Immigration Lesson Plan Handout #3
Handout #3: Italian Americans
A) Italian American entertainers:
GIVEN NAME PROFESSIONAL NAME Anna Maria Louise Italiano Anne Bancroft
Dino Paul Crocetti Dean Martin
Walden Robert Cassotto Bobby Darin
Concetta Franconero Connie Francis
Anthony Benedetto Tony Bennett
B) Table showing percentage of Italian Americans on the New York Yankees as opposed to holding seats in U.S. Politics in 1946:
ITALIAN AMERICANS PERCENTAGE ROSTER SIZE New York Yankees 7 17.5 40 U.S. Supreme Court 0 0 8 U.S. Senate 0 0 100 U.S. House of Representatives 4 0.9 432
C) Italian American New York Yankees on the 1946 team and their professional names:
GIVEN NAME PROFESSIONAL NAME Lawrence Berra Yogi Berra
Frank Cosetti Frankie Crosetti
Joseph DiMaggio Joe DiMaggio
Victor Raschi Vic Raschi
Philip Rizzuto Phil Rizzuto
Marius Russo Marius Russo
Kenneth Silvestri Ken Silvestri
Page 1 Immigration Lesson Plan Handout #3
Questions:
1. Thinking of what you’ve learned about immigration and the various forms of prejudice at mid-century, why might Italian American entertainers have altered their birth names?
2. What does the percentage of Italian Americans in the U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Senate, and U.S. Supreme Court of 1946 tell you about equal opportunity for immigrants in U.S. political life?
3. Based on Table B and Table C, how would you compare the career possibilities for an Italian American in Major League Baseball as opposed to U.S. politics?
4. What critical assessment might you make when contrasting the professional names of Italian American entertainers with those of Italian American New York Yankees in 1946? Why do you think these baseball players felt that they could keep their Italian names, while the entertainers felt the need to change them?
5. Thinking of all that can be learned from the historical information shared above, would you say that baseball was more or less inclusive to immigrants than other areas of American public life? Why?
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