Italian Immigrants Essay

When I was deliberating topics for my case study ethnography report I was inspired to examine some one very close to me who is "undocumented", someone whose experience I have seen first hand, some one who has affected my life and understanding of immigrants with his situation; my partner, Mario. This class has exposed us to many writings on the subjects of migration, immigration and emigration. I began to compare the concepts and information in the readings to Mario’s personal situation. I was curious if his answer would be "In search of a better life" when asked, "Why did you come here?"

Southern- Italian was the largest group to migrate to the US during the late 19th century and early 20th century follow by the Portuguese and Spanish. More than 5 million Italians from Sicily and poor southern Italian province settle on the east coast in the US. They created their own little town called little Italies due to hostility in America. More than one- quarter people migrated from Spain since 1820 and settle in California, New Mexico, Texas, Arizona Florida and Louisiana. The other half migrated to the Us in the 19th century due to economic depression.

What I am most proud of, is the fact that I am a hardworking immigrant. In today’s divided society, immigrants are stereotyped as “non-contributing to society” or “largely uneducated”. This ignorant stereotype is a constant reminder of how hard I should work.

The culture of every ethnic group is beautiful in its own way and worth cherishing. Today, America is known as the great melting pot not for the number of immigrants it has but rather because of the wonderful cultures and traditions the immigrants brought with them. Immigrants do not need to forgo their mother tongue, significant celebrations or customs to become American. However to be socially accepted, they will need to learn English, take part in celebrating national holidays and fulfill their patriotic duties Americans like every other U.S citizens.

America is traditionally a country of immigrants. Very few people today have relatives who were Native Americans, many of them because of religious persecution, and others because of they were just looking to start a new life on the exciting untouched frontier. For instance, in Florida, the first arrivals were European, beginning with the Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon who explored the land in 1513, following French and Spanish settlement during the 16th century. From the past, America was seen as a country of opportunities. People from all over the world have moved here looking for better opportunities. There are a lot of reasons why immigrants should live in this country, but I would like to mention three of them.

In the late 1800s, millions upon millions of Europeans made their way to America for a variety of reasons. For the citizens of Italy, those reasons included poverty and political hardship. For many Italians, farming was their livelihood, however the antiquity of their tools did not allow for maximum efficiency. As a result, approximately 5 million poor Italian farmers made the trip across the Atlantic to America. While most settled in New York and the surrounding states, some journeyed elsewhere to states like Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois. Once they arrived, they would take the vacant positions of workers on strike making up to ten times the salary they would have made in their homeland.

“ They rely on a viewer's preconceived idea of how a particular person or ethnic group should act and merely fulfill these expectations. External signs and cues are used to indicate and suggest the veneer of culture. Dress, eating habits, and language accents are exaggerated…” Even though the directors of the movie did not directly refer to Italian Americans, the way they portrayed the characters based on their language, clothes, food and etc. indirectly told the audience that the characters were of Italian background. By seeing this occur in every movie and show, the public got accustomed to seeing Italian Americans as the mafia and failed to recognize that the mafia was only a small percentage of Italian Americans and the rest were just like ordinary people trying to make a better life.

In the early 1880’s immigrants started to come over to the United States. Immigrants came into the United States for job opportunities, and a better life for there families. Immigrants come from all over the world, such as chinese, Italian, and Russian immigrants. The experiences of Chinese immigrants differed from immigrants from Italy, and Russia. Their experiences differed, because of how they came over to America, where they lived, and jobs.

It is stated that during the early 20th century the Italians received white received much lower wages than the average American. What can you observe from this? According to me you can tell that the immigrants were victimized against society. Eventually the Italians were accepted into American society. The Americans started to conceive that the Italians were no threat towards them or their society.

Many came from eastern and southern Europe such as the Irish, Germans, Italians and Polish. Immigrants came to America with hopes and dreams of prosperity, freedom of religion, freedom from fascism and dictatorship with the possibility of wealth and security. Many if not all of the immigrants encountered the complete opposite. Hard labor, poor living condition, low wages and illnesses were the problems often faced by the

Similar to most other immigrants that traveled to the colonies in the early days, the Italian immigrants were indentured servants under British control and eventually contributed to our nation’s success during the American Revolution. Despite their contributions, the immigrants that later entered the country from Italy were reliant on the Padron system to acquire labor contracts in the U.S. Consequently, their conditions as landless peasants in their home country and their inability to speak the English language left them susceptible to exploitation by the padron who withheld wages and provided them with inadequate housing. Eventually, as the Italians began to speak a sufficient amount of English they were able to acquire work for themselves

In the late 18th century, European migrants such as Germans, Polish, and Italians came to America to start a better life, little did they know that coming to a new country such as America wouldn't be the easiest. Many Germans, Polish, and Italian immigrants began searching for a new life in America in the late 1800’s. As easy as they thought is was going to be, many immigrants had a tenacious time being part of America. They needed to leave the country that they knew and their loved ones, hoping their lives would improve after arriving in the United States. German immigrants moved to America because of poverty, conversely being so indigent that they couldn't provide for themselves. They also came to America to provide for their families whom they brought along. Polish immigrants came to earn more money then the earned in Poland. Italian immigrants came to America to escape the wars that were happening as well as pursuing a better economic opportunity. Immigration to America was a time where European immigrants wanted to start a new life with their families.

Immigrant children did not live an easy life in the nineteenth century. Most children were never educated. Italian children immigrants were rarely put through schooling. However, Eastern European Jewish immigrants looked at public schooling as their best way to help their children enhance their potential in life. Chicago, Detroit, and New York City had large populations of Jewish and Italian immigrants. The conditions of the children in all three cities were similar yet different with cities in which they lived in. Jewish and Italian immigrant children had to overcome many obstacles during their adjustment to American life in the nineteenth century.

The old stock Americans weren't used to the immigrants and for this reason they thought less of them and oppressed them.  The Italians and other immigrants were blamed for many of the nations problems.  For example, the government led raids on immigrants’ houses because they feared the immigrants were communists.  This was evidenced in the Sacco and Vanzetti trial, when two Italian immigrants were convicted for murder and the prosecution had no real substantial evidence.  They were convicted mainly because of their beliefs, not their actions.  Religious beliefs also brought the immigrants problems.  The KKK was openly anti-Catholic and most of the Italians were catholic.  The immigrants and Italians also helped to bring on prohibition.  The Americans didn't approve of their drinking habits; therefore the prohibition amendment was made for this and other reasons.  Job competition was also a major reason for the racist feelings of the Americans.  Native white workers saw the immigrants as competitors for the jobs that they felt they should have.  A good example of this competition was “birds of passage.”  These were Italian workers who came to work in the U.S. but later returned to Italy with the money they earned in the U.S.  From 1899-1924 3.8 million Italians came to the United States, but 2.1 million left to return to Italy during the same

Most Americans place their pride in being apart of a country where a man can start at the bottom and work his way to the top. We also stress the fact that we are “all created equal” with “certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.” (Jefferson 45) During the early 1900s white Americans picked and chose who they saw fit to live in America and become an American. “Those that separate the desirable from the undesirable citizen or neighbor are individual rather than race.”