Hometown History #95: Franklin High Embraces Italian

Above, the 1938 FHS Italian Club

October is Italian Heritage Month*

Old timers still tell stories of Italian-American Children being mocked back in the 1920s and 1930s as “anarchists” or worse. And in print, in the 1933 Oskey Yearbook, an anonymous writer took aim at an Italian classmate and wondered whether “Dago” (an extremely derogatory term) would stop chastising his teacher in Italian.

Yet just a few years later, this picture had changed dramatically when the school introduced the study of Italian as a foreign language in 1936. And an Italian Club sprang up on campus, too. The year book noted that “When it was decided to add Italian to our curricula, Mr. [Joseph] DePasqua was chosen to teach it. He has done this very forcefully, his students and others believe.”

In 1938, the newly organized Italian Club, comprised of students from the Italian classes, have proved very successful. The aims of the club were to further their knowledge of the Italian language, customs, and the facts connected with the lives of famous Italians. The students edited a newspaper called “La Voce,” with Pauline DiPietro as Editor in Chief.

A jolly, soft-spoken, brown-eyed maid hailing from Bellingham is Pauline [Di Pietro]. Under her efficient management as Editor-in-Chief, the first Italian newspaper to be published in Franklin High School was a decided success. Though a native of Bellingham, Pauline has an affection for Franklin and may often be seen, Chauffeured in a well-known local baker truck.

Club officers included Aurora D’Errico, president, Olga Gazzola, vice president, Balda Gianetti, secretary, and Maurice Boiteau, treasurer.

With the probable exceptions of the war years, Italian remained an integral part of the FHS curriculum until around 1980, likely a casualty of increased state education mandates and reduced revenues. Arrivederci...

*Italian Heritage Month was established by President George H.W. Bush in 1989.