Introduction

This exhibition was curated by Sapienza Università di Roma, with the scientific coordination of Prof. Irene Baldriga. It is the result of a research in Italian historical archives, which involved scholars of several disciplines.

The battle led by Martin Luther King for the recognition of civil rights greatly inspired Italian culture and politics. His initiatives tapped into a sensitivity already present in certain political and cultural circles. This period of ferment gave rise to a mosaic of sentiments and interpretation, in which both the activism of Catholic sectors and the universe of the Left played a significant role. During the era of decolonization, détente and global struggles for peace, a confluence of political groups projected their hopes for renewal and revolutionary hang onto King. At the same time, a smaller but equally passionate group sought to champion the cause of nonviolence.
A sympathetic awareness of the segregation suffered by black Americans spread to Italy especially in the aftermath of the Second World War, as reflected in the solidarity expressed by writers like; Pavese Calvino, Vittorini, and others. Subsequently, space for this argument was reserved for the pages of periodicals and leading national newspapers aimed at the general public.
Little attention has so far been paid to this commitment, which is in truth well documented in his writings, correspondence and numerous artistic and literary publications. A direct witness to the battle for black civil rights was Italo Calvino, who in his American diary describes in detail the nonviolent demonstration organized in Montgomery (Alabama) in March 1960 and his meeting with Martin Luther King. Another meticulous observer of the movement was the journalist Furio Colombo.
The Cold War scenario contributed to polarizing the positions of Italian political forces and opinion- makers on the issue of nonviolence and black demands, at times even coopting the civil rights issue by framing it through the ideological conflict between the USA and the Soviet Union.
This is what emerges from reading numerous editorials that appeared in newspapers and magazines of the time.
Equally relevant to understanding the Italian context was the concomitance of the awarding of the Nobel Prize to King with the celebration of the Second Vatican Council, convened in 1962 by John XXIII and concluded by Paul VI in 1965. With its demands for renewal and openness, from an international perspective, the Council created the ideal conditions for a Catholic reception of the message of the Baptist Reverend, who met the Pontiff in 1964.
The brutal murder that put an end to Martin Luther King’s courageous mission in April 1968 provoked deep emotion and strong condemnation in Italy. The spontaneous demonstrations organized in his memory, including the one that took place in the Sapienza Chapel, clearly testify to the authenticity of those moments.
Finally, the presence of these issues in the public discourse and imagination of the Italians of the 1960s should not be underestimated: in addition to communication – which thanks to television and the entertainment press became increasingly “mass” – the languages of cinema, theatre, music and the visual
arts themselves should be considered. The timely distribution of committed films such as Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? or The Hot Night of Inspector Tibbs fuelled Italian solidarity towards the black cause, reinvigorating the principles of equality and solidarity declared in our Constitutional Charter.

Black, negro, coloured? A timely clarification
Words are never neutral; especially when they arise, like negro, to denote one who is perceived as other than oneself. But words are neither good nor bad; they acquire value (or disvalue) according to their use.
For centuries, negro was used (in Latin and Italian) as a simple name for a colour. But from the early Renaissance onwards, when Europe began to subjugate civilizations from other continents, the term began to designate peoples with darker skin than Europeans, whether African or Asian, taking on the function of classifying the different or the foreigner. Negro thus becomes a potentially useful word to express discrimination.
Until the 1970s, however, the terms negro/black/coloured were mostly used interchangeably. Starting in the 1980s, the terms African American or Black spread in the United States, perceived as less discriminatory and symbolic of a claim to rights and the rejection of all forms of social injustice. In Italy too, the word negro gave way to black, the modern equivalent of the traditional term, devoid of the racist connotation acquired over the centuries. The reception in Italy of the US civil rights movement, and especially of Black Power, then influenced and encouraged the use of black as a term with strong political connotations.
Within this framework are expressions such as Negro Leader, Negro Power, Negro Rights, which recur in the political and journalistic communication documented in this exhibition: these are, in most cases, articles and testimonies close to the civil rights cause and the Martin Luther King movement. At least until the 1970s, these phrases did not possess any racist connotations.