# Why were Italians discriminated against so harshly in the early twentieth century?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-italians-discriminated-against-so-harshly-in-the-early-twentieth-century/938461>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 22, 2021, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-italians-discriminated-against-so-harshly-in-the-early-twentieth-century/938461 "2021-03-22T21:32:09Z")\
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**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\
**Post date:** [March 22, 2021, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-italians-discriminated-against-so-harshly-in-the-early-twentieth-century/938461/3 "2021-03-22T22:08:55Z")

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Furthermore, [as we were discussing in another thread a couple months back](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multi-racial-whiteness/930901/33), there was a widespread perception among Americans of northern/western European descent that Italians simply didn’t count as “white”:

> [@Kimstu](#):
>
> [Here’s a 1916 industrial relations report illustrating the distinction that many employers of the time took for granted between “white men” and “Italians”](https://books.google.com/books?id=luYeAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA2171&lpg=PA2171&dq=%22white+men+and+Italians%22&source=bl&ots=6otrex2uLj&sig=ACfU3U2iy5hz45Lu8SHdlNGK6zQkZoH6xw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiAtevY16vuAhUpTd8KHaYQCAIQ6AEwA3oECAYQAg#v=onepage&q=%22white%20men%20and%20Italians%22&f=false):
> 
> > [@](#):
> >
> > Mr. Barnes: Now, Mr. Petersen, let us establish a couple of facts so we can go on. All of your men that you employ there that are not Italians, are white men? You employ white men and Italians?
> > 
> > > Mr. Petersen: In discharging we employ all Italians, and in loading all white men—all nationalities. […]  
> > > Mr. Barnes: Yes; but why do you put the Italians at discharging and the white men at stowing. Are not the white men better for stowing?  
> > > Mr. Petersen: Because the Italians are not qualified for it—stowing. […]  
> > > Mr. Barnes: So you make a division between the Italians and white men and put the white men to stowing and the Italians to discharging?
> 
> [This article](https://www.bloomsburycollections.com/book/race-and-americas-immigrant-press-how-the-slovaks-were-taught-to-think-like-white-people/ch4-a-slav-can-live-in-dirt-that-would-kill-a-white-man-race-and-the-european-other.pdf) discusses similar evolution of racial classifications of various groups of Europeans, illustrated by the contemporary quote in the article’s title, “A Slav can live in dirt that would kill a white man”.

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