Rebel Girl and the Godfather: New York City’s Italians and the Fight for Civil Rights (SUNY series in Italian/American Culture)

Synopsis

The story of how an Italian American housewife and community organizer battled a Brooklyn Mafia boss and political activist for the hearts and minds of a white working class in revolt.This is the true story of a rivalry between a pair of improbable social justice crusaders––Mary Sansone, an Italian homemaker, and Joe Colombo, a Mafia boss––set against the backdrop of Brooklyn's racial and ethnic feuds of the 1960s and 1970s. From her basement kitchen, Mary Sansone launched the Congress of Italian American Organizations, a social-action coalition operating multimillion-dollar programs on behalf of the Italian poor. From his office suite high above Madison Avenue, Joe Colombo defied omertà to commandeer the Italian American Civil Rights League, an audacious anti-defamation organization that convinced thousands to join sidewalk pickets and mass demonstrations. When, around 1970, Mary and Joe's paths finally cross, they battle each other for the hearts and minds of a white working class in revolt. This book challenges stereotypes of the docile Italian wife and the parochial Mafioso by recasting these actors as a rebel girl and a renegade wiseguy. It offers an alternative history of the 1960s and 1970s, when it was presumed that white ethnics living in urban America were predisposed to responding to the civil rights movement with backlash and the women's movement with scorn.

Copyright:

2025

Book Details

Book Quality:

Publisher Quality

Book Size:

360 Pages

ISBN-13:

9798855803440

Related ISBNs:

9798855803433, 9798855803426

Publisher:

State University of New York Press

Date of Addition:

09/01/25

Copyrighted By:

SUNY

Adult content:

No

Language:

English

Has Image Descriptions:

No

Categories:

History, Nonfiction, Biographies and Memoirs, Social Studies, Politics and Government

Submitted By:

Bookshare Staff

Usage Restrictions:

This is a copyrighted book.