I knew my grandparents came to America in 1913 from Italy.
In school we covered WWII in depth and great detail, especially in high school history class, both US and world. We discussed Executive Order 9066 and how almost a hundred thousand people of Japanese descent in America were relocated to internment camps.
I live in a historic Japantown on the West Coast and here there are monuments about its relatively long history, including the internment camps and how immigration law used to outright prevent issei from becoming citizens and was very harsh on nisei and sansei as well. Feb 19th every year (the day EO 9066 was published) is Day of Remembrance and they have special services in the churches and temples. I know tons about the struggles of Japanese-Americans.
But it wasn't until last year, when I was watching a PBS miniseries about Italian-Americans, that I learned about how Italians were also included in all of these laws and were the exclusive targets of several others, even before and after the war. I knew my grandparents had it rough, but I had no idea... millions had to register, forbidden to travel, get fingerprinted, identified with exact color of skin (many Sicilians were listed as "black") and region your family was from in Italy (the South being "worst"), not allowed to own cameras or guns or work in related industries or in airports/docks during the war, outright relocated away form the coasts (mostly to New Mexico), possibly arrested or interred along with Germans and Japanese, paid much less than white counterparts, and the list goes on. They struggled hard for decades to integrate themselves into American life and become good citizens, but the government kept blocking them from being treated equally.
In 2000, the U.S. Congress passed the "Wartime Violation of Italian American Civil Liberties Act" and published a report in 2001 including 11 lists of people who were confirmed as arrested, detained, interred, relocated, and otherwise mistreated. It took until 2010 for the California Legislature to pass a resolution apologizing for US mistreatment of Italian residents in the state, noting restrictions, indignities, loss of jobs, and forced relocation. In newer history textbooks, it at least gets a brief mention because of this.
And all this time, I have no idea about any of it. In films, Italians are gangsters and union organizers. On TV, they're stereotypical deli owners and swarthy Romeos.
As part of integrating into American culture and trying to forget/forgive the past struggles, my family and the others I was around growing up just didn't talk about it. My parents were forbidden to learn or speak Italian at home; my grandpa would yell "we are Americans now, we argue in English!". They were desperate for their kids to have a full chance at the white American dream and part of that meant they couldn't dwell on past mistreatment or hold a grudge. By my generation, we were just told "they were poor and had to fight hard to get and keep good jobs" and that's about it so the PBS series blew my mind! There were riots? They were registered enemy aliens? It was legal to pay them half wage? What else don't I know?!
You can watch the PBS series "The Italian Americans" for free online. Or on Amazon Prime Video if you prefer.