Anti-Italianism

Anti-Italianism or Italophobia is a negative attitude regarding Italian people or people with Italian ancestry, often expressed through the use of prejudice or stereotypes. Its opposite is Italophilia.

Anti-Italianism in the United States resulted among some Americans in reaction to the period of large-scale Italian immigration beginning in the last part of the 19th century. Prior to that time, Italians, who had lived in North America from the beginning of the 17th century, were respected craftsmen, musicians, soldiers, merchants, missionaries, educators, artists and architects.

The later immigrants, who came in large numbers during the period of mass immigration beginning in the last decade of the 19th century, often had a much different reception. They arrived with waves of numerous other immigrants, many from agrarian backgrounds. In United States, and other English-speaking countries to which they immigrated, such as Canada and Australia, the later Italian immigrants were often viewed as perpetual foreigners, restricted to manual labor. Their frequent lack of formal education, and competition with earlier immigrants for lower-paying jobs and housing often resulted in hostility toward them.Ethnocentric chauvinism exhibited by the earlier Northern European settlers toward the Italian immigrants was also a major factor, especially in the American South. In reaction to the large-scale immigration from southern and eastern Europe, Congress passed legislation (Emergency Quota Act of 1921 and Immigration Act of 1924) restricting immigration from those regions, but not from Northern European countries.

Anti-Italian prejudice was also associated with the anti-Catholic tradition that existed in the United States, inherited from Protestant/Catholic European competition and wars over centuries. When the United States was founded, it inherited the anti-Catholic, anti-papal animosity of its original Protestant settlers. Anti-Catholic sentiments in the U.S. reached a peak in the 19th century when the Protestant population became alarmed by the number of Catholics immigrating to the United States. This was due in part to the standard tensions that arise between native-born citizens and immigrants. The resulting anti-Catholic nativist movement, which achieved prominence in the 1840s, led to hostility that resulted in mob violence, including the burning of Catholic property. The Italian immigrants inherited this anti-Catholic hostility upon arrival; however, unlike some of the other Catholic immigrant groups, they generally did not bring with them priests and other religious who could help ease their transition into American life. To remedy this situation, Pope Leo XIII dispatched a contingent of priests, nuns and brothers of the Missionaries of St. Charles Borromeo to the U.S. (among which was Sister Francesca Cabrini), who helped establish hundreds of parishes to serve the needs of the Italian communities.

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