Italian Immigrant Analysis

Because of my parent’s humble beginnings in the south and being ever so present during the Civil Rights era, education was very important in my household. My father would often say that education and knowledge could never be taken away from you once you have acquired it. He himself, only had a 3rd grade formal education but yet at the same time was a modern day math wizard. He was the second to the oldest out of eleven children so he chose to continually work the fields so that his younger siblings didn’t have to and they would have the opportunity to attend school during the day. My mother continually pursued higher education and received her Associates of Arts degree as an adult. Later in life, as a senior citizen she also attended South Suburban College in South Holland, Illinois and enrolled in a couple courses in Computer Training and

Italian immigrants were not welcomed with open arms into the land of opportunity. They had to adapt to the new lifestyle without forgetting theirs. Throughout the years, American citizens would be accustomed to having foreigners living in their neighborhoods. The Italian immigrants established communities where they managed to keep la via vecchia alive.

The Italian culture has been developed into a staple of American life, especially with a preexisting history ingrained into communities across the United States.

Between the years of 1870 and 1930, there was an influx of about 5 million Italian immigrants seeking a new life in the US, out of the 5 million immigrants who arrived there, 4/5 were from the South of Italy. Most Italians left their native land in pursuit of a more economically stable, prosperous and happy life didn’t come without prejudice, racism, animosity and questions. For, the Italian Immigrants that were seeking this fruitful life across in America, the main and concerning question was of their own culture, ethnicity, and race. Going to the US meant leaving behind all that was familiar and accepting, and become “white”. To hold truthfully to this custom one must obey and sacrifice not only their way of life, but essentially who and

“Between 1880 and 1920 more than 4.1 million Italians were recorded as entering the United States” (Daniels, p. 188). The Italian immigrants of post-1880 were different from other immigrant groups by these topics of religion, labor, family orientation, politics, and education. The 1880s brought a change not only in the amount of Italian immigrants but also the characteristic of them as a group. This group of immigrants was incredibly male dominated, in comparison to the other immigrants of this time, most settling in New York and Chicago. The living conditions that these Italians encountered were not pleasant. It was common for them to live in very crowded four bedroom apartments. Compared to other immigrants, they had one of the worsts

In a discussion in class, we talked about how we would investigate why certain groups of people or located in certain sections of the city. As a class we made city maps, my map shared many sections of the city. However, what I noticed is that my map was empty in certain places that I do not identify with. One section in particular was South Philadelphia, as Italian and Irish people mainly live there. I hardly visit that part of the city and had my first steak this year. This intrigued my interest to investigate Italians in Philadelphia. I will investigate the history of how the Italian immigrants made it to my city.

Since it declared independence from Great Britain in 1776, the United States has been called a land of opportunity for immigrants. Predating the founding of the nation itself, Italians have been drawn to the new world. Starting in 1492 with Christopher Columbus, and even leading up to the American Civil War, Italians have come to this country in search of a new life. However, it was not until the 20th century that Italians, similar to other Europeans and Asians, began to arrive in the United States in waves, and social impact the nation. After the Italians had left economically unstable and famine-ridden Italy, they arrived in America hoping to find a prosperous land. Yet, their idea of life in America got derailed by the way people socially

I finally made it to America! The journey from Italy was definitely more challenging than I would have expected. When I first decided I would move here, I didn't expect the amount of storms that we hit. On the week journey, there was only a few days when it did not rain. We were so close together in the bottom of the ship that there was barely any room to breathe! I was barely allowed on the upper decks, which made the lower deck seem so much more crowded. I heard someone say that there was around 3,000 people on the ship alone, and most of them were in steerage class with me. I didn't get the opportunity to change my clothing, and we were only allowed to shower in salt water, if at all. The meals consisted of soups or stews throughout

Even though many Italians emigrated to Argentina during the period of the 1870s about 4 million Italians emigrated to the United States, this emigration process stopped at the start of World War I in 1914 and for further immigration the United State congress passed restrictive laws. About 84% of this Italian immigrants came for South Italy (Sicily) the largest agricultural region were there was an agricultural depression and taxes were really high.

From 1890 to 1915 estimated around 4 million Italians arrived in the United States. Majority being from 1900 to 1914. Once they arrived in America, immigrants faced difficult challenges. Most of the time not even knowing the English language and also having very little education. Many of the new immigrants were forced to accept the lowest paying and hellish jobs. Sometimes were often forced by the average man who acted like they were slaves. Most of the immigrants found homes in the older sections of the big northeastern coastal cities. Later became known as the "Little Italy’s" most of the time being overcrowded average homes, which had terrible living condition with bad lighting and poor heating in the winter. Tuberculosis was one of the constant health problems for the immigrant families that were forced on by economic circumstances to live in these homes. Other immigrant families lived in small homes which was even more common in areas outside of the big northeastern cities.

I believe this is already known but I picked Italy for my alternate assignment I learned a few things about her current culture there is some things I like and some I do not. For example, they are very family oriented, and when their parents become too old to work they do not stick them in a nursing home like too many people in the States do. they would take care of them the rest of their lives. I for one care about my own family very deeply so I feel a connection of sorts with Italians I would do the same or at least something similar. One of the things I sort of don’t like is they are easy going, and don’t care if they are on time or late. Now it is good to take it easy and relax but only to a point because I think that if all you do

“A nation that cannot control its borders is not a nation”―Ronald Reagan. Throughout Western Europe, there is a mass growing of immigrants coming across their borders illegally and immigration officials are having a hard time of keeping all the illegals out. One of the largest countries seeing a large spike in illegal immigration is Italy where just this year alone more than 500,000 immigrants are projected to attempt to cross their borders. Illegal immigration is getting so bad that with the increasing number of immigrants Italy continues to grow less and less stable as a nation. In the article entitled “Italians revolt against migrant invasion” by Nick Squires of Rome, we take a deeper look into the paradox of why so many Italians are revolting

“The contrary stance-punitive on the one hand and welcoming on the other- leaves both Europeans and immigrants in limbo, stuck between what they used to be and what they could become” (P 184) This passage is in reference to the immigration issue in Europe and keeping immigrants out. Italy for example has programs to integrate immigrants however the process is so rigorous that few are able to enter the country through legal means. This draws the interest of those seeking opportunity whom are then faced with many barriers upon realizing the difficulties in actualizing their objective for opportunity.

The history of immigration of Italians from Sicily is an interesting one. I learned a great deal from the video such as that Italy was not a unified country until 1861. It certainly is not an old country by European standards. It was quite surprising that the word “mafia” was not coined but introduced into the public mind by the journalists of Louisiana. The media’s influence of on society and culture certainly has not been lessened throughout the years. I also was not aware that so many Italians, specifically Sicilians had immigrated to New Orleans.

The findings from national statistics institute ISTAT underline the scale of the challenge faced by the new coalition government of Enrico Letta, which has vowed to stimulate growth and tackle a youth jobless rate of almost 40 percent.