Our nation’s first Italian American First Lady, Dr. Jill Biden, spoke at ISDA’s annual banquet in downtown Pittsburgh on July 13, 2024, to share her ancestors’ story. The event was part of ISDA’s ongoing mission to celebrate women in leadership while offering a platform to major figures on both sides of the aisle who seek to promote and honor the Italian American culture.
Students, and everyday Americans, don’t often find themselves learning about the New Orleans’ lynching of 11 Italians in 1891 that led to the founding of Columbus Day; they don’t know that 1.2 million Italian Americans were fighting for the Allies in WWII, while 600,000 of their parents and grandparents were suppressed, surveilled, and in some cases, interned, on U.S. soil; and they’re not keenly aware of the degrading effects of mafia tropes that have permeated American society for decades.
Basil M. Russo, the National President of Italian Sons and Daughters of America (ISDA) — in his capacity as the leader of the Conference of Presidents of Major Italian American Organizations (COPOMIAO) — expressed these little-known issues to senior White House staff who took note and changed course. The 2022 and 2023 Columbus Day Proclamations offered a proper tribute to our people, and, this past October, Dr. Jill Biden, our nation’s first Italian American First Lady, accepted Russo’s request to host more than 120 Italian American leaders at the White House in an unprecedented celebration of Italian American Heritage Month.
This summer, Russo invited Biden to trace her Italian American ancestry at ISDA’s annual banquet in Pittsburgh on July 13. She accepted and delivered remarks that echo through so many of our own stories: ancestors steaming into New York City, a rise from poverty, the aroma of Sunday sauce, feast day festivals, and a drive to excel, to serve the community and elevate the family name.
Biden’s grandfather, Domenico Giacoppo, was 2 years old in 1900 when he and his parents, Gaetano and Concetta, left the village of Gesso, in Sicily, for a new life in America.
The family name was Anglicized at Ellis Island to Jacobs and the immigrants settled in New Jersey, where Domenico eventually worked as a deliveryman at a small furniture store.
“They left behind everything they had known in Italy: their family, their homeland. Even their name, Giacoppo, eventually became Jacobs,” said Biden. “But their hearts were full. They had carried their values with them across the Atlantic: Loyalty. Kindness. Grit. And the courage to chase this country’s unlimited promise.”
This is the Italian American experience, and it transcends political affiliation, as House Majority Leader Steve Scalise offered similar sentiments during a national virtual summit organized and hosted by Russo in late 2021.
When introducing the First Lady at Pittsburgh’s Rivers Casino Event Center, Russo spoke on the impact and the necessity of women in leadership:
ISDA was formed right here in Pittsburgh in 1930 by the members of some 30 lodges who chose to leave their parent organization, the Order Sons of Italy, in large part, because women were not allowed to become members. So, the Pittsburgh members formed their own new organization and chose to name it: The Italian Sons and Daughters of America.
Over the years, ISDA has grown to become one of the two largest Italian American fraternal organizations in our country, in large part because of the important role women have played in the development and growth of this organization. And tonight, we have chosen to celebrate the contributions Italian American women have made, not only to the ISDA, but to our country. From Mother Cabrini, the first American Saint who founded 67 hospitals, orphanages, and schools throughout our country at a time when women were not even allowed to vote; to Ella Grasso, who was the first woman elected in her own right to serve as a Governor of one of our 50 States; to Geraldine Ferraro, who was the first woman to run for Vice President on a major party ticket; to Nancy Pelosi, who was the first woman to serve as Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Italian American women have been precedent setters in terms of the major contributions they have made to our country. And our distinguished guest, Dr. Jill Biden, has herself made significant precedent-setting contributions to our country, from her tireless support of our troops and veterans to her drive to continue as a college professor, as she is the only First — and Second — Lady to ever hold a salaried position outside the White House.
COPOMIAO and ISDA President Basil M. Russo speaks before 400 members of the Italian American community at the Rivers Casino Event Center on July 13, 2024, in Pittsburgh, PA.
Biden has a bachelor’s and doctorate degree from the University of Delaware, as well as two master’s degrees. Since 2009, she has been a professor of English at Northern Virginia Community College.
Read ISDA National Vice President Joe Rosalina’s introduction of Russo here.
(Italian Sons and Daughters of America is a nonpartisan, 501(c)(8), cultural and fraternal not-for-profit, based in Pittsburgh, PA.)