Tampa, Florida, 1910. The lynching of Castenge Ficarrotta and Angelo Albano simply for being Italian (from the forthcoming book edited by William Connell and Stanislao Pugliese, “The Routledge History of Italian Americans.”)
President Trump’s recent Executive Order can be seen in two very different historical perspectives. On the one hand, it is in keeping with a long tradition of demonizing immigrants—something Italians, among others, have long experienced in the past. On the other hand, Americans often point with pride to the history of accepting immigrants, as embodied (literally) in the figure of the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor. Italian Americans have a particular responsibility in this new (or old) political landscape.