Carmelo Zito
Carmelo Zito (August 13, 1899 – June 9, 1980), born in Oppido Mamertina, Italy and immigrated to the United States circa 1923, was an outspoken Italian American immigrant who operated the Il Corriere del Popolo Italian-language newspaper in San Francisco, California, from 1935 through 1966. He was active in the Italian anti-fascist movement in the United States. Family members relate that he fled Mussolini's regime after learning that he was targeted for execution by the Fascists.[1]
Carmelo Zito | |
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Born | August 13, 1899 Oppido Mamertina, Italy |
Died | June 9, 1980 (aged 81) |
Occupation | Journalist, Editor |
A veteran of World War I, Zito came to New York in 1923. He joined an anti-fascist paper there in 1925, then moved to San Francisco in 1931 and took over Il Corriere del Popolo. During World War II, he testified before congressional and state committees concerning fascist influences that he perceived in Italian-American political and civic organizations.[2][3][4][5]
Carmelo Zito earned a law degree from University of Messina on December 23, 1922. Although he did not practice law in the United States, he was employed as an interpreter for Italian-speaking defendants. During the Great Depression he sold Maytag washing machines door-to-door.
Death
Carmelo Zito lived in Parkmerced until he fell and broke his hip in 1979. He moved to a nursing home in Sonoma, California. He died on June 9, 1980, from complications related to Alzheimer's.[6] Zito was married three times and all of his wives have died.[7][8]
References
- Facondo, Gabriella. Socialismo italiano esule negli (1930–1942). Quaderni della FIAP, Italy, 1993.
- Sebastian Fichera, Italy on the Pacific: San Francisco's Italian Americans (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011), ISBN 978-1137002068, pp. 137ff. Excerpts available at Google Books.
- James O. Clifford, "Documents Detail Mistreatment of WWII Italian Americans", The Washington Post, December 26, 1999; Marino de Medici, "It Was No Witch Hunt", The Washington Post, January 12, 2000 – via HighBeam Research (subscription required) .
- Cannistraro & Meyer, Philip & Gerald (2003). The Lost World of Italian American Radicalism: Politics, Labor, and Culture. Praeger. p. 55. ISBN 0275978915.
- Cannistraro & Meyer, Philip & Gerald (13 April 2019). "The Lost World of Italian American Radicalism Google Book Search". Google Books. Archived from the original on 13 April 2019. Retrieved 13 April 2019.
- "Find A Grave Carmelo Zito".
- "Zito Family Tree on Ancestry".
- "Carolyn Zito Obituary". effinghamdailynews.com. 2019-02-20. Archived from the original on 2019-12-20. Retrieved 30 December 2019.
External Links