L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, JANUARY 22, 2015 www.italoamericano.com L'Italo-Americano 11 Dear Readers, Martin Lu th er Kin g Jr. Day, observed on January 19th this year, reminds me of some bits of Black History with an Italian connection: American Republican politi- cian, Edward Brooke III, died on January 3, 2015 at age 95, in Coral Gables, Florida. In 1966, he became the first African- American to be popularly elect- ed to the U.S. Senate. He was elected to the S enate as a Republican from the state of Massachusetts and defeated his opponent by a landslide vote. He s erved in the S en ate from January 3, 1967 to 1979. His mentor, while in office, was G overnor of M as s achus etts , John Volpe, who later served as the U.S. Ambassador to Italy. Edward Brooke III was born in Washington D.C. to Helen and Edward Brooke, Jr. He was raised in a middle class section of the city and attended Dunbar High School, then one of the most prestigious High Schools for African Americans. In 1936, he enrolled in How ard University where he first con- sidered medicine, but ended up studying social and political sci- ence. He graduated in 1941 and immediately enrolled in the U.S. Army after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Brook e s pent five years (1941-1946) as an officer in the Army, seeing combat in Italy during World War II as a mem- ber of the s egregated 366th Infantry Regiment, and as a cap- tain earned a Bronze Star for saving the lives of 59 Italian par- tisans operating behind German lines in the Po Valley. In Italy, Brooke met his future wife R emigia Ferrari- S cacco of Genova, with whom he had two daughters, Remi and Edwina. Following his discharge, Brooke graduated from the Bos ton University School of Law in 1948. Prior to winning his Senate s eat, Govern or Jo h n V olp e sought to reward Brooke for his effort, and offered him a number of jobs. Seeking a higher political profile, Brooke accept- ed the position of chairman of Fin an ce C ommis s ion of Boston, where he investigated finan cial irregularities and uncovered evidence of corrup- tion in city affairs . H e w as described in the press as having the "tenacity of a terrier". Brooke parlayed his achieve- ments there into a successful election as Attorney General of Massachusetts in 1962 and was the firs t elected A frican - American Attorney General of any state. After World War II, Brooke s ent for R emigia Ferrari- S cacco, the w oman he had courted and met in Italy when he served in the U.S. Army (seg- regated in those days), and she became his young war bride. She spoke no English, but after some th irty years of marriage, learned and was a great cam- paigner, when she spoke in her own language, Italian, especially among the large Italian- A merican population in the North End, Greater Boston and Italian voters throughout the state of Massachusetts. After his two young daughters mar- ried, the Senator and his Signora split and much divorce dirt was dished, some of it supplied by Generoso Pope and his scandal sheet. The voters were unforgiv- ing and Brooke lost his bid for a third term in the U.S. Senate. *** "Bambini" who recite this safety street crossing ditty: Red light STOP Yellow light NO Wait for GREEN And then you GO... may not be aware that it was Garrett Morgan Sr. (1877- 1963), a Black Inventor, who invented the Traffic Signal in 1922. He was the first African American in Cleveland, Ohio, to own an automobile. He also invented a respiratory hood (gas mask). Garrett Morgan invented a safety hood smoke protection device after seeing firefighters struggling from the smoke they encountered in the line of duty. His device used a wet sponge to filter out smoke and cool the air. It also took advantage of the way smoke and fumes tend to rise to higher positions while leaving a layer of more breathable air below, by using an air intake tube that dangled near the floor. He was renowned for a heroic rescue in 1916 in which he and three others used the safety hood device he had developed to save workers trapped within a water intake tunnel, fifty feet beneath Lake Erie. *** Doll manufacturer, the Lenci Company, w as founded in Torino, Italy in 1919. The beau- tiful dolls were completely made of felt, instead of composition or porcelain, felt being more readi- ly available (think Borsalino hats). Using a special patented pressing process which created a complete face with no seam, the faces were all handpainted and their features w onderfully expressive and life-like. In addi- tion, being made of felt, they w ere both beautiful and unbreakable. By 1922, the dolls produced by the Lenci factory had achieved worldwide recog- nition. They were especially s ought after in the U n ited States, where people of good taste and money appreciated their beauty and high quality of w orkmans hip. O ne of the founders of the company was designer Elena Scavini, who after World War I, together with her husband Enrico, brought the dolls on a passenger ship and sold them all to wealthy world travelers before they arrived at the port of New York. In 1936, after the war started in Ethiopia, the United States, not happy with the Italian involvement in the war, declared a trade embargo against Italy and all its prod- ucts. This was a terrible moment for the Lenci Company. *** Ethiopia's Haile Selassie (1892-1975)- "Grazie" to some S.F. Educational ethnic studies info, I can share this with you: I n 1935 Eth iop ia w as attack ed b y I taly . M ember nations of the League of Nations did not come to the assistance of Ethio pia. A lthough H aile Selassie took personal command of this 1,000,000 primitively equipped soldiers, he was not able to withstand Mussolini's 250,000 troops or his airplanes and tanks . I n 1936 Haile S elas s ie w en t in to exile in England, pleading his country's case. With the aid of the British, Haile Selassie drove the Italians from Ethiopian soil and returned to his people. A firm believer in the princi- ple of collective security, Haile Selassie made certain that his troops were among the first to go to Korea in 1950. In 1963, Haile Selassie sat in his palace at Addis Ababa, grad- ually admitting the winds of change to the country. S ince 1930 Lij Tafari Makonnen has been known to the w orld as His I mp erial Majesty Haile Selassie, King of Kings of Ethiopia, Conquering Lion of Judea and the Elect of God. Selassie sat on the oldest throne in the world. The history of his country goes back to the days of Solomon and Sheba. Ethiopia was a country with some sense of identity when most of Africa's new nations were but clusters of tribes and chieftains. Of all the kings who have ruled this ancient land, Haile Selassie is perhaps the mos t s ignificant, for he has pres ided over the country's entrance into the world of the twentieth century. *** Edward W. Brooke, the first African American to be elected to the US Senate by popular vote

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