Dear Readers, American History is being rewritten. Positive contributions made by our forefathers will soon disappear from our US.History Books. Before every shred of positive print is wiped out, I thought I would refresh your memory and mine by reprinting “I Am An Italian-American”…
My roots are deep in an ancient soil, drenched by the Mediterranean sun and watered by pure streams from snow-capped mountains.
I am enriched by thousands of years of culture.
My hands and mind are those of the mason, the artist, the philosopher, the scientist, the writer, the jurist, the man of medicine, and the tiller of the soil.
My thoughts and ideals have been recorded in the annals of ancient Rome, the poetry of Virgil and Petrarch, the literature of Dante Alighieri, and the philosophy of Benedetto Croce.
I am an Italian-American, and from my ancient world, I was the first to span the seas and return to spread the news of a new world. I am Cristoforo Colombo.
I am Giovanni Caboto, known in English and American history as John Cabot, discoverer of the mainland of North America.
I am Amerigo Vespucci, who gave my name — anglicized to “America” — to this new world.
I am the first Jesuit in the US, arriving in the early 1600’s. I was captured and tortured by the Iroquois, and then sold as a slave. I escaped, and returned to teach them. I am Father Francesco Bressani.
I sailed on explorations from Florida to the Gulf of St. Lawrence; discovered New York Bay, Manhattan Island, and Narragansett Bay. I drew the first map of the Atlantic coast from North Carolina to Maine. I am Giovanni Da Verrazzano.
I mapped the Pacific from Mexico to Alaska and on to the Philippines. I am Alessandro Malaspina.
I am Filippo Mazzei, friend of Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and Benjamin Franklin; my thesis on the equality of man was written into the Bill of Rights.
I am Gaetano Carusi. In 1808, at the request of President Thomas Jefferson, I arrived at the Washington Navy Yard together with fourteen Italian musicians to form the first American military band, becoming soldiers and officers of our US Marine Corps.
I am Orazio de Attellis, Marquis of Sant’ Angelo. I established the Italian Guard in 1843 and defended Texas’ right to independence. I settled US claims against Mexico, and was the first native Italian to publish a newspaper in the US.
I invented and secured US patents for both the hydrometer and the mercurial barometer in the mid-1800s. I am Giuseppe Tigiabue.
I was a Rear Admiral in the United States Navy and Commander of the North Atlantic Squadron which defeated the Confederate forces in the battle of the Mobile Bay. I am Bancroft Gherardi.
Hailed as the hero of our war against the Pirates of Tripoli, I was the proud pilot of both “Old Ironsides” and the “US Constitution.” I am Salvatore Catalano.
I was a cavalryman and trumpeter who fought under the command of General Custer at the Battle of Little Big Horn. I am Giovanni Martini.
I am Attillio Piccirilli, stone cutter and sculptor. I designed and sculpted the great statue of the seated Abraham Lincoln which graces Washington, DC.
I am Antonio Meucci. I was granted caveats by the US Patent Office verifying that I was in fact the inventor of the telephone. Five years later, following my death, Alexander Graham Bell managed to secure a patent and financial backing to establish telephone service, falsely representing himself as its inventor.
In 1904 I founded, in San Francisco, the Bank of Italy. I revolutionized banking by making loans and credit available to the workingman and farmer, and by opening the Bank of America, and made it the largest financial institution in the world. I am A.P. Giannini.
I am Enrico Fermi, father of nuclear science in America.
I am the first enlisted man to earn the Medal of Honor in the World War II. I am John Basilone of New Jersey.
I am those millions who served in America’s armies and the hundreds of thousands whose names are enshrined in the military cemeteries from the Revolutionary War to the Civil War, in those found in France and England after World War I; from the Rhine to Guadalcanal following World War II; and in Korea and Vietnam and the honored military cemeteries in our own United States.
I am the steel-maker in Pittsburgh, the grower and farmer and wine master in the rich valleys of California, the textile designer and garment maker in Manhattan, the fisherman who has braved our oceans, the movie maker in Hollywood, the homemaker and breadwinner in tens of thousands of communities across our great land.
I am an American without stint or reservation, loving this land as only one who understands history, its agonies and triumphs can love and serve it.
I will not be told that my contribution is any less, nor my role not as worthy, as that of any other American.
I will stand in support of this nation’s freedom and future against all foes.
My heritage has dedicated me to these United States of America.
I am proud of my full heritage, and I vow to remain worthy of it.
I AM AN ITALIAN-AMERICAN.
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