| Italian American: The Racializing of an Ethnic Identity Subjects: Italian Americans -- Cultural assimilation; Italian Americans -- Ethnic identity; Immigrants -- United States -- Cultural assimilation; Racism -- Political aspects -- United States -- History -- 19th century; Racism -- Political aspects -- United States -; 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. Richards David A.J. : Author of numerous books including Conscience and the Constitution: History, Theory, and Law of the Reconstruction Amendments and Women, Gays, and the Constitution: The Grounds of Feminism and Gay Rights in Culture and Law, David A. J. Richards is Edwin D. Webb Professor of Law at New York University. |