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At the turn of the century, America was viewed as a land of freedom from the hardships of everyday life. During this time, millions of immigrants from all over the world, poured into America seeking that exact kind of freedom. Some were escaping oppression, while others immigrated seeking religious freedom. The Italians were one of the many ethnic groups that strove to overcome oppression and poverty in the New World of America. However, upon arriving in America, the Italians discovered many obstacles, which they had to overcome in order to adjust to life in their new home.
Life for the Italians in Italy was a life that many would not expect. By the late 1890 s and early 1900 s, Italy had become one of the most overcrowded, and one of the poorest, countries in Europe (Jones 193). Life was hard in Italy. Economic depression brought on by past rulers left certain parts of Italy nearly jobless. The few jobs that were available usually didn't pay enough to provide food for everyone. There was little industry and barely any farmland for the poor peasants to attempt to grow food. "Conditions were particularly bad in the Mezzogiorno-the southern half of the peninsula and Sicily" (Jones 193).
During the eighth century, the Greeks successfully developed the Mezzogiorno, making it the heart of a great European civilization and a center for world commerce. This period of greatness continued throughout the Middle Ages. However, a few centuries later, it ended, and the Mezzogiorno began to crumble. Foreign rulers, such as the Spanish and the Bourbon, brought oppression to the people and neglect to the region. Throughout their reign, these two powers drained from the local economy in excess. They took bribes from the rich and weighed high taxes on peasants, who could not afford it.
Even after the unification of Italy in 1861, which unified the Mezzogiorno with present day northern Italy, and the destruction of harsh rulers, the new centralized government in Italy continued still to neglect and exploit the poor, homeless peasants of the Mezzogiorno. This neglect and exploitation caused several economic difficulties in the region. Looking only for the easiest and quickest way to make money, the rulers overlooked any care and respect they had for the land they were destroying. Due to the clearing of land, "the topsoil became eroded, leaving a thin layer of dirt that was not thick enough to hold the precious moisture" (Washburne 9). The deforestation also spawned foul swamps, which were ideal places for the reproduction of the malarial mosquito. Unfortunately, this was only the beginning of the economic decline in southern Italy. "Thousands of acres of vineyards were destroyed by plant lice, and a cholera epidemic swept the region, claiming fifty-five thousand lives by 1887 " (Washburne 15).
The rapid decline of Italy's economy and the spread of disease eventually drove southern Italians to consider leaving their homeland for a new life in America. The majority of Italian immigrants came to America between the years of 1901 and 1910, but there is still a significant number of Italians who came to America before the twentieth century (Jones 196). The spread of disease in Southern Italy caused an internal migration of peasants to the richer, more northerly cities. The increasing numbers in the already overcrowded cities filled many Northerners with the desire to leave Italy. While the Northerners were fleeing the Southerners, the Southerners immigrated to escape complications from economic problems, namely poverty. "Southern Italians sought destinations where there was a strong demand for unskilled labor and where they could afford the travel expense" (Sowell 143). Ironically, once in America, neither group found they had escaped what they were fleeing.
The Italians, unlike other emigrants, never intended to become permanent residents elsewhere. The majority of the Italian immigrants were steerage-class single men, who came to America with the sole purpose of making money. Once they earned a sufficient amount, they would typically return to Italy. Italians with the intent to return to Italy, settled in the cities along the eastern coast, with 97 percent of these Italians passing through New York's Ellis Island (Mariani 125).
The immigrants who did stay, though, used the money they earned to bring the rest of their families to America. These Italians tended to spread out across the country and settle in cities like Chicago, Detroit, and various cities in California. Once in America though, the problem facing all Italian immigrants was finding a job in which to make such money. The very early Italians primarily found jobs as vender's of statuary, organ grinders (with a monkey in tail), or as railroad workers. However, Italian immigrants, who were "unable to speak any English, relied upon the services of the padrone, an Italian labor boss" (Jones 198).
The padrone did everything that needed to be done for the Italian immigrants. The padrone acted like caregivers for the Italians by finding them good jobs, housing, and by being their interpreter. The padrone would normally round up a group of unskilled workers in Italy, contract them with a company in America, and then ship them over much like cargo, for a profit. On the whole, the padrone seemed like an Italian immigrant's best friend, but in reality they cheated them out of money by deducting large amounts of money from them to pay for their food and housing. Once the Italians discovered the wickedness in the padrone and the padrone system, the immigrants quickly abandoned it. After the padrone were gone, the Italians faced the problem of finding jobs on their own.
The Italians, being unskilled, often "performed the lowliest tasks for meager wages" (Witte 442). Some of these jobs included street cleaning, builders of sewers and streets, or street peddlers. In order to feed the entire family, however, women and children had to work as well. Children worked at an especially early age, and often did not attend school. Shoeshine boys and street vender's were typical occupations for such children.
Women mainly worked in the garment industry, or "sweat shop labor" and avoided employment in domestic servant jobs. It was rare that the Italians would take charity, and even more seldom that the women would turn to prostitution for money. Besides the pressure of finding a job, the status of their living conditions was another serious problem that faced the Italian immigrants. Italian immigrants were forced to live in overcrowded, vermin infested and dirty ghettos because of their meager and limited incomes.
These ghettos were nicknamed "Little Italy's. " Many o...
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