Migration to North America

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 of the labor market and the policy of sponsorship enacted by the Candian government. Canadian customers offices Pier 21 Halifax Museum – Nova Scotia

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.