Calandra’s Joseph Sciorra on Pete Panto, at Casa Italiana

Last week, Calandra’s Dr. Joseph Sciorra delivered a talk at Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò on the topic of labor activist Pietro “Pete” Panto. Sciorra spearheaded a successful effort last year to have Panto’s headstone made and installed in St. John’s Cemetery on Long Island, where the longshoreman’s remains are buried.

Click here to watch the entire presentation at Casa Italiana.

 

The Pietro “Pete” Panto Italian Diaspora Labor Dissertation Fellowship

SCOPE OF THE FELLOWSHIP

The John D. Calandra Italian American Institute, a university-wide institute under the aegis of Queens College, The City University of New York, is offering a fellowship for graduate students who are writing their dissertation on any topic involving Italian emigrant and/or Italian ethnic labor and/or working-class life either in the United States or in the wider Italian diaspora. Submissions may come from all relevant fields of study in the social sciences and humanities, including, but not limited to, history, literary studies, film studies, gender studies, and political science.

The fellowship is named after dockworker and labor activist Pietro “Pete” Panto (1910–1939), who was murdered for leading rank-and-file stevedores in a struggle for safe and democratic working conditions on the Brooklyn waterfront, which had long been in the grip of mobsters and corrupt elements in the union.

The fellowship will run for six years with one award given each year. The fellowship award is $1,000 US per year, distributed by check or bank transfer after the awardee is announced.

ELIGIBILITY

Graduate students will need to have been registered at their university in the twelve months previous to the application deadline. Recently graduated students are eligible to apply as long as they were registered within the twelve months immediately previous.

Applicants must have passed their qualifying exams, been admitted to candidacy, and have submitted an accepted dissertation proposal. This status must be confirmed in the dissertation director’s letter (see below).

Graduate students who do not win in a given year but continue to work on their dissertation or thesis in the following year are welcome to apply again.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

  • Application materials must be in English and submitted in .pdf format. The dissertation itself may be written in any language.
  • Project description: In no more than 750 words (double-spaced, Times New Roman 12-point font with 1-inch margins), provide a title and brief description of the dissertation project, your progress toward its completion, and an explanation of the project’s contribution to the field of diasporic Italian emigrant and/or ethnic labor and/or working-class life.
  • Curriculum vitae: The CV should include your current mailing address, email address, and telephone number and should focus on publications, courses taken and/or taught, professional activities, and awards. Maximum length not to exceed two pages.
  • Unofficial transcripts: Proof of good standing. There is no need for the transcript to be translated into English.
  • Two letters of reference: One letter must come from the dissertation director and explicitly address the relevance of your project to the furthering of Italian diaspora and labor/working-class studies. Both letters must be in English.

Please upload the documents in .pdf format to Submittable: https://bordigherapress.submittable.com/submit/285828/john-d-calandra-italian-american-institute-pietro-pete-panto-italian-diaspora

For any questions about the application process, please write to the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute at the following email: calandra@qc.cuny.edu.

DEADLINE

May 1, 2024. The announcement of this year’s winner will be made on September 2, 2024.

Honoring Pete Panto, in the New York Times

Today’s New York Times features an article by James Barron that details Calandra’s Dr. Joseph Sciorra’s tireless campaign to recognize the life of dockworker Pete Panto by erecting a gravestone for the murdered labor activist buried in the St. Charles Cemetery on Long Island. Read the article here. And please consider attending the commemoration of Panto that will take place at the gravesite on Tuesday, September 26, 2023, at 2:30pm. Click here for the address and further details.

Commemorative Ceremony for Pete Panto: September 26

Tuesday, September 26, 2023, 2:30pm
St. Charles Cemetery
2015 Wellwood Avenue
Farmingdale, NY 11735
Section 9, Row F, Grave 224
Please join us for a commemorative ceremony honoring the life and work of slain dock worker and labor activist Pietro “Pete” Panto (1910–1939) to formally mark the installation of his tombstone at St. Charles Cemetery.
On July 14, 1939, Panto was murdered on the orders of crime boss Albert Anastasia in retribution for Panto’s efforts leading a rank-and-file movement against a corrupt and crime-infested labor union in Brooklyn. At the time, working conditions on the docks were rife with endemic problems such as the shape-up hiring system, mandatory salary kickbacks, extortion, and high numbers of work-related injuries. No one was convicted for Panto’s murder.
For more than eighty years Panto’s body lay buried in an unmarked grave. In 2022, the Institute’s Dr. Joseph Sciorra led an online fundraising campaign to create a marker for the gravesite. Scores of people joined our initiative by making small and large donations. We feel that the simple act of putting a headstone on his grave is more than warranted, given this Italian American working-class hero’s sacrifice on behalf of laboring people.
For further information, please call 212-642-2094.

Pete Panto Headstone Installed

Photograph of Pete Panto headstone taken by Dr Joseph Sciorra
Photograph courtesy of Joseph Sciorra

From the Calandra Institute’s Director for Academic and Public Programming Dr. Joseph Sciorra: “I am euphoric to announce that a tombstone for murdered dock worker and labor activist Pietro ‘Pete’ Panto was recently placed at his grave that went unmarked for 82 years. I thank all of you who made this possible, with your support, your donations, and work of various sorts. We will soon be organizing a ceremony at the site. Stay tuned.”