The story of many first- and second-generation Italian Americans was characterized by profound tensions: on the one hand, they strived to hold on to their cultural roots as a powerful act of resistance to assimilation; on the other hand, they felt compelled to erase difference in order to blend into the very society that often stigmatized them. Writers and artists Maria Mazziotti Gillan and Susan Caperna Lloyd have captured this struggle in their multi-faceted work, forcefully portraying their alienation, the self-erasure that often came with trying to succeed in America, as well as their proud assertion of their ethnic identity. This essay sets out to investigate the ways they both used documentary films—The Baggage (2001) and All That Lies between Us (2007)—as a means to restore visibility, reclaim complexity, and give voice to the Italian American experience.

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