Read through any literature of the 19th and early 20th Century, and it's clear that Italians (and Spaniards and Greeks and Turks) were not considered "White". They were (code word "swarthy") Mediterraneans, passionate and lazy and ruled by the mid-day sun. Oh, and a lot of them were Papists to boot.
That they were my great-grandparents and beyond … gives me regular pause to think of what it means to be of the Accepted Mainstream Respectable Normal Folk.
The Secret History of Whiteness
What the hell does it mean for a person to be white?
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Neither were Jews, Poles, Russians, Czech's, Hungarians, Serbs, Croatians and more.
Basically you were not considered white unless you were Northern European.
Basically see the 1924 immigration law.
Yes. "Mediterraneans" and "Slavs" were pretty much relegated to the tier below good, vigorous, intelligent, pale Anglo-Saxons. (As were the equally-pale, but socially-inferior Celts.)
They didn’t much like the Frogs or the Squareheads or anyone not really English (or maybe German).
This history is more recent than many remember. My sister who takes after the slavic side of the family was called the N–word for her looks. Many other regions still separate darker looks as not white…for instance many countries in Central America. When my sister and I traveled to Costa Rica in 2012, we were warned she would be called negra and I would get a pass for my lighter skin and hair.
+Michelle Norton wow…
Humans have (very) short memories.
I've always wondered why the Nazis adopted the term "Aryan."
+John E. Bredehoft see the following:
Madison Grant
Houston Stewart Chamberlain
Arthur de Gobineau
Hans K. Günther
Nordic Race theory