Rebel Girl and the Godfather

Join UCLA professor and author Jeffrey Louis Decker for a special presentation of his new book, Rebel Girl and the Godfather: New York City’s Italians and the Fight for Civil Rights, about the rivalry between two improbable social justice crusaders, Mary Sansone, a homemaker, and Joe Colombo, a gangster, and the Brooklyn-based groups they led, the Congress of Italian American Organizations (CIAO) and the Italian American Civil Rights League (IACRL). The Sansone-Colombo clash was legendary in its own time, but until now it has never been turned into a book and explored as the moving human drama and watershed moment in civil rights movement history that it clearly was. An alumnus of Hobart College, Decker holds a Ph.D. in American Studies from Brown University.

The first 50 guests will receive a free copy of the book thanks to the generosity of Anthony Colombo. Ticket includes admission to the Museum’s current exhibitions.