Thursday, April 1, 2010
Italian Immigrants Overcame Barriers
One makes a mistake if they believe the Italian American Experience was only the urban struggle. It ran far beyond to all corners of the USA. From the Indentured farm workers of the Carolinas, the Produce dealers of New Orleans, the Coal Miners of Pennsylvania, the Quarry miners of New England, the Railroad Builders in the Rockies, the Fishermen of the West Coast, the Vintners of Mendocino, the Farmers of the San Joaquin Valley, etc. Thank your lucky stars for their sacrifices and miseries, and that you were born 100 years later.
Italian Immigrants Overcame Barriers
Lake County Record -Bee; by Fred A. Belka; Lakeport; CA; March 30,2010
How did legal immigrants come to this country more than 100 years ago? They came with nothing and expected nothing. They were only concerned with a new life. At the turn of the 20th century a group of Italians, largely from the south of Italy came to the United States where work was plentiful and land was cheap.
My grandparents left Italy in search of opportunities their homeland denied them. In southern Italy, the noble families owned the lands and forced the peasants to be sharecroppers. They were lucky to find work six months out of the year. When they did work they had to give back half of the profits to the land owners. The newly united Italy taxed the people and forced the young farmers into the military where they were treated like slaves.
The exodus of Italians from the villages more than a century ago has no parallel in history. Out of 14 million Italians, an estimated five million left by World War I. This is the largest recorded exodus of an ethnic group in history.
Today the descendents of these early Italian immigrants number 16 million, according to the U.S. census of 2000. The U.S. Census Bureau also reports that Italian Americans are the nation's fifth largest ethnic group with two-thirds of them in white-collar positions in business, medicine, law and education.
Social scientists try to explain how millions of Italian immigrants achieved success in America despite the challenges of the new customs and language. The Italians had to deal with the initial prejudices and hostility of an American society. These immigrants came here legally; there was no welfare in those days, they worked hard and saw the need for education.
Considering all these barriers, the Italian immigrants and their children became part of the American society in less than 100 years. These people all worked hard, doing jobs no one else wanted, they all stuck together, handled their own affairs, bought homes and became pillars of their communities.
I teach my grandchildren to never
forget who you are or where you came from. If you are here illegally, do
what it takes to become a citizen. This is still the greatest country in
the world. God bless America
http://www.record-bee.com/ci_14787622
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