Lagumina

Wop! A DOCUMENTARY HISTORY OF ANTI-ITALIAN DISCRIMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES

Evidence in this book cites chapter and verse the popular and academic beliefs that Italians were an inferior race. This is the major message that history has for Italian American: Our ancestors had to battle discrimination, racism and poverty too. Those are our roots...human experiences never to be forgotten. And as generations of our forebears overcame the obstacles, we must be bound NOT to oppress as we have been oppressed, but to rise above the temptation to blame the victims in our society.

Primary sources that illustrate Americans’ thoughts and actions regarding Italian immigrants. Passages are chilling, preposterous, cringe-worthy, and all-too-familiar. And the fact that some of America’s best writers and thinkers were spouting this nonsense gives an extra dimension to the racialized attitudes that shaped US and world culture. The reaction of Italian immigrants and all the other victims ultimately will help to mitigate that culture of hate, but we all must start by knowing in full detail that we or our ancestors were once the target of discrimination. Wop!, the book, contains material that cannot and must not be forgotten by Italians Americans or anyone else.

50 years of providing insight with this title; the author’s authorized reprint edition with his new 2021 introduction.