Italian Americans

• SIGNIFICANCE: Italian Americans played an integral role in the development of the United States. Although they have been subjected to ethnic stereotypes, they have achieved distinguished success. Contributions from countless Italian Americans in entertainment, politics, and business have directly shaped and influenced the nation’s social landscape.

Over the course of the history of the United States, Italian immigrants have greatly influenced the country, however, the population faced discrimination and exploitation in the early years of immigration. After years and hard work, many Italian Americans experienced great success in their adopted country and descendants of Italian heritage have played roles in all fields of America's social and economic landscape.

Italy sent few immigrants to the United States before the Civil War (1861–1865). The 1850 census, the first to record ethnic group populations, listed only 3,645 Italian Americans, and these individuals were primarily skilled artisans, merchants, musicians, actors, and entrepreneurs. However, these numbers do not reflect their overall significance. Albeit sponsored by Spain, England, and France, Italian explorers helped chart the European pathway to the Americas. After Christopher Columbus navigated the Atlantic in 1492, several of his countrymen continued his pursuits. Giovanni Caboto, often referred to as John Cabot in popular history textbooks, obtained financial backing from England’s King Henry VII and organized a successful expedition to the New England coast in 1497. Amerigo Vespucci helped popularize interest in America following the publication of two pamphlets highlighting the potential rewards available to new settlers on the eastern seaboard. Giovanni da Verrazzano was the first European to enter New York Harbor in the early sixteenth century.

Although numerous adventurers from other countries also facilitated European migration to America, the efforts of several Italians were crucial for the success of many early colonial enterprises. Catholic missionaries helped carve out the French empire in the Mississippi Valley. Artisans developed glassware and silk industries in Jamestown, Virginia. Thomas Jefferson recruited Italian masons to help construct his home at Monticello and enlisted the aid of several musicians to form the United States Marine Corps Band. Italians also helped design and decorate the interior of the early White House, and Italian opera emerged as one of the most popular forms of entertainment among the upper classes in antebellum America. Although there were few Italian Americans in the nation, they had made a significant cultural impact.

The Great Wave

From 1880 to 1920, more than four million Italians entered the United States. Approximately 80 percent were men, and because 97 percent initially passed through New York City, the bulk of the Italian American community settled in major eastern cities such as Philadelphia, Boston, and New York; however, a large community also emerged in Chicago. Following the unification of Italy in the 1860s, southern Italians soon began to feel alienated from and experienced widespread disillusionment with northern leadership. Absentee landlords systematically exploited the peasants, and agricultural policies produced massive hunger among sharecroppers and tenant farmers. Others succumbed to outbreaks of malaria. Northern politicians enacted oppressive conscription laws forcing southerners to serve seven-year terms in the military. As Italy quickly evolved into a two-tiered system in which southerners were excluded from all facets of decision making, a large number of Italians voted with their feet and abandoned their traditional attachment to their villages, emigrating to the United States. Most Italians did not initially intend to remain in the United States. Estimates vary, but between 30 percent and 50 percent returned to the homeland. Strong familial ties and attachments to ancestral villages caused many to return despite the fact that few earned enough to reverse their impoverished status.

The majority of Italian Americans became manual laborers. Ethnic labor contractors, or padroni, persuaded many to emigrate from Italy by promising them unlimited economic opportunities upon arrival in North America. The padroni secured employment for émigrés and arranged the financing for the transatlantic voyage. Italians helped build railroads and the New York City subway system. Others toiled in dangerous and precarious conditions in factories; several became miners. Some were able to procure opportunities in agricultural communities, but the majority of Italian Americans remained locked in ethnic urban enclaves and were subjected to the outburst of nativist xenophobic practices that accompanied the great wave of migration.

Assimilation and Nativism

Racial and ethnic relations in the United States have adhered to a complex hierarchical pecking order. Generally, each wave of immigrants has encountered a number of discriminatory practices designed to eradicate all remnants of ethnic identity. Because the dominant culture reflected a solid Anglo-Saxon bias following the Civil War, new groups from southeastern Europe were expected to embrace assimilationist policies and Americanize. Reformers demonstrated little sympathy for immigrant culture and introduced a variety of measures to diminish and weaken traditional ethnic ways.

YearEventImpact1492Columbus travels to the AmericasFacilitates widespread European expansion in North America.1497Cabot explores eastern coast of CanadaHelps promote a prosperous growing British fishing industry.1653Italian Jesuits publish a brief history of New FranceChallenges the pervasive myth surrounding the lack of civilization among Canada’s Native Americans.1770sPolitical philosopher Fillipo Mazzei works with Thomas JeffersonItalian ideas are incorporated into the U.S. Declaration of Independence.1891Eleven acquitted Italians are lynched in New OrleansReveals victimization of Italian immigrants during the great wave of immigration.1920sRudolph Valentino becomes Hollywood’s leading male sex symbolReveals the vital role of Italian Americans in the emergence of the U.S. film industry.1921-1924Passage of restrictive immigration quotas in the United StatesLeads to the rise of vibrant Italian communities in Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver, Canada.1927Anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti are executedDemonstrates how Italians were sometimes punished for radical political beliefs.1941New York Yankee Joe DiMaggio establishes a major league record by hitting in fifty-six consecutive gamesIndicates Italian American influence on American sports.1965Poet John Robert Columbo publishes “Oh Canada”Emphasizes that despite Canada’s ethnic diversity, the country’s culture primarily reflects a blending of English, French, and British influences.1970Lee Iacocca named president of Ford Motor CompanyIllustrates that many Italians attained prominent positions in U.S. business and industry.1972Francis Ford Coppola’s film, The Godfather, wins the Academy Award for best filmReveals how many Americans associate Italians with organized crime.1982Mario Cuomo elected governor of New YorkBecomes first Italian to serve as head of a state government.1991National Canadian census reveals that less than 3 percent of the population is ItalianDemonstrates that Italians primarily emigrated to either the United States or South America.

Italian American children were extremely susceptible to Anglo-Saxon assimilationists. They were forced into a form of cultural tug-of-war. Required either to abandon their native culture or to face social ostracization and the loss of economic opportunity, the second generation began to embrace Anglo-Saxon culture. This caused considerable psychological problems. For example, Italian American children were expected to find work and contribute to the household economy. This, however, resulted in a premature departure from school. If a child decided to stay in school and pursue a profession, that child risked the wrath of his or her family. Because most Italian Americans considered the family to be sacred, young Italian Americans faced a classic dilemma. As a result, rates of socioeconomic mobility were quite low among the first few generations.

Other forms of nativism also surfaced. Public schools insisted that children speak only English, and officials often shortened and Americanized Italian family names. Some families experienced violence when they attempted to move outside the ethnic enclave. Many people were subjected to racial slurs such as "dago," "wop," and "guinea." Although studies have shown that the rates of alcoholism and mental illness were lower compared with those of other groups, the suicide rate among Italian Americans tripled during the great wave of migration.

Perhaps the greatest example of nativist xenophobic pressure occurred in the 1920s during the trial of two Italian anarchists, Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti. Nativist sentiment, spurred by fears of Communism, had been growing in the United States when Sacco and Vanzetti were arrested under questionable circumstances for murder and robbery in Massachusetts. Both men were judged as violent revolutionaries and subversive ethnic agents rather than on the merits of their case. Although their guilt remains debatable, both men were executed in 1927.

Organized Crime

The average Italian American suffered from the negative impression created by a select minority of Italians who attempted to construct vast empires in organized crime. As congressional committees cracked down on criminals, some Americans concluded that all Italian Americans were associated with a nationwide crime syndicate commonly referred to as La Cosa Nostra or the Mafia. These rumors received considerable credibility in 1963 when career criminal Joseph Valachi broke a code of silence and exposed his associates. As a result, the nation became obsessed with the Mafia. References to the Mafia in The New York Times increased from 2 in 1962 to 359 in 1969. Mario Puzo’s novel The Godfather (1969) was made into an Academy Award–winning film, but his violent portrayal of Italian criminals negatively affected many law-abiding Italian Americans. Other gangsters such as John Gotti acquired national fame in the 1980s, and once again Italian Americans were found guilty by association. Numerous popular authors flooded the market with books detailing how murder was used to settle disputes between Italians. Despite the fact that only a select few were involved in criminal activity, all Italian Americans were described as being sympathetic toward the Mafia.

Famous Italians

Not all Italian Americans were unskilled workers or common criminals. Many achieved considerable success in their fields. Joe DiMaggio established a major league baseball record for hitting in fifty-six consecutive games. Heavyweight boxer Rocky Marciano defeated several notable champions, including Joe Louis, Ezzard Charles, and Jersey Joe Wolcott, and retired as an undefeated champion. Frank Capra emerged as one of the nation’s finest filmmakers, and his 1946 film, It’s a Wonderful Life, is considered one of the country’s classic movies. Scientist Enrico Fermi won the Nobel Prize in Physics before escaping from the reign of Mussolini and seeking shelter in the United States. He oversaw the first controlled nuclear chain reaction and was heavily involved in the development of the atomic bomb that helped end World War II. Singer Frank Sinatra, who was often unjustly accused of being in the Mafia, entertained generations of Americans with his swagger and ballads. Politician Fiorello La Guardia served as a congressman, New York City mayor, and United Nations relief official. Poet and publisher Lawrence Ferlinghetti provided much-needed support for and helped solidify the Beat generation’s place in American literature. Geraldine Ferraro was the first woman to become a vice presidential candidate in 1984. Pop singer Madonna (Ciccone) evolved into a cultural icon in the 1980s. Justice Antonin Scalia became the first Italian American to serve on the United State Supreme Court in 1986 and was involved in major decisions including D.C. vs. Heller (2008), which declared the Second Amendment protects an individual’s right to bear arms. Countless others also achieved prominent status in American life, thus proving that despite being victimized by ethnic stereotyping, Italian Americans have risen to the highest pinnacles of success in the United States.

Bibliography

Daniels, Roger. Coming to America. HarperCollins, 1990.

Devitt, Camilla. “Continuity and Change in Immigration Regimes: An Institutionalist Analysis of Italian Labor Immigration Regulations 1990–2020.” Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies, Feb. 2023, pp. 1–15, EBSCOhost, doi.org/10.1080/15562948.2023.2180128. Accessed 10 Oct. 2024.

Mangione, Jerre, and Ben Morreale. La Storia: Five Centuries of the Italian American Experience. HarperCollins, 1992.

Mormino, Gary Ross. Immigrants on the Hill: Italian Americans in St. Louis, 1882–1982. U of Illinois P, 1986.

Weeks, Robert, editor. Commonwealth vs. Sacco and Vanzetti. Prentice-Hall, 1958.

Yans-McLaughlin, Virginia. Family and Community—Italian Immigrants in Buffalo, 1880–1930. Cornell UP, 1971.