More than 2,100 Italians in America were taken into custody. Some were held in prison camps until the end of the war. Some escaped these hardships, but as the exhibit demonstrates, few Italian Americans, be they American citizens or enemy aliens-could escape the shame and fear and stigma tied to these laws and the war that raged with Italy, Germany and Japan.

Mothers, laborers, opera stars, even the great Yankee Joe DiMaggio felt the sting of the “enemy alien” act. Wartime restrictions applied to DiMaggio’s father, a fisherman, who was prohibited as an enemy alien from plying his trade or even visiting his son’s waterside restaurant in San Francisco.

“As we today struggle to preserve civil liberties and ensure homeland security, we cannot forget the lessons of the past when our nation targeted populations, such as Italian immigrants, solely because of ethnic background or country of origin,” said Dr. Philip Cannistraro, Distinguished Professor of Italian American Studies at Queens College and the City University Graduate Center, and Executive Director of the College’s John D. Calandra Italian American Institute, which collaborated with the Italian American Museum on the exhibit.