Title

Making the Italian Other: Blacks, Whites, and the In between in the 1895 Spring Valley, Illinois, Race Riot

Author(s)

Caroline Waldron Merithew, University of DaytonFollow

Document Type

Book Chapter

Publication Date

2003

Publication Source

Are Italians White? How Race is Made in America

Abstract

This essay takes the Spring Valley, Illinois, race riot and observes how blacks, Italians, and other new immigrants attempted to empower themselves and lay claim to status at the "nadir" of race relations ill this country. The events leading up to the riot, the assault on the African-American community, and the aftermath of the attack led to vocal outcries against oppression. What constituted oppression, however, was open to interpretation. Furthermore, no group defined itself, or its other, in isolation. Rather, each side responded to the rhetoric of its "opponents" as well as of middle-class whites who became involved in the episode. The riot, then, became a type of social prism in which the meaning and consequences of racial prejudice refracted into clusters of nationality, ethnicity, and class.

Inclusive pages

79-97

ISBN/ISSN

9780415934510

Document Version

Published Version

Comments

Chapter 5 has been provided for download by permission of the publisher. Permission documentation is on file.

To read the entire book, visit the publisher's website or an academic library.

Copyright

Copyright © 2003 from Are Italians White? How Race is Made in America, by Jennifer Guglielmo, Salvatore Salerno, and David Roediger. Reproduced by permission of Taylor and Francis Group, a division of Informa plc. This material is strictly for personal use only. For any other use, the user must contact Taylor & Francis directly at this address: & Francis directly at this address: permissions.mailbox@taylorandfrancis.com. Printing, photocopying or sharing via any means is a violation of copyright.

Publisher

Taylor & Francis

Place of Publication

New York, NY

Peer Reviewed

yes

eCommons Citation

Merithew, Caroline Waldron, "Making the Italian Other: Blacks, Whites, and the In between in the 1895 Spring Valley, Illinois, Race Riot" (2003). History Faculty Publications. 104.
https://ecommons.udayton.edu/hst_fac_pub/104