Reference no: EM133312080

Part 1:

On the subject of nativism. This is a photo of the Thomas D'Alesandro Jr. family who lived in the Little Italy section of Baltimore in the 1940s and 50s. Baltimore is in the "South," and was a segregated city then. The D'Alesandro's are a catholic family and the children attended catholic school. Private religious schools often function as a haven for minority groups suffering discrimination.

The little girl in this picture is Nancy D'Alesandro Pelosi. Despite her experience growing up as an Italian-American in the 1940's & 50's, a non-white ethic group at that time in American history, today she is often attacked as a "white" woman who can not relate to "women of color" in America. The opinion article below is one example. The little girl Nancy in the photo above was not a white girl in the 1940s America that called Italian-Americans racial slurs and labeled them "enemy aliens" in World War 2. At some point later in her life, Nancy Pelosi became a "white" woman, not because she changed, but because America changed. But that does not mean that she doesn't know anything about being a "woman of color" in America, she was born one.

Part 2: Watch the film "The Chinese Exclusion Act" and post your comments.

Part 3: Where does the stereotype of Chinese working in the laundry business come from? (Use the assigned reading to answer this question). How does what you read about in the reading handout relate to this popular tv commercial from the 1970s? Thoughtful comments

Part 4: Watch the film Gentleman's Agreement (1947) and post your comments.

How does this film relate to the reading in of the lecture in part 1 (that is above) about nativism in American history?