues that American racism could not have
had the durability or political power it has had either in the
popular understanding or in the corruption of constitutional ideals
unless many new immigrants, themselves often regarded as racially
inferior, had been drawn into accepting and supporting many of the
terms of American racism.
With its unprecedented focus on Italian American identity and an
interdisciplinary approach to comparative culture and law, this
timely study sheds important light on the history and contemporary
importance of identity and multicultural politics in American
political and constitutional debate.
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