Black and Italian Cultures in the Making of Multiethnic America

Acknowledgments

The present book represents the culmination of a journey that began well before it took shape. My journey began with my eight years in the United States, where I lived, studied, and worked. It was there that I first encountered the Italian American community, through my friend Cris, whom I affectionately called la mia mamma americana. Cris, born to Calabrian parents, was raised in the Bronx, speaking an Italian dialect passed down by her grandparents—a blend of Calabrese and Napoletano. Cris explained to me the dynamic between Italian Americans and African Americans for the first time. I had read about this rivalry, but hearing about it firsthand was truly enlightening. What struck me most in Cris’s narratives was not the well-known rivalry, but rather her accounts of camaraderie and shared experiences. Cris spoke of her Black friends attending the same schools, playing in the same neighborhoods, and facing similar challenges. Beneath the surface of tension and hostility, opportunities for collaboration and shared experiences between Italian Americans and African Americans did exist! Yet, why had I not heard anything about it before?

However, my curiosity remained dormant until I chanced upon Vendetta¹ a poem by Rose Romano, which delved into themes of stigmatization, marginalization, racialization, and color lines—themes I had associated with the African American experience but never with Italian Americans. Vendetta highlights the in-betweeness of Italian identity and the marginalization of Italian people. It was through Romano’s evocative words that I began to recognize the complexities of the Italian American experience and the intersections of race, ethnicity, and culture within the Italian communities in America. Yet, it was only after reading Kym Ragusa’s memoir, The Skin Between Us, that I became determined to explore the intricate relationship between Italian Americans and African Americans. Mary Bucci Bush’s historical novel, Sweet Hope, and Louisa Calio’s poetry collection, Journey to the Heart Waters, added depth to my research.

The intersection of Italian American and African American experiences provides a fascinating perspective on the complexity of American cultural exchange. What particularly captivated me most were the perspectives of these three Italian Americans, who challenge conventional narratives surrounding Italian American history and identity. Kym Ragusa, Mary Bucci Bush, and Louisa Calio do not confine their narratives to their experiences as descendants of Italians in America; instead, they direct their focus outside Little Italy, delving into interethnic relationships, shared experiences, and social dynamics. Through their works, Ragusa, Bucci Bush, and Calio shed light on the ways marginalized groups share common struggles, aspirations, and experiences in American society.

This study examines a literary work from each author: Kym Ragusa’s memoir, The Skin Between Us; Mary Bucci Bush’s novel, Sweet Hope; and Louisa Calio’s poetry collection, Journey to the Heart Waters. Each author offers a distinctive viewpoint on the Italian American diaspora and the process of assimilation in the United States, embracing a multiethnic approach. Their stories serve as microhistories of marginalized ethnic minorities, whose narratives have often been overlooked in historical accounts. Mary Bucci Bush’s novel, Sweet Hope, for example, recounts a narrative of Italian immigration history, one that has nearly disappeared from historical records, especially within Italian history books. The novel centers on the Marchigiani, who worked with African Americans in the cotton plantations of the Mississippi Delta at the beginning of the previous century. Similarly, Kym Ragusa, in The Skin Between Us, shares her personal story as an Italian and African American girl born in Harlem, offering insights from a unique “insider” perspective into how blacks and Italians, both in co-operation and opposition, shaped the dynamics of race relations that have influenced New York City for decades. Louisa Calio expands beyond American and Italian borders with her poetry collection Journey to the Heart Waters, portraying Eritrea’s (colonial) history through the lens of an Italian American woman.

As Italian American scholarly voices amplify the call for transcultural research, my work endeavors to forge connections between these two communities and broaden the scope of the Italian American Studies canon. In analyzing these three works, I demonstrate how, by situating their literary contributions within a broader context and raising complex questions about race, belonging, and history, Ragusa, Bucci Bush, and Calio enhance the discourse surrounding Italian American identity and contribute to a new literary mapping of Italian America.

Writing this book has been both a pleasure and a profound honor because it allowed me to delve deeper into the history of my compatriots who left Italy to settle in America many years ago. I also found echoes of my own experiences in their stories, as I too left my homeland three decades ago. Like everyone who leaves their native land, I feel a deep sense of nostalgia and recognize that I am no longer the same person who once lived in my small village in Sardinia. I have been shaped by encounters with other cultures, people, and languages.

My book could not have come to fruition without those many individuals I encountered along the way and those I left behind at home. For this reason, I must extend my heartfelt gratitude to all who bore me and bore with me! My first thank you goes to my family for their unwavering support throughout this journey. To my super dad Vincenzo, whose encouragement and belief in my abilities have been a constant source of strength, I am deeply grateful. To my husband, whose unwavering love, understanding, and support and humor made it possible for me to pursue my academic endeavors, I love you! And to my son, whose laughter and jokes brought light to even the toughest days: “Grazie, Sashi!”

To my dear friend, my mentor, esteemed professor, and dedicated supervisor, Colleen Ryan, who patiently and wisely guided me through my master’s thesis and Ph.D. Grazie mille con tutto il cuore! Your unwavering support has been an enduring source of inspiration. Without you, this achievement would not have been possible.

I am indebted to my supervisor, Mita Banerjee, for believing in me from the moment I set foot at the University of Mainz, even though I didn’t speak a word of German. Your trust in this project has been invaluable.

To my beloved mother, who departed before witnessing the completion of this project, your presence is deeply missed. Wherever you are, thank you for everything.

To all of you, thank you so much. Gràtzias meda a totus. Non bosi seis liberaus de mimi!

Introduction: Talking about Italians and African Americans

[T]he very premises of the history we have been told and inherited needs radically to be revaluated. Perhaps it is less a question of correcting the record than of changing the music—that is, of lending our ears to a very different manner of scoring the past and orchestrating the present.

(Chambers 461–46)

This study analyzes the relationship between Italian immigrants and African Americans in the US, in the light of recent scholarly and fictional works that have significantly shaped or have been shaping the contemporary literary landscape. It traces the growing trend in Italian American literature, specifically in works by women, of creating fictional figures whose lives are particularly complex because of racial and social contradictions. Specifically, this study considers points of convergence between Italians and African Americans’ cultures in the works of three Italian American writers: Kym Ragusa, Mary Bucci Bush, and Louisa Calio. Each of these writers re-examines the Italian American diaspora and assimilation processes in the U. S. through a multiethnic lens. Reframing the relationship between Italians and African Americans and Africa and Italy, Kym Ragusa, Mary Bucci Bush, and Louisa Calio call attention to the effects these encounters have had on the construction of Italian Americans’ racial and ethnic identity in the last century. I will show the way these authors portray spaces in which Black and Italian stories and histories intersect, suggesting a profound entanglement in terms of relationships and cultural connections. Furthermore, I will maintain that Kym Ragusa, Mary Bucci Bush, and Louisa Calio, through their representations of history, race, ethnicity, and color, talked to a broader audience, challenged the contours of Italian American history, and gave a different sense of what it means to be Italian. Finally, this study will prove that it is possible to discuss the commonality between Italians and African Americans by fighting against our biases and dialoguing with voices that exist beyond the confine of Italian America.

The epigraph above illustrates the mindset from which I embarked on writing this book. As Chambers emphasizes, there is a critical need to reassess the history we’ve been taught, urging us to lend “our ears to a very different manner of scoring the past and orchestrating the present” (2008, 26). Similarly, historian Donna R. Gabaccia, in “Is Everywhere Nowhere? Nomads, Nations, and the Immigrant Paradigm of United States History,” acknowledges that historical narratives often harbor implicit biases and assumptions about specific groups, including Italians. She encourages scholars to deconstruct the entrenched assumptions regarding Italian history, thus reshaping our comprehension of “the ‘Italian’ that Italian history takes for granted” (1120). In his work, A Semiotic of Ethnicity, Italian diaspora scholar Anthony Tamburri, advocates for the diverse voices within Italian Americana to actively engage in “a self-reflective, critical dialogue” aimed at fostering the development of an “aesthetically and ideologically critical voice” capable of engaging with other ethnic, racial, and sexual voices beyond the confines of Italian America (130). Tamburri underscores the significance of nurturing an inclusive discourse that incorporates individuals with diverse perspectives and experiences within Italian America, as well as across various communities, to foster a more nuanced and comprehensive understanding of our shared experiences and cultural heritage.