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ethnicity

“The notion of a unified Italian culture in America is something of a recent invention.”

John Fea   |  August 12, 2023

Over at The Baffler, Michael Nicholas writes: “Today, as Italian Americans continue marrying non-Italians, and membership in ethnic/fraternal organizations has declined, social media often facilitates the performance of a shared identity.” He’s talking about stuff like this: Here is a...

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Martin Scorsese’s “Italianamerican”

John Fea   |  July 7, 2023

In 1974, the famed filmmaker interviewed his parents and turned it into a documentary film. I thought I was sitting in the room with my own Italian grandparents. Oh the stories! I could listen to Catherine Scorsese talk all day....

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Hey Eric Metaxas, Please Stop Using Ethnic Slurs About Italians So Cavalierly

John Fea   |  August 16, 2019

Watch this Salem Radio love-fest between Eric Metaxas and Sebastian Gorka: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XkJccqAa3g&w=560&h=315] Most readers of the blog know Metaxas.  He is a court evangelical, author, and host of the Eric Metaxas Show on Salem.  Gorka’s brief and controversial stint...

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Benjamin Franklin’s Thoughts on Germans

John Fea   |  November 21, 2018

Here is a taste Franklin’s Observations Concerning the Increase of Mankind. We talked about this letter today in my Colonial America course. 23.  In fine, A Nation well regulated is like a Polypus; take away a Limb, its Place is soon...

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The Author’s Corner with Peter Gilmore

John Fea   |  November 1, 2018

Peter Gilmore is a ruling elder at Sixth Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh and teaches history at Carlow University. This interview is based on his new book Irish Presbyterians and the Shaping of Western Pennsylvania, 1770-1830 (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2018).  JF:  What led...

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Happy Columbus Day

John Fea   |  October 9, 2017

That’s right.  I said it. I have blogged about Columbus statues here and here, but I also want to call your attention to Yoni Appelbaum‘s piece at The Atlantic: “How Columbus Day Fell Victim to Its Own Success.”  The subtitle is “It’s...

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Statues of Christopher Columbus and Italian-Americans

John Fea   |  September 14, 2017

In case you have not heard, New York City mayor Bill DeBlasio is considering removing the statue of Christopher Columbus in the circle that bears his name.  David Marcus of The Weekly Standard explains how that statue got there: The earliest...

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Doing History in the (Literal) Shadow of Trump

John Fea   |  April 25, 2017

  Back in October 2016, Donald Trump crashed the 30th biennial meeting of the Conference on Faith and History held at Regent University in Virginia Beach.  I wrote about it in a piece syndicated through Religion News Service. Susan Fletcher, the historian...

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The Unraveling of White Working-Class America

John Fea   |  September 19, 2016

Over at The Wall Street Journal, journalists Bob Davis and Gary Fields have written a very interesting piece about the decline of working-class community in Reading, Pennsylvania. It is titled “In Places With Fraying Social Fabric, a Political Backlash Arises.”  This...

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Amy Sopcak-Joseph: SHARP Things at AHA 2016

John Fea   |  January 10, 2016

Amy Sopcak-Joseph checks in with another dispatch from the floor of the annual meeting of the American Historical Association in Atlanta.  To read Sopcak-Joseph’s previous post at The Way of Improvement Leads Home click here.  –JF This conference has been...

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Why Are Democrats Doing So Well in the South?

John Fea   |  October 27, 2014

Mitch McConnell needs evangelicals to win in Kentucky Over at The Atlantic, Robert P. Jones of the Public Religion Research Institution has made a very interesting observation about evangelicals and the mid-term elections in the South.  Jones argues that the five...

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Where America Came From

John Fea   |  October 1, 2013

This is a fascinating map.  It shows the ancestry with the largest population in every county in the United States based on the 2000 census.  Here are the rankings: 1.  Germans2.  African Americans3.  Irish4.  Mexicans5.  English6. “Americans” (People who label...

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Some Great Stuff Today at Religion in American History

John Fea   |  October 6, 2011

If you do not read Religion in American History, you should. In the last day or two Paul Harvey and his cast of American religious history bloggers have posted some great stuff.  First, check out Harvey’s tribute to civil rights...

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Oscar Handlin R.I.P.

John Fea   |  September 27, 2011

I always begin my course on the immigrant experience in America by talking about the work of Oscar Handlin and his book The Uprooted: The Epic Story of the Great Migrations That Made the American People.  It won the Pulitzer...

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A One Minute History of the Life of St. Patrick

John Fea   |  March 17, 2011 Leave a Comment

Dyron Daughtry of Pepperdine discusses his life here.

Kathy Sprows Cummings: Becoming Irish

John Fea   |  March 17, 2011 Leave a Comment

Over at Religion in American History, Kathy Sprows Cummings, an American Studies professor at Notre Dame, reflects on becoming an Irish citizen.  A fitting St. Patrick’s Day reflection from a thoughtful scholar.  (And I am not just saying that because […]

What is Happening to Little Italy?

John Fea   |  February 25, 2011

My grandmother was born in Little Italy, New York and I have taken students there in the past, but according to this article, New York City’s enclave of Italian culture is shrinking.  In fact, you would be hard pressed to...

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Richard Rodriguez on Cesar Chavez

John Fea   |  March 4, 2010 Leave a Comment

Richard Rodriguez, the author of Hunger of Memory and several other books about Latinos in America, has an article in the recent Wilson Quarterly that takes a pretty hard shot at Mexican labor leader Cesar Chavez. Rodriguez concludes that Chavez […]

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