“The Italian Immigrant Experience"
By Miriam Medina

-2-

Immigrants had to live in damp smelly cellars or attics, or up to six or 10 people, men, woman and children packed into crowded single rooms where "filth for so many years reigned undisturbed and pestilence wiping out hundreds of lives annually." The tenement houses in the lower part of Manhattan and other areas were overcrowded, lacking drainage and sufficient ventilation.

As you entered the overcrowded tenement buildings, you were greeted with a nauseating stench emanating from unwashed bodies, rags, old bottles, stale cooking odors and accumulating garbage heaps in the rooms. Decaying grease adhering to waste-pipes from kitchen sinks added its putrid odor to the foul emanations. These tenement buildings were dangerous firetraps, as well as a breeding place for murderous rodents that would kill babies in their cribs. The poor did not have the luxury of water, especially if they lived on the upper level. Water had to be carted from the fire hydrant in the street and carted upstairs. The Italian immigrants would come to the dumps to search for rags. They would bring their food with them, squatting down in the filth to eat their lunch.

Many immigrants themselves would convert their apartments into sweatshops, where amid the unsanitary conditions they would manufacture garments, flowers and cigars. "At home, the Italian women tended to age prematurely  and many were victims of tuberculosis or pneumonia. They overworked  themselves to support their large broods, took in garment jobs and rarely saw the sun as they had done in Italy. (4) Everyone had to do their share, even the children, who worked long hours. Sometimes these children were forced by their parents to earn their own livelihood. How many great men amassed great wealth from the blood, sweat and tears of these poor immigrants?

For a more descriptive view of the hardships and living conditions that these poor immigrants had to live through in order to survive, please visit the Photo Gallery of Early New York City Tenement Life in the NYC Main Directory at thehistorybox.com.

Italian immigrants tended to do whatever they had to do, accepting the jobs that other Americans didn't want to do, just so they could support themselves. Many of the Italian immigrants found work in street cleaning as well as public construction work. A large number went into the peddler business, selling fruit and vegetables, as well as working as waiters in restaurants and hotels. According to the report of the Italian consul,  most of the fruit stands in 1892 were owned by Italians in New York. Also the thriving business of fruits and wines were imported by the Sicilians.  However there were many Italians that were not as fortunate to find steady work that returned back to their native Italy discouraged and with empty pockets. These Italian immigrants, tricked by the stories told to them in Europe about plentiful work and big wages, in America, were induced to leave their native land, only to find suffering and hunger as a result of the deception told by the steamship agents. A reporter from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle gives the following description in his article "Italian Immigration" dated August 9, 1888.

"Three hundred and fifty disappointed Italians who came to this country with the expectation of obtaining steady work at high wages, left for home. Tricked on both sides of the water, it does not take them long to find out that America is by no means the labor paradise they expected to find it."

Most of the Italian immigrants settled in the cities, establishing their own communities, where they could be free to speak their own language, eat their own ethnic foods, practice their customs and religion as if back in their homeland, without any hindrance. These communities were designated as "Little Italy". The early Italian immigrants were not welcomed in America; they would be verbally abused by name calling such as "wop," "guinea," and "dago." The Immigrants were constantly subjected to abuse, because the Americans would accuse them of taking away their jobs, by willing to work for much less than they would. Often stereotyped and discriminated against, the Italian immigrant suffered verbal and physical abuse because they were "different." Several of these numerous incidents can be found in the following: Injustice to Italian Laborers in the United States and The Wartime Violations of Italian American Civil Liberties Act.

"Sons of Italy did much to soften the humiliating status of "wops" in the cities. They offered a large measure of psychological compensation through the Italian-American program of keeping alive a love for Italy, retaining the Italian language alongside of English, and in stressing Columbus Day as a symbol of solidarity between America and Italy." (5)

Despite such discouragement, Italians have made major contributions to the economic strength of America and to a richer cultural diversity, in the field of arts, music, education, language, and cuisine. Many have climbed the political ladder, most prominently Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia and Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, both sons of Italian immigrants. Rudolph Giuliani is currently running as a candidate for the office of President of the United States. An amazing accomplishment for the Italian American people.  For a visual look at how the early Italian Immigrant lived as well as further  information on the Italian community of New York  please visit the Ethnic section of thehistorybox.com

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

1. Society and Thought in Modern America by Harvey Wish; David McKay Company, Inc.-New York Vol: II Page: 243.

2. Society and Thought in Modern America by Harvey Wish; David McKay Company, Inc.-New York Vol: II Page: 245

3. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle August 5, 1901. "After Immigrant Swindlers."

4. Society and Thought In Modern America by Harvey Wish; David McKay Company, Inc.-New York Vol: II Page: 245

5. Society and Thought in Modern America by Harvey Wish; David McKay Company, Inc.-New York Vol: II Page: 247