A presentation from the Italian team group on Migrations towards North America - work done during Estonian mobility

1. Migration to North
America
Italian Group
Giuseppe Geraci – Marco Lo Piano – Alessandro Frenna

2. Sicilian Poem
In Sicilian:
"Ti lassu sicilia bedda mia lu parru sulu la lingua to, e partu e vaju assai
luntanu unni si parra sulu amiricanu."
In English:
"I'm leaving you, my beautiful Sicily; I speak only your language and I'm
leaving and I'm going so far away where they speak only American."
-Franco Trincale

3. • Give me your tired, your
poor,
• Your huddled masses
yearning to breathe free,
• The wretched refuse of
your teeming shore.
• Send these, the
homeless, tempest-tost to
me,
• I lift my lamp beside the
golden door!"

4. Migration Wave to the USA
An enormous surge of immigration
from Sicily had begun in the 1880s
and continued unabated for
several decades, boosting the
foreign-born portion of the
nation's population to an all-time
peak of 14.7% by 1910.
One out of Seven Americans was an Immigrant
In early 1907, the federal immigration
station on Ellis Island in New York Harbor
set an all-time record by processing the
entry of 11,747 newly arrived immigrants
in a single day.

5. Maps and routes
Between 1900 and World War I 9,000,000
Italians left, most from the south and
most going to either North or South
America. However, another source claims
that most Italian emigrants were
from Northern Italy.
Italian emigration per region

6. Migration wave after the WWII
• The migration to the Usa continued after
the second world war, but because of the
quotation acts issued in the 1920s the
number of Sicilians and Italians who
emigrated to the Usa was not so high
compared to Argentina and Brazil.
• In addition there was an Italian and
Sicilian immigration to Canada that had
experienced an industrial boom in the
early twenties, even if the increase in the
number was only after the second world
war thanks to the tremendous expansion Canadian customers offices
of the labor market and the policy of Pier 21 Halifax Museum – Nova Scotia
sponsorship enacted by the Candian
government.

7. The Journey
The migrants used to travel on board
of old rusty ship. Reading the letters of
these migrants to their relatives there
is the tale of this voyage: the
passangers lived compressed as in a
beehive. The degradation was at
maximum levels. Many people died
during the trip!
A typical boat used for travelling

8. The trip
The trip lasted from 12 to 13
days, almost all travelling in third
class, where people slept in iron
bunks and ate soup (first class instead
were served dishes prepared by the
chef). When the sea was calm, the
fish became the real stars of that long
journey, actors tireless in the
presence of a special public, whose
audience was simply a bridge to the
third class.

9. Routes from Italy
Southern Italy, the source of most Italian immigrants had two major
departure points Naples and Sicily. People travelled from Sicily and Naples to
New York.
At the turn of the century, the price of the lowest priced sterrage tickets were
$25-35 depending on the port of embarkation. One ticket was equivalent to 2
or 3 weeks wages and after room and board an immigrant might have
50/week to save.

10. "Oh God, I was sick. Everybody was sick. I
don't even want to remember anything
about that old boat. One night I prayed to
God that it would go down because the
waves were washing over it. I was that
sick, I didn't care if it went down or not.
And everybody else was the same way."
-Luciano De Crescenzo, "The Ball of Yarn”
"I remember my grandfather always
telling me how he knew he could be
rich in America because he saw riches in
the architecture of Ellis Island. He felt
that if they let the poor in such a
gorgeous hall then life in this country
was just."
-Rosanne Welch, granddaughter of
Giuseppe Italiano, and Italian immigrant
in 1904

11. The time on board
There were those who departed
alone, who with their family
during the trip, the Italians were
in a group. Only moving as a
group, living in groups in the
same neighborhood, go to work
in a group, you could overcome
that sense of loneliness and loss
that weighed on each of them in
this country so far away and so
different from their native
land, of which even know the
language.
The immigrants, on board a ship, used to spend their time playing
cards, throwing dices or just pastimes was to play music and dance.
The most common activity for men seemed to be looking at women

12. At the end of the voyage the
Migrants arrived at their
destination with few resources
and high expectations. They
were processed trough Ellis
Island, a place many italians
called the “Isola delle lacrime”
(Island of Tears). They hoped of
a better tomorrow for
themselves and their children

13. Reasons why sicilians left their land
The Sicilian immigrants decided to leave
their homes and their families in the early
twenty and in the second postwar period
(1945-1950) to find their fortune in
America, because the conditions of
famine and poverty had reached
unsustainable levels. Agriculture in Italy
was no longer profitable, methods of
production were primitive, and taxes
were oppressive.

14. The sulfur mines that had supplied the
armies for the construction of
weapons, became poor of their resources
because of their exploitation. This was
one of many causes that led people to
believe in the American dream, it was also
essential because of the decisions of the
government pre and post fascist who did
not give opportunities for the economy of
the South Italy, which was based mainly
on agriculture.

15. What kind of people moved from
Sicily ?
The main social classes which
emigrated to the USA and
Canada, were principally the lowest
classes: peasants and
artisans, fathers of families, who
couldn’t be able to give the necessary
support to their families because of
unsustainable economic conditions

16. But, not only the poorest part of
the population emigrated to the
U.S.A. There was a great movement
also between the middle classes,
who were attracted by the
opportunity of making money and
by “the American dream” that they
had seen in the Hollywood movie.
. Another fundamental aspect is
that migration has led to emigrate
also Mafiosi from Sicily to America,
which exported Mafia in the New
World.

17. The first form of Mafia in New York: The Black Hand

18. Migrants jobs
The Sicilian immigrants brought with them the strength of their arms, did often the most difficult
jobs rejected by the local Americans, including work in the mines, the small street trading, the
roads or railway works, agricultural works and jobs in the steel industry. Jobs able to guarantee
them quick money to send to their families in Italy, but that didn’t allow them to have any social
protection.
A family's Barber shop
One italian immigrant is said to have remarked: ”I came to America because I heard the streets
were paved with gold. When I got here, I found out three things: First, the streets were not
paved with gold. Second, they were not paved at all. And third, I was expected to pave them”

19. Traditions, costums and values
When our Immigrants arrived in the USA , they brought with them their most
important traditions about religion, food, language, uses and costumes which
made them badly judged by the inhabitants of the New World, they nicknamed
Italians Dago or Wop.
Another noticeable aspect of the Italian immigrant culture in the 1940s is the
emphasis on the preservation, and creation, of close-knite family ties. The
cohesiviness of the Italian family and their strong value system allowed them not
only to endure, but to succed despite prejudices and exploitation. After a lot of
years from the first migrations, in the U.S.A were formed a lot of quarters called
Little Italies, where Italian people lived emarginated. Their diescendants have
benefits from their hard work and perseverance and distinguish themeselves as
bankers, lawyers, scientists: Fiorello La Guardia, his father an immigrant, became
the Mayor of New York city.

20. Some famous people which had Italian origins
Picture one: Fiorello La Guardia, New York City Major;
Picture two: Frank Sinatra, singer and actor;
Picture three: Joe Di Maggio, baseball player and actor.