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Foreword: Violence toward Immigrants as the “Other” Richard F. Mollica The largest mass lynching in American history took place in New Orleans, Louisiana, on March 14, 1891. The following day, a New York Times editorial supported these public executions: These sneaking and cowardly Sicilians, the descendants of bandits and assassins, who have transported to this country the lawless passions, the cut-throat practices, and the oath-bound societies of their native country, are to us a pest without mitigation. Our own rattlesnakes are as good citi- zens as they . . . Lynch law was the only course open to the people of New Orleans. (The New Orleans Affair 1891, 4) The lynch mob had murdered nine Italian American immigrants. These Ital- ian immigrants had been found to be not guilty of the murder of Police Chief David Hennessy. Despite their innocence, they were killed by an angry mob that was strongly supported by the general public and prominent local politi- cians. Attorney William S. Parkerson rallied the support of community members and decried the jury’s decision, denouncing them as perjurers and scoundrels. The angry mob then marched to the jailhouse. Among the par- ticipants were John M. Parker and Walter C. Flower. Each would go on to hold gubernatorial positions in Louisiana. Parker, who would go on to become Louisiana’s 37th governor, famously stated as follows in 1911 about Italians: “just a little bit worse than the Negroes, being if anything filthier in [their] habits, lawless, and treacherous” (Falco 2012, 2). In 1899, in Tallulah, Louisiana, three Italian American shopkeepers were lynched because they had treated black customers the same as white custom- ers. The lynch mob hung five members in total related to this event—the three shopkeepers and two bystanders (Schoener 1987).