Hot on the heels of Part 1, Before We Were Italians: 1492 – 1890, of our four-part Power Hour series on Italian American history, join John, Pat, and Dolores as they delve into Part 2 with “Italians in America: 1890-1941.”

If you enjoyed Part 1, you won’t want to miss this next chapter in the Italian American story, covering the Great Migration, the New Orleans lynchings, the Italian American role in the First World War, and our community’s relationship to Fascism. All that and a wealth of random knowledge make this episode one you will want to listen to over and over again!

Tweetables:

• “We are clearly a large and in some sense intimidating segment that comes over because we are the most foreign [group], not the Irish who spoke the language.” – John Viola on the beginning of mass Italian immigration to America
• “It’s the whole soul of the Italian community.” – Pat O’Boyle on Patron Saints
• “The Irish were people of the book and the Italians were people of the senses.  They had to see and taste and hear.” -Dolores Alfieri on worshiping in the Italian community and our relation to Saints
• “What people often don’t understand is that the earliest Italian immigrants, before the quotas and the immigration law changes in the 1920s, 49% of the people that came here from Italy went back.” – John Viola
• “Little Italy’s were born out of necessity.  At this point people were living in community because they needed to survive together, they needed a safe zone…” – John Viola
• “He’s one of the first to crack that wall between our community and the greater American society and say this is not who we are…” – John Viola on Lieutenant Joseph Petrosino dealing with the Black Hand

Books/Resources:

• IAP 74: POWER HOUR: A Power Hour History of the Italian American Experience Part 1 of 4: Before We Were Italians: 1492 – 1890
• IAP 45: The hidden history of Southern Italy’s glory – Part One
• IAP 46: The hidden history of Southern Italy’s glory – Part Two
• IAP 48: The hidden history of Southern Italy’s glory – Part Three
• The Madonna of 115^th Street: Faith and Community in Italian Harlem, 1880 – 1950
• Tearing Down Statues of Columbus Also Tears Down My History by John M. Viola
• Dr. Vincenzo Solaro’s Inaugural Speech for OSIA

Songs:

“You’re the Top” sung by Jeanne Aubert and Jack Whiting (originally written and performed by Cole Porter)