Italians in New Orleans

Between 1850 and 1870, New Orleans boasted the largest Italian-born population of any city in the United States. Its early Italian immigrants included musicians, business leaders, and diplomats. Sadly, in 1891, 11 members of the large Sicilian settlement in New Orleans were victims of the largest mass lynching in American history. However, by 1910, the city's French Quarter was a "Little Palermo" with Italian entrepreneur, laborers, and restauranteurs dominating the scene.

In this volume Joseph Maselli, the editor of the Italian American Digest, and Dominic Candeloro, executive director of the American Italian Historical Association, have partnered to use the rich holdings of the American Italian Renaissance Foundation Museum of New Orleans (which Maselli founded) to create a lively photographic history of Italians in New Orleans. With the assistance of Bette W. Cadwell and Karen Quaglino Daray of the museum staff, Maselli and Candeloro explore the social, family, political, and religious history of one of New Orleans's most remarkable ethnic groups.