When Italian immigrants landed on American shores they were outsiders but over time this community moved from being ethnically suspect to being racially privileged. Asking "are Italians white?", this collection of essays explores how, when and why whiteness became important to Italian Americans. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xiii INTRODUCTION: WHITE LIES, DARK TRUTHS 1(16) Jennifer Guglielmo I. LEARNING THE U.S. COLOR LINE 1. COLOR: WHITE/COMPLEXION: DARK 17(12) Louise DeSalvo 2. "NO COLOR BARRIER": ITALIANS, RACE, AND POWER IN THE UNITED STATES 29(15) Thomas A. Guglielmo 3. RACE, NATION, HYPHEN: ITALIAN-AMERICANS AND AMERICAN MULTICULTURALISM IN COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE 44(16) Donna R. Gabaccia 4. WALKING THE COLOR LINE: ITALIAN IMMIGRANTS IN RURAL LOUISIANA, 1880-1910 60(19) Vincenza Scarpaci II. RADICALISM AND RACE 5. MAKING THE ITALIAN OTHER: BLACKS, WHITES, AND THE INBETWEEN IN THE 1895 SPRINGVALLEY, ILLINOIS, RACE RIOT 79(19) Caroline Waldron Merithew 6. "IT IS PROVIDENTIAL THAT THERE ARE FOREIGNERS HERE": WHITENESS AND MASCULINITY IN THE MAKING OF ITALIAN AMERICAN SYNDICALIST IDENTITY 98(13) Michael Miller Topp 7. I DELITTI DELLA RAZZA BIANCA CRIMES OF THE WHITE RACE: ITALIAN ANARCHISTS' RACIAL DISCOURSE AS CRIME 111(13) Salvatore Salerno 8. SURREALIST, ANARCHIST, AFROCENTRIST: PHILIP LAMANTIA BEFORE AND AFTER THE "BEAT GENERATION" 124(20) Franklin Rosemont 9. THE FRONT LINES: HIP-HOP, LIFE, AND THE DEATH OF RACISM 144(17) Manifest III. WHITENESS, VIOLENCE, AND THE URBAN CRISIS 10. WHEN FRANK SINATRA CAME TO ITALIAN HARLEM: THE 1945 "RACE RIOT" AT BENJAMIN FRANKLIN HIGH SCHOOL 161(16) Gerald Meyer 11. FRANK L. RIZZO AND THE WHITENING OF ITALIAN AMERICANS IN PHILADELPHIA 177(15) Stefano Luconi 12. "ITALIANS AGAINST RACISM": THE MURDER OF YUSUF HAWKINS (RIP.) AND MY MARCH ON BENSONHURST 192(21) Joseph Sciorra IV. TOWARD A BLACK ITALIAN IMAGINARY 13. SANGLI DU SANGLI MEU: GROWING UP BLACK AND ITALIAN IN A TIME OF WHITE FLIGHT 213(11) Kym Ragusa 14. FIGURING RACE 224(10) Edvige Giunta 15. GIANCARLO GIUSEPPE ALESSANDRO ESPOSITO: LIFE IN THE BORDERLANDS 234(16) John Gennari 16. ITALIANI/AFRICANI 250(9) Ronnie Mae Painter and Rosette Capotorto AFTERWORD: DU BOIS, RACE, AND ITALIAN AMERICANS 259(6) David R. Roediger NOTES 265(50) CONTRIBUTORS 315(4) INDEX 319