What Are The Causes Of Italian Immigration To America
Sydney Kingsberg
Section 107, David Hyde
27 April 2015
Research Paper
Between the years of 1880 and 1920, more than 4 million Italians immigrated to America (Hall 1987: 54). Italy was compromised of many races of different origins, and there was a broad distinction between the northern and southern Italians. Southern Italians were poor, unskilled workers who worked in agriculture. The northern Italians were generally wealthier, more enterprising, and more intelligent than their fellow southern countrymen. The group of northern Italians were peaceable and industrious, and improved the trades in which they engaged. Although these two groups were quite different, they both chose to relocate to America (Hall 1987:55). The earliest and largest …show more content…
group of Italian immigrants was of a very low class, and faced many hardships in southern Italy. Farmers were improvised as a result of bad harvests, low wages, harsh taxes, and food shortages. Farmers were making from 8 to 34 cents a day in Italy, an inconsiderably low number for the time (Barrows et al. 1962:8). Living in rural Italy was misery, and many were desperate for any way out in order to survive. For the average Italian migration was an opportunity for liberation and America was supposed to have “streets paved of gold” (Interview with Grace Dagostino, February 2015). The majority of immigrants around the turn of the century were males between the ages of 24 and 45. Many expected to stay in the United States only long enough to earn money to improve their family situation (Hall 1987: 56). Others intended to send for their families as soon as they could. On the contrary, the northern Italian did not necessarily face these harsh conditions. These families were wealthier, and hear rumors that America was full of opportunities to make a small fortune. America was a growing industrial center, and needed both skilled and unskilled workers to build its economy. Both of these groups hoped to find better labor opportunities in America. However, America’s free market was not all that the Italians hoped it would be.
In the late 19th and early 20th century, the increasing number of factories was transforming American cities into urban industrial centers. This resulted in a huge labor demand. Between 1880 and 1924, 25 million immigrants transformed the face of the America’s laboring population (Hall 1987: 13). However, for Italians and many other groups of immigrants, the reality and exploitation of this new laboring system was not much different from what they were used to back home. Industry was largely unregulated by the government before World War I, and the unskilled worker suffered to survive in America. Industrialization and immigration created a set of new social classes. The concept of class was being based on economic terms of the rich and poor. These ideas of class struggles are the basis of Karl Marx’s The Communist Manifesto.
Marx writes, “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles” (Marx and Engles 1848:14). Although Marx focuses on Britain, the same types of class struggles were occurring in America. Marx argues that with capitalism and urbanization, an inevitable class struggle between the powerful bourgeois and working class would eventually cause an upheaval. For the Italians this exploitation occurred commonly in the padrone system, a system centered in New York that was implemented after the civil war and not eradicated until the middle of the 20th century. A padrone was a middleman in the labor trade, helping poor immigrants obtain transportation to America, jobs upon arrival, and basic needs in an alien society. This system functioned as the only intermediate between immigrants and the American economy. The padroni controlled the wages, contracts, and food supply of the immigrants. Under his authority, workers were commonly mistreated. They worked 12 to 14 hour workdays, and was provided horrid living conditions. The padrone could keep workers on the job for weeks and months beyond their contracts. And workers were paid some of the lowest wages in the United States. These wealthy men built vast labor empires off of immigration labor (Schuyler 1957: 482). The padrone system is a great example of how capitalist systems allow the bourgeoisie (padrones) to mercilessly exploit the proletariat (Italian immigrant worker). The workers were not benefitting, while the capitalist was making profit off of virtually free labor. There were instances of attempts of revolt and reform, as Marx predicted, but the padrone fought off any reforms that impinged on their operations. Fortunately, even the poorest immigrants continued to struggle along and reach independence from the padrone sooner or later. The padrone system flourished for two reasons. First, the immigrant did not speak English and could easily be taken advantage of. Once the immigrant learned how to speak English he was able to fend for himself. Second, rural Italians feared living in a large city. As the years passed Italians depended less on the padroni, but they continued to settle in areas and ghettos originally opened up by the padroni (Barrows et al. 1962: 94).
The more skilled, northern Italian had a vastly different experience upon arrival in the United States. They soon began to network in America, and find a definite purpose of work. Some became very lucky, and were able to make their small fortune and easily return back home. It gave them a huge advantage that most were educated and capable of speaking English (Barrows et. al 1962: 96).
Along with an economic change, Italians were challenged with a brand new social structure. Again, this experience differed between northern and southern Italians. Northern Italians were generally taller, often of lighter complexion, and were usually in a more prosperous condition than their brothers from the south (LaGumia 1999:16). The northern Italian almost always read and wrote, and was skilled in some trade or occupation. These immigrants had a definite purpose in America, and their desirability as an immigrant was seldom questioned. The northern Italian was basically placed in the same category as German, British, and Swedish men (LaGumina 1999:17).
On the other hand, the southern Italian was short of stature and very dark in complexion. He usually landed in America depending on a padrone, as previously discussed. Since 85 per cent of immigrants were made up of this group, Itlains were generally stereotyped as uneducated, filthy human beings. Their ignorance and inability to speak English prevented them from easily integrating into American culture. These foreigners faced nativist hostility and virulent prejudice (LaGumina 1999:17).
“Americanizing” these immigrants to embrace the values and behaviors of mainstream America proved very difficult.
Immigrants were blamed for taking American jobs and making America less pure. There were racial theories circulating in the press, advancing pseudo scientific theories that alleged “Mediterranean” types of Europeans were inherently inferior to people of northern European heritage. These Social Darwinist theories gave new prestige to racism as scholars claimed that the “Teutonic” race was superior to all others (LaGumina 1999:16). Applied to immigration, this meant that the superior races came from Germany and the English colonies. Groups like the Klu Klux Klan attacked Italian-Catholic churches based off of these premises (LaGumina 1999:15). These hate groups believed brown men lowered the American standard. Italians as well as other immigrants were required to take illiteracy tests that concluded certain races were not suited to be apart of American civilization. Nativists witnessed that they were radically different from them in education, habits of life, and institutions of government. Because of this, they thought they would never assimilate naturally with the prevailing Anglo-Saxons. As students, Italians were rated “below even the Portuguese… and the Poles…” (Scuyler 1977:11). Italians became one of the major racial targets for …show more content…
discrimination.
Finding an identity within this harsh social structure proved difficult, but Italians gradually adjusted. Another group who had a similar obstacle was the Jews. In the book How Jews Became White Folks & What That Says About Race in America, Karen Broadkin analyzes historical sources to demonstrate how Jews became more accepted over time in America. It can be beneficial to use history to analyze the obstacles the Italians faced in their journey of becoming white folks.
Jews and Italians both congregated heavily in New York.
They improved their social and economic positions considerably in the 20th century, and this mobility was relatively rapid. However, the progress of the Italians was not quite as rapid as the Jews. Looking at statistics, Jews formed a white-collar class that was 26 per cent larger than the corresponding Italian class by 1905 (Kessner 1957:268). This could be due to the fact that many northern Italians capable of white-collar work were much more emotionally tied to home and many moved back and forth. The lack of permanent commitment can be seen as a major factor in why Italians had a harder time entering the white-collar job market. Italians also had to adapt to an urban environment, since most were peasant farmers from regions in the south. This rural peasant background transmitted different values towards education, work, family, and ambition than the American living in the city. These factors contributed to why it was difficult for the Italian to adapt.
Although the Italian faced harsh obstacles, not all Americans felt the same about the Italians. Respected social workers such as Jane Addams and William Dean Howells felt sympathy towards the Italians and defended them. A group of New Englanders even came together in 1901 to create the Society for the Protection of Italian Immigrants in New York (LaGumina 1999:18). This was just the start of positive Italian sentiment. Racism gradually decreased as Italians proved to
be loyal Americans during World War I and World War II.
Both Northern and southern Italians came to America in search of a better life. Conditions for farmers in Italy were not ideal, and many needed to migrate in order to survive. Northern Italians were ready to practice their trade overseas in order to earn some money to being back home. However, the immigrants faced challenges when they arrived in America. There were whole new economic and racial structures that made it hard for the brown man to succeed. Karl Marx and Karen Broadkin’s theories can help explain these economic and racial obstacles. Although racist nativists did not know it at the time, the Italians, in spite poverty and illiteracy, were a desirable element to the melting pot. They brought their hard work ethic and helped America become the multi-racial society it is today.
Works Cited
Marx, Karl, and Engles, Fredrich
1848 Manifesto of the Communist Party. Moscow. Progress publishers Payaslian, Simon.
Broadkin, Karen
1998 How Jews Became White Folks and What That Says About Race in America. New Brunswich, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
Kessner, Thomas
1977 The Golden Door: Italian and Jewish Immigrant Mobility in New York City, 1880-1915. London, England: Oxford University Press. http://www.jstor.org/stable/29775929
Lord, Elliot and Trenor, John and Barrows Samuelune
1962 The Italian in America. Oxford:Berg. http://books.google.com/books/about/The_Italian_in_America.html?id=axQOAAAAIAAJ
Hall, Prescott
1987 Immigration and its Effects Upon the United States. Michigan: The University of Michigan Press. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=wJSOAAAAMAAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA3&dq=italian+immigration+america+&ots=R0XAdQTLmz&sig=hH_sFpVULvWs9w1avwtXc1X5Q5Q#v=onepage&q=northern&f=false
LaGumina, Salvatore
1999 A Documentary History of Anti-Italian Discrimination in the Unites States. Guernica Editions. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=qFtgLMQnL68C&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=italian+immigration+america&ots=x_G5XckFT1&sig=JKQoiVtx5BuN-8llltUpdwqH2Pc#v=snippet&q=tests&f=false Schuyler, Eugene
1957 Italian Immigration into the United States. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2139139
Section 107, David Hyde
27 April 2015
Research Paper
Between the years of 1880 and 1920, more than 4 million Italians immigrated to America (Hall 1987: 54). Italy was compromised of many races of different origins, and there was a broad distinction between the northern and southern Italians. Southern Italians were poor, unskilled workers who worked in agriculture. The northern Italians were generally wealthier, more enterprising, and more intelligent than their fellow southern countrymen. The group of northern Italians were peaceable and industrious, and improved the trades in which they engaged. Although these two groups were quite different, they both chose to relocate to America (Hall 1987:55). The earliest and largest …show more content…
group of Italian immigrants was of a very low class, and faced many hardships in southern Italy. Farmers were improvised as a result of bad harvests, low wages, harsh taxes, and food shortages. Farmers were making from 8 to 34 cents a day in Italy, an inconsiderably low number for the time (Barrows et al. 1962:8). Living in rural Italy was misery, and many were desperate for any way out in order to survive. For the average Italian migration was an opportunity for liberation and America was supposed to have “streets paved of gold” (Interview with Grace Dagostino, February 2015). The majority of immigrants around the turn of the century were males between the ages of 24 and 45. Many expected to stay in the United States only long enough to earn money to improve their family situation (Hall 1987: 56). Others intended to send for their families as soon as they could. On the contrary, the northern Italian did not necessarily face these harsh conditions. These families were wealthier, and hear rumors that America was full of opportunities to make a small fortune. America was a growing industrial center, and needed both skilled and unskilled workers to build its economy. Both of these groups hoped to find better labor opportunities in America. However, America’s free market was not all that the Italians hoped it would be.
In the late 19th and early 20th century, the increasing number of factories was transforming American cities into urban industrial centers. This resulted in a huge labor demand. Between 1880 and 1924, 25 million immigrants transformed the face of the America’s laboring population (Hall 1987: 13). However, for Italians and many other groups of immigrants, the reality and exploitation of this new laboring system was not much different from what they were used to back home. Industry was largely unregulated by the government before World War I, and the unskilled worker suffered to survive in America. Industrialization and immigration created a set of new social classes. The concept of class was being based on economic terms of the rich and poor. These ideas of class struggles are the basis of Karl Marx’s The Communist Manifesto.
Marx writes, “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles” (Marx and Engles 1848:14). Although Marx focuses on Britain, the same types of class struggles were occurring in America. Marx argues that with capitalism and urbanization, an inevitable class struggle between the powerful bourgeois and working class would eventually cause an upheaval. For the Italians this exploitation occurred commonly in the padrone system, a system centered in New York that was implemented after the civil war and not eradicated until the middle of the 20th century. A padrone was a middleman in the labor trade, helping poor immigrants obtain transportation to America, jobs upon arrival, and basic needs in an alien society. This system functioned as the only intermediate between immigrants and the American economy. The padroni controlled the wages, contracts, and food supply of the immigrants. Under his authority, workers were commonly mistreated. They worked 12 to 14 hour workdays, and was provided horrid living conditions. The padrone could keep workers on the job for weeks and months beyond their contracts. And workers were paid some of the lowest wages in the United States. These wealthy men built vast labor empires off of immigration labor (Schuyler 1957: 482). The padrone system is a great example of how capitalist systems allow the bourgeoisie (padrones) to mercilessly exploit the proletariat (Italian immigrant worker). The workers were not benefitting, while the capitalist was making profit off of virtually free labor. There were instances of attempts of revolt and reform, as Marx predicted, but the padrone fought off any reforms that impinged on their operations. Fortunately, even the poorest immigrants continued to struggle along and reach independence from the padrone sooner or later. The padrone system flourished for two reasons. First, the immigrant did not speak English and could easily be taken advantage of. Once the immigrant learned how to speak English he was able to fend for himself. Second, rural Italians feared living in a large city. As the years passed Italians depended less on the padroni, but they continued to settle in areas and ghettos originally opened up by the padroni (Barrows et al. 1962: 94).
The more skilled, northern Italian had a vastly different experience upon arrival in the United States. They soon began to network in America, and find a definite purpose of work. Some became very lucky, and were able to make their small fortune and easily return back home. It gave them a huge advantage that most were educated and capable of speaking English (Barrows et. al 1962: 96).
Along with an economic change, Italians were challenged with a brand new social structure. Again, this experience differed between northern and southern Italians. Northern Italians were generally taller, often of lighter complexion, and were usually in a more prosperous condition than their brothers from the south (LaGumia 1999:16). The northern Italian almost always read and wrote, and was skilled in some trade or occupation. These immigrants had a definite purpose in America, and their desirability as an immigrant was seldom questioned. The northern Italian was basically placed in the same category as German, British, and Swedish men (LaGumina 1999:17).
On the other hand, the southern Italian was short of stature and very dark in complexion. He usually landed in America depending on a padrone, as previously discussed. Since 85 per cent of immigrants were made up of this group, Itlains were generally stereotyped as uneducated, filthy human beings. Their ignorance and inability to speak English prevented them from easily integrating into American culture. These foreigners faced nativist hostility and virulent prejudice (LaGumina 1999:17).
“Americanizing” these immigrants to embrace the values and behaviors of mainstream America proved very difficult.
Immigrants were blamed for taking American jobs and making America less pure. There were racial theories circulating in the press, advancing pseudo scientific theories that alleged “Mediterranean” types of Europeans were inherently inferior to people of northern European heritage. These Social Darwinist theories gave new prestige to racism as scholars claimed that the “Teutonic” race was superior to all others (LaGumina 1999:16). Applied to immigration, this meant that the superior races came from Germany and the English colonies. Groups like the Klu Klux Klan attacked Italian-Catholic churches based off of these premises (LaGumina 1999:15). These hate groups believed brown men lowered the American standard. Italians as well as other immigrants were required to take illiteracy tests that concluded certain races were not suited to be apart of American civilization. Nativists witnessed that they were radically different from them in education, habits of life, and institutions of government. Because of this, they thought they would never assimilate naturally with the prevailing Anglo-Saxons. As students, Italians were rated “below even the Portuguese… and the Poles…” (Scuyler 1977:11). Italians became one of the major racial targets for …show more content…
discrimination.
Finding an identity within this harsh social structure proved difficult, but Italians gradually adjusted. Another group who had a similar obstacle was the Jews. In the book How Jews Became White Folks & What That Says About Race in America, Karen Broadkin analyzes historical sources to demonstrate how Jews became more accepted over time in America. It can be beneficial to use history to analyze the obstacles the Italians faced in their journey of becoming white folks.
Jews and Italians both congregated heavily in New York.
They improved their social and economic positions considerably in the 20th century, and this mobility was relatively rapid. However, the progress of the Italians was not quite as rapid as the Jews. Looking at statistics, Jews formed a white-collar class that was 26 per cent larger than the corresponding Italian class by 1905 (Kessner 1957:268). This could be due to the fact that many northern Italians capable of white-collar work were much more emotionally tied to home and many moved back and forth. The lack of permanent commitment can be seen as a major factor in why Italians had a harder time entering the white-collar job market. Italians also had to adapt to an urban environment, since most were peasant farmers from regions in the south. This rural peasant background transmitted different values towards education, work, family, and ambition than the American living in the city. These factors contributed to why it was difficult for the Italian to adapt.
Although the Italian faced harsh obstacles, not all Americans felt the same about the Italians. Respected social workers such as Jane Addams and William Dean Howells felt sympathy towards the Italians and defended them. A group of New Englanders even came together in 1901 to create the Society for the Protection of Italian Immigrants in New York (LaGumina 1999:18). This was just the start of positive Italian sentiment. Racism gradually decreased as Italians proved to
be loyal Americans during World War I and World War II.
Both Northern and southern Italians came to America in search of a better life. Conditions for farmers in Italy were not ideal, and many needed to migrate in order to survive. Northern Italians were ready to practice their trade overseas in order to earn some money to being back home. However, the immigrants faced challenges when they arrived in America. There were whole new economic and racial structures that made it hard for the brown man to succeed. Karl Marx and Karen Broadkin’s theories can help explain these economic and racial obstacles. Although racist nativists did not know it at the time, the Italians, in spite poverty and illiteracy, were a desirable element to the melting pot. They brought their hard work ethic and helped America become the multi-racial society it is today.
Works Cited
Marx, Karl, and Engles, Fredrich
1848 Manifesto of the Communist Party. Moscow. Progress publishers Payaslian, Simon.
Broadkin, Karen
1998 How Jews Became White Folks and What That Says About Race in America. New Brunswich, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
Kessner, Thomas
1977 The Golden Door: Italian and Jewish Immigrant Mobility in New York City, 1880-1915. London, England: Oxford University Press. http://www.jstor.org/stable/29775929
Lord, Elliot and Trenor, John and Barrows Samuelune
1962 The Italian in America. Oxford:Berg. http://books.google.com/books/about/The_Italian_in_America.html?id=axQOAAAAIAAJ
Hall, Prescott
1987 Immigration and its Effects Upon the United States. Michigan: The University of Michigan Press. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=wJSOAAAAMAAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA3&dq=italian+immigration+america+&ots=R0XAdQTLmz&sig=hH_sFpVULvWs9w1avwtXc1X5Q5Q#v=onepage&q=northern&f=false
LaGumina, Salvatore
1999 A Documentary History of Anti-Italian Discrimination in the Unites States. Guernica Editions. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=qFtgLMQnL68C&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=italian+immigration+america&ots=x_G5XckFT1&sig=JKQoiVtx5BuN-8llltUpdwqH2Pc#v=snippet&q=tests&f=false Schuyler, Eugene
1957 Italian Immigration into the United States. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2139139