findingphilblog

I can’t speak highly enough of this incredible series. PBS always does a fabulous job with documentaries, but ‘The Italian Americans’ is superb. I’m only two hours in, but I am already wishing for the next installment.

I loved hearing about the “birds of passage,” stories which filled in more deeply my notions of the trips Pasquale, Cesare and possibly Ottavio took from the U.S. to Italy.

It also clearly articulates the harsh conditions Francesco Venezia likely left in Italy and the different set of challenges he faced once he arrived. In all the reading I’d done in preparation to write my book, I’d come across all kinds of things that made my jaw drop.

Full-page ads from the Sons of Italy saying “We’re Americans, we love this country!” during the height of both World Wars. Descriptions in newspaper articles that we would today call blatantly racist. That, taken with the information presented in the series, made me realize that what I am so proud of today would have made me an outcast a century ago.

There is so much that my grandfather likely protected my father from. From Phil’s memories of a broken childhood and the possible violence that may have been a part of it. From the taunts and slurs Phil probably endured, possibly into adulthood. Not everyone manages to do that, to keep the bad stuff back and in the past. It makes me respect him, and my ancestors, even more.