<P> Despite it being the fifth most studied language in higher education (college and graduate) settings throughout America, the Italian language has struggled to maintain being an AP course of study in high schools nationwide . It was only in 2006 that AP Italian classes were first introduced, and they were soon dropped from the national curricula after the spring of 2009 . The organization which manages such curricula, the College Board, ended the AP Italian program because it was "losing money" and had failed to add 5,000 new students each year . Since the program's termination in the spring of 2009, various Italian organizations and activists have attempted to revive the course of study . Most notable in the effort is Margaret Cuomo, sister of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo . She provided the impetus for the program's birth in 2006 and is currently attempting to secure funding and teachers to reinstate the program . It is also worth noting that Italian organizations have begun fundraisers to revive AP Italian . Organizations such as the NIAF and Order Sons of Italy in America have made strides in collecting money, and are prepared to aid in the monetary responsibility any new AP Italian program would bring with it . </P> <P> Moreover, Web - based Italian organizations, such as ItalianAware, have begun book donation campaigns to improve the status and representation of Italian and Italian American literature in the New York public libraries . According to ItalianAware, the Brooklyn Public Library is the worst offender in New York City . It has 11 books pertaining to the Italian immigrant experience available for checkout spread across 60 branches . That amounts to 1 book for every 6 branches in Brooklyn, which (according to ItalianAware) cannot supply the large Italian / Italian American community in the borough . ItalianAware aims to donate 100 books to the Brooklyn Public Library by the end of 2010 . </P> <P> Generoso Pope (1891--1950), the owner of a chain of Italian - language newspapers in major cities, stands out as the epitome of the Italian American ethnic political broker . He bought Il Progresso Italo - Americano in 1928 for $2 million; he doubled its circulation to 200,000 in New York City, making it the largest Italian - language paper in the country . He purchased additional papers in New York and Philadelphia, which became the chief source of political, social, and cultural information for the community . Pope encouraged his readers to learn English, become citizens, and vote; his goal was to instill pride and ambition to succeed in modern America . A conservative Democrat who ran the Columbus Day parade and admired Mussolini, Pope was the most powerful enemy of anti-Fascism among Italian Americans . Closely associated with Tammany Hall politics in New York, Pope and his newspapers played a vital role in securing the Italian vote for Franklin D. Roosevelt's Democratic tickets . He served as chairman of the Italian Division of the Democratic National Committee in 1936, and helped persuade the president to take a neutral attitude over Italy's invasion of Ethiopia . He broke with Mussolini in 1941 and enthusiastically supported the American war effort . In the late 1940s Pope supported the election of William O'Dwyer as mayor in 1945 and Harry S. Truman as president . His business concerns continued to prosper under New York's Democratic administrations, and in 1946 he added the Italian - language radio station WHOM to his media holdings . In the early years of the Cold War, Pope was a leading anti-Communist and orchestrated a letter - writing campaign by his subscribers to stop the Communists from winning the Italian elections in 1948 . </P> <P> Voters did not always vote the way editorials dictated, but they depended on the news coverage . At many smaller papers, support for Mussolini, short - sighted opportunism, deference to political patrons who were not members of the Italian - American communities, and the necessity of making a living through periodicals with a small circulation, generally weakened the owners of Italian - language newspapers when they tried to become political brokers of the Italian American vote . </P>

Most of the immigrants before the revolutionary war were italian