The Italians of Sunnyside by Dr. Anthony Borgognoni
Our speaker for Thursday, March 23, 2023, was Dr. Anthony Borgognoni, co-author of the book “Italians of Sunnyside.” Dr Borgognoni is an optometrist and grandson of Italian immigrants who settled at the Sunnyside Plantation in Lake Village, Arkansas in the river delta area. He is also the co-executive director and CEO of the Italians of the Sunnyside Foundation. Don Floriani’s great grandparents also immigrated to the Sunnyside Plantation.
The Sunnyside Plantation was located inside the C-shaped curve of Lake Chicot, the largest oxbow lake in the United States. Prior to the Civil War, more than 500 slaves worked on the plantation to grow cotton. Sunnyside was a famous and powerful cotton-producing plantation. The abolition of slavery reduced the once powerful plantation and in the 1890’s the owners of the plantation devised a scheme to entice Italians into migrating to the plantation. The immigrants were promised eventual ownership of 12 ½ acres within the plantation. In effect, however, the plantation became an Italian prison surrounded on all sides by the river, with only one entry/exit point. The Italian immigrants found uncleared land, incredible expenses, and massive mosquitoes. By 1897, 125 colonists had perished, many of malaria. Between 1898 and 1915, a powerful U.S. Senator, Leroy Percy, purchased the plantation and tore up the colonists’ land purchase contracts. Over 80% of the colonists left the plantation, but corrupt Italian labor brokers kept the flow of immigrants into the plantation during the late 1890’s and early 1900’s.
The plantation’s owners kept colonists on the plantation through fear, intimidation, and even lynchings. Eleven Italians were lynched in New Orleans in 1891. Italian colonists began writing to the U.S. and Italian governments to complain about the conditions on the plantation. President Teddy Roosevelt’s administration appointed an investigator to examine the conditions. The investigator, Mary Quakenbos, issued a report detailing the horrific stories of mistreatment. The report, however, was buried in the National Archives and no action was taken by the U.S. government.
The period from 1916-1940 was characterized by floods, depression, and rampant bankruptcy. The Italian colonists started buying their own farms and migrating throughout the south and the rest of the country. During WWII, the U.S. Postal Service even monitored the Italian communities since the U.S. was at war with Italy and Italian nationals were considered suspect. Dr. Borgognoni told us that over 1,000,000 descendants of the Italian colonists now live in the United States.
Thank you, Dr. Borgognoni, for the informative presentation about the remarkable history of the Italians of Sunnyside.
Click HERE to see the recording of Dr. Bornognoni's presentation. It will be available for a limited time.
