Journal title ITALIA CONTEMPORANEA
Author/s Tommaso Caiazza
Publishing Year 2021 Issue 2021/296 Language Italian
Pages 30 P. 201-230 File size 0 KB
DOI 10.3280/ic296-oa1
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This article examines the relationship between Italian immigrants and the labour movement in early 20th century San Francisco. "Race" is the lens through which the Italians’ process of integration is investigated in the light of the racist policies adopted by labour unions, which admitted only "whites" and excluded Asian immigrants. By considering a wide variety of sources (the labour press, trade unions’ records, data on employment), the article reveals how Italians, although discriminated against and judged as racially inferior, were nonetheless recognized as "white" and, thus, assimilated into the labour movement. According to the author this was caused by an early development of a common "Caucasian" identity among European groups, modelled against Asian immigration, which reduced tensions between the "old stock" and the "new immigrants", such as Italians, prevailing elsewhere in the United States.
Keywords: Italian migration to the U.S., Whiteness, Racism, Labor history
Tommaso Caiazza, Una "classe inferiore di stranieri bianchi".Gli italiani e il movimento dei lavoratori a San Francisco in "ITALIA CONTEMPORANEA" 296/2021, pp 201-230, DOI: 10.3280/ic296-oa1