Italian+Immigration

= Italian Immigrants Coming to America in the 1870's Through the 1920's = During the 1870's through the 1920's, more than four million Italians came to America in what was called "the great wave." Almost all of them were forced out of their homeland due to horrible economic conditions and a new government in Italy. Upon their arrival in America, however, conditions were not much better. They had to face the hardships of working mostly low paying, unskilled jobs, while enduring poor living conditions and an unwelcoming american public. Although life in America would be hard for the new Italian immigrants, they still came with the prospect of making their lives better with more money. In time, most did so.

Conditions in Italy and Reasons to Leave During the 1850’s and 1860’s, Italy had been under foreign rule and the Italians had been fighting for control of their homeland. They achieved this goal in 1870 when, for the first time in centuries, Italy was united under an Italian government. And because of this new change in government, Italians were finally allowed to travel abroad both freely and legally. Given the political, economic and other conditions in Italy after this change in government, many left for America in the late 1800’s.

Most of the Italians that left the country for America when the new government came into power were from southern Italy. This southern emigration was due in large part to the fact that the new government that ruled Italy was made up of all northern Italians, who somewhat neglected most of southern Italy. While the new government sought to modernize most of northern Italy, southern Italy remained undeveloped; in turn, most of southern Italians remained peasants. Contributing to the problems of these poor Italians, the new government also imposed taxes on them for the first time (due to Italy’s foreign rule, the Italians had never had to deal with a tax before), and began requiring young Italian men to serve in the military. Most southern Italians were uneducated and had little opportunity in Italy. Most of them worked as tenant farmers, meaning that the lands on which they raised their crops were owned by distant landlords. As a result, the farmers often did not receive much more than the bare necessities to survive and sometimes less. Indeed, the farmland they leased was often mountainous and received little to no rain, making it very difficult to grow crops. To make matters worse, other countries had started to produce their own wheat at this time, causing the price for of one the Italians’ main crops to fall drastically.

Natural disasters also were unusually rampant in Italy in the late 1800’s. The disease cholera was sweeping through Italy at this time and killed over 50,000 people almost annually. In addition, both earthquakes and landslides regularly destroyed many small Italian towns and farms. All of these events combined to make life extremely difficult for many Italians. All of these factors, accompanied with overpopulation in the country, forced many Italians to leave for America in the late 1800’s. However, most Italians who did leave did not actually want to. They had been forced out due to differences with the government, an inability to support themselves in the economy, or because their landlords were too abusive. One government official even noted how the emigrants were “leaving in tears, cursing the government and signori (landowners).”

Some Reasons that Italians Immigrated to America and How They Got There When Italians left Italy they had many places to choose from as their destination. A lot of them chose to go to America because there was almost always a need for workers in America at the time, and the work did not require an education. Since most of the Italian immigrants were uneducated and could easily earn five times the amount of money in America than they did in Italy, America seemed like a very easy decision. The Italians were already used to doing hard work back in Italy. Building roads, constructing buildings, or performing factory jobs that required little skill were relatively easy jobs for the unskilled Italians who took them. And when the Italians got their pay, they usually sent it home to Italy in order to keep sustaining their families or to allow their families the ability to come join them in America. The Italians who came to America also were willing to work as strikebreakers or scabs because they were willing to take lowered pay. It was because of this that many working Americans did not like the Italians immigrants.

The decision by many Italians to travel to America also was made easier by the fact that the internal transportation network in Italy began to improve in the late 1800’s. Trains were starting to become more common, so many Italians could now get to the coasts and ports of Italy much easier than before; although many of the poorest Italians still had to use horse drawn carts to get them and their belongings to the sea. The boats had also improved as well. Compared to the old sailing ships, the newer steam powered ships were much faster, meaning that a trip that once took months now took days. Despite this quicker travel, the conditions in the boats were poor. The immigrants traveled in the cheapest and worst class of service for passengers. They were crowded together in small windowless and dark cabins below the main deck. They would fight for chances to get up to the top deck for fresh air in the small spaces they were provided. Most of the immigrants were sea sick for the entire journey, and a few even died on the passage to America.



What the Italians Did When They Arrived in America

Almost all Italians who came to America had to go through Ellis Island. The Italian immigrants there had to satisfy a few requirements to be allowed into America or else they were forced to leave and would be shipped back to Italy. They had to be able to read and write; they had to have money; they had to be healthy; and they had to have a place to live and a prior job experience. If any of the immigrants did not fulfill all of these requirements, then the individuals were often shipped back to the country they came from. Sometimes families were separated during this process. One of the members might not have passed the exams, while others could have been sick. In some cases, while some family members were allowed into the United States, others were forced to go back to Italy. The Italians often referred to Ellis Island as “l’isola dell largrime (island of tears).” Over 2.5 million Italians ultimately passed through Ellis Island -- the largest number of any ethnic group.

The first Italian immigrants to come to America at this time were very poor and spoke little English. In the period of 1881 through 1890, a few more than 300,000 Italians could afford to come to America. In years to come, this number would almost triple. These immigrants were mostly men between the ages of 15 and 45. Many of these men were referred to as birds of passage because when the cold season came in America, these Italians would often travel back to the warmer climates of Italy until it got warm again in the United States. A few of these men who went back were called “padrones (bosses),” since they went back to Italy specifically with the purpose of recruiting other Italians to come to America. They would offer to pay the immigrant’s way, get them a job, and help them adjust into the American society. In return, the immigrants would have to give a percentage of the money they earned to the padrone. The padrone often took advantage of the people they recruited; they would charge them high interest on the loans. But even so, they often really would end up helping the immigrants settle in American society. When the Italian immigrants came to America, they often sent a lot of their wages back to their families in Italy. In addition to the padrones, this practice was one of the main reasons as to why the mass immigration of Italians continued to grow in the late 1800’s. Due to these new found sources of money, many more Italians could afford to come to America, and they did.

Many of the Italians who came to America found their housing or tenements to be almost the same quality or worse when compared to their previous housing in Italy. Sometimes entire families would pack into one of small, poorly insulated, overheated apartment. These tenements often shared only one bathroom and had very poor sanitation. Groups of Italians would occupy many tenements in the same area, and these areas often became what are known as Little Italy’s. Given the poor economic and living conditions, crime rates were very high in these slums. And due to the crime and corruption in these areas, most Italians did not trust anyone outside of their local community. As a result of this local distrust, a multitude of Little Italy’s began popping up; almost one for every region in Italy, and each with its own dialect and traditions.



All of the Italians brought with them their own customs and traditions, though this did not make life very different for a lot of the Italians in America. Almost every member of each Italian family had to find some form of work in America. The men had to find new types of jobs since the farm work that they were used was not available to them in America cities. A lot of Italian men became miners, construction workers, tailors, factory workers, stonecutters or railroad workers. Some Italian men managed to open up their own shops, though they were usually either barber shops or grocery stores. In fact a large percentage of the barbers in America at this time were Italian. The male children of these Italian families were often put to work at the age of ten by either selling newspapers or shining shoes. The Italian women also got jobs when they were older, either working for small clothing businesses, factories, or making cheap jewelry or other inexpensive items for sale. However, Italians usually stuck to tradition and tried to keep Italian girls from getting work at young ages, with the desire to protect them from strangers. The Italian families were very hesitant to send their children to school for fear of having them assimilate into the American culture and forget about their Italian traditions.

Americans’ Reactions to the Italian Immigrants As the early Italian immigrants began arriving in America, most Americans paid them no mind and thought of them as new immigrants. However, prejudices soon became apparent as immigration from Italy increased. While prior immigrants who had come from mainly Germany, Great Britain, Ireland and Scandinavia were lighter skinned and Protestant, these new immigrants were mostly Catholic and often had darker skin. Many working Americans also ended up hating Italians because they sometimes acted as strikebreakers. When American workers felt that their employers were too unfair, they would often go on strike and demand higher wages. But the Italians who needed jobs and money would often go to work and replace the old workers in order to feed their families. The Americans also disliked Italians because of the padrone system. Many padrones often acted illegally when doing business and this created the impression that all Italians were much more violent and criminally oriented than any other race -- though in reality an Italian was no more likely to commit a crime than any other race or ethnic group. This view of Italians as violent criminals grew in the 1920’s, when the mafia started to become more prominent in America during the era of prohibition. Mobsters like Al Capone, who engaged in bootlegging and illegal gambling, caused Americans to use prejudice towards Italians again as a violent criminal race.

Despite these negative views, most Italians showed how productive they could be; some obtained prominent government jobs, became prominent scientists or professors, or went into the entertainment business, writing well known plays and operas or becoming well known performers. However, most Italians overcame prejudice and hardship and simply became hard working and successful Americans.

-Al Capone -Andrea Sbarbo -Pietro C. Rossi -A.P. Giannini -Arturo Toscanini -Frank Sinatra -Joe Dimaggio -Fiorello Henry Laguardia -Enrico Fermi
 * Some Famouse Italian Americans During This Time**

References ﻿[|Http://www.big-italy-map.co.uk/maps/italy%20400.jpg] ﻿[|Http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAEjourney.JPG] ﻿[|Http://www.usc.edu/schools/annenberg/asc/projects/comm544/library/images/397.jpg] ﻿Burgan, Michael, and Robert Asher. //Italian Immigrants//. New York: Facts On File, 2005. Print. ﻿Barone, Michael. //The New Americans: How the Melting Pot Can Work Again//. Washington, DC: Regnery Pub., 2001. Print. [|Http://www.clevelandmemory.org/italians/Partii.html]