L’épreuve/les preuves de la loyauté : la presse italo-américaine face à la citoyenneté (1910-1935)

Abstract

Approaching the Italian-American press less as a source of information than as a political instructor and mediator for the «Little Italies» of the United States, this essay focuses on the articles published in the Italian-American commercial newspapers from 1910 to 1935, and analyzes the way the latter dealt with the issue of American citizenship. At a time when the Americanization movements tried to control the immigrant press, events such as WWI and the rise of fascism influenced Italian-American journalists, challenging their loyalty to the United States. This paper shows how the Italian-American press was forced to take sides, points out the conflicts generated by its dual position, and brings to light the ways in which a period of international crisis led to the difficult shaping of different concepts of Italian-American identity.