Italian American

An Italian American is an American of Italian descent either born in America or someone who has immigrated.

Italian American Internment During World War II

The internment of Italian Americans during World War II has often been overshadowed by the Japanese American internment. But recently, books such as Una Storia Segreta by Lawrence DiStasi and Uncivil Liberties by Stephen Fox have been published. These books reveal that during World War II, 600,000 Italians were required to carry identity cards that labelled them as "resident aliens," and 10,000 people along the West Coast were forcibly relocated, with about 250 being imprisoned in military camps for up to two years. Lawrence DiStasi claims that these wartime restrictions and internments contributed more than anything else to the loss of spoken Italian in the United States. After the US declared war on the Axis powers, many Italian language papers and schools were closed in the US almost overnight. Mr. DiStasi says that the internment of Italians in America "iced" the Italian American community.

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