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Italian Child “Slaves” of the 19th Century: Kidnapped and Forced to be Musicians

By: Joe Tucciarone

In the midst of the Civil War, on May 14, 1864, in the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, George Richardson posted a two-hundred-dollar reward in the Daily Dispatch for the return of his runaway slave, Henry.

On the same day, Italian padrone, Pasquale Falvella posted a reward in the New York Herald for the return of Antonio Pricolo, an eleven-year-old Italian harpist who was missing. But the boy wasn’t lost; he and six other Italian youths had escaped from Falvella, who was a brutal taskmaster. 

Source: https://lavocedinewyork.com

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We the Italians # 194