Janice Mancuso is on a mission to education Americans about Italian and Italian American history. In 2006, Mancuso created "Thirty-One Days of Italians," a website that every October lists an Italian American or Italian each day, who has made an extraordinary contribution to American history. The ongoing project is a labor of love for Mancuso, who extensively researches each Italian and Italian American to make sure her resource is a reliable source of information.

Over the years, the website has become a portal for research in Italian American History, but Mancuso wants to take it even further, to the schools. "Child or adult, anyone of Italian heritage should be aware of Italian American history; however, it is imperative that Italian American children know about and understand the history and culture of their nationality," she says on her website.

As such Manucso is pushing for her resource to be part of lesson plans in public school systems across the country. Her website has already become the basis for an online course on Italian American History and soon the biographies on Mancuso's website will be available as lesson plans for teacher to integrate into their American history curriculum.

Visit Mancuso's website at http://home.earthlink.net/~31italians/index.html to learn more!

Source: NIAF