2000 November 7

Congress Passes “Wartime Violations of Italian-Americans Act”

 

Congress on this day authorized a full investigation and report of the internment and other restrictions on Italian-Americans during World War II.

The history of violations of civil liberties during World War II is dominated by the evacuation and internment of the Japanese-Americans from the West Coast, authorized by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942. That tragedy has overshadowed the internment of an estimated 2,000 people of Italian-American descent who were also interned during the war. The issue is complicated by the fact that Italian-Americans were subject to a number of different laws and enforcement actions. (See, for example, the lifting of restrictions on aliens on October 18, 1942.)

The congressional report listed 11 different categories of Italian-Americans who were detained between 1939 and 1945. The House of Representatives released the report to the public in November 2001.

Read the law authorizing the study: http://www.uscis.gov/ilink/docView/PUBLAW/HTML/PUBLAW/0-0-0-23651.html

Learn more: Lawrence Di Stasi, Una Storia Segreta: The Secret History of Italian American Evacuation and Internment during World War II (2004)

Read the Subcommittee on the Constitution’s 1999 Hearingshttp://commdocs.house.gov/committees/judiciary/hju60413.000/hju60413_0f.htm

Find a Day

Go
Abortion Rights ACLU african-americans Alice Paul anti-communism Anti-Communist Hysteria Birth Control Brown v. Board of Education Censorship CIA Civil Rights Civil Rights Act of 1964 Cold War Espionage Act FBI First Amendment Fourteenth Amendment freedom of speech Free Speech Gay Rights Hate Speech homosexuality Hoover, J. Edgar HUAC Japanese American Internment King, Dr. Martin Luther Ku Klux Klan Labor Unions Lesbian and Gay Rights Loyalty Oaths McCarthy, Sen. Joe New York Times Obscenity Police Misconduct Same-Sex Marriage Separation of Church and State Sex Discrimination Smith Act Spying Spying on Americans Vietnam War Voting Rights Voting Rights Act of 1965 War on Terror Watergate White House Women's Rights Women's Suffrage World War I World War II Relocation Camps

Topics

Tell Us What You Think

We want to hear your comments, criticisms and suggestions!