Imagery. The civil rights of black Americans and the mass communication of 1960s Italy

In the 1960s Italian society was already immersed in mass culture: television (which made its appearance in ’54, from ’62 would be equipped with a second channel), radio, cinema gradually reached all households, arousing interest and contributing substantially to the shaping of public opinion. Values and political convictions are shaped and reinforced by a diversity of stimuli, forming a shared heritage of images and words that engage citizens of all ages and backgrounds.
It is through this media and popular narrative that the cause for civil rights and the commitment of Martin Luther King and his tragic epilogue reach the homes of Italians. Widely circulated weekly newspapers (such as l’Europeo, Epoca, la Domenica del Corriere, Vie Nuove, Settimo Giorno) welcomed with growing interest news and reports on the initiatives led by King, but also on the violence committed by the KKK and the forces of law and order in most southern states.
The speed with which Italy embraces most committed films from Hollywood is striking. Major box office successes like To Kill a Mockingbird or Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? are enthusiastically distributed and awarded, fostering feelings of solidarity and empathy that will endure in the collective memory over generations. For many, the cause of the Afro-descendants becomes a source of outrage and to be incensed about; for many others, an increasing awareness that did not go ignored in the intellectual discourse and in popular entertainment music.
Even the art world — during these years marked by experimentation often inspired by political tension
— shows signs of complicity and engagement with Martin Luther King. This is evidenced, among others, by works from artists associated with Poesia Visiva (Gruppo 70) and Arte Povera.

Committed Hollywood Cinema in Italy
In 1968 two American films were released in Italy that revolutionized the imagery of racial discrimination on the screen, both starring Sidney Poitier.
The first and most famous is undoubtedly Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967) by Stanley Kramer, which was released in Italy in March 1968, a few days before Martin Luther King’s assassination, with the title Indovina chi viene a cena? The film explores the taboo of interracial marriage through the story of a mixed couple facing family resistance. With a light-hearted approach, the film introduces Italian viewers to one of the most famous African American actors in the history of cinema, Sidney Poitier, an emblematic face of civil rights battles on a global level. The film will become a cult for Italian audiences also thanks to dozens of television airings in the decades to come. Its success was also sanctioned by the three David di Donatello awards won in 1968 by Katharine Hepburn (best foreign actress), Spencer Tracy (best foreign actor) and Stanley Kramer (best foreign producer).
A few weeks later, in April 1968, Norman Jewison’s, In the Heat of the Night (1967) was released in Italian cinemas under the title La lunga notte dell’Ispettore Tibbs. The protagonist is again Poitier, who plays an African American inspector forced to collaborate with a racist sheriff in the South of the

United States. The film harshly confronts systemic racial prejudices, showing how talent and dignity can challenge entrenched stereotypes in American society.
Equally significant for the general public was To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), filmed by Robert Mulligan and based on a famous book by Harper Lee, in which Gregory Peck plays the role of an Alabama lawyer who defends an Afro-descendant unjustly accused of abusing a white woman.
An example of more sophisticated cinema is Gordon Parks’ The Learning Tree (1969): the first feature film directed by an African American director for a major Hollywood studio (Warner Bros). The film tells the story of a young black man’s coming-of-age in rural Kansas in the 1920s. With a more intimate and poetic look, Parks offers an authentic perspective on the history of racial discrimination from an African American perspective. The film was released in Italy in 1970 under the title Ragazzo la tua pelle scotta.