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welcome back today we are gonna be
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talking about battalion immigration to
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New York City and we're gonna start way
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back in the 16th century with a man
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named Giovanni Verrazano that may may
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sound familiar to many of you and it
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should the Verrazzano bridge is named
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after this Italian explorer who arrived
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in what would become New York City in
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1524 he was just passing through though
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he was the first European explorer to
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explore what would become the United
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States Atlantic coast
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the first Italians who ever made New
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York City their home actually who made
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the United States more generally their
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home arrived in New Amsterdam in 1635
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they came to what was then the New
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Netherlands with its capital of course
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being New Amsterdam because there was a
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religious tolerance that didn't exist
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elsewhere this is similar to other
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immigrant groups like the Jews who
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arrived two decades later in 1654 the
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Italian population in the United States
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and in New York specifically continued
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to grow with many Italian Americans
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participating in the Revolutionary War
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and then later the civil war on the side
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of the north by 1870 there was about
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25,000 Italians in the United States but
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these Italians were often coming from
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northern Italy which was far more
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integrated into the rest of Europe far
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more accepted by other European
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populations versus the later group that
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we're going to spend most of today on
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southern Italians who emigrated after
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Italian unification in 1861
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so Italy wasn't even a country until
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1861 and it was really broken up into a
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bunch of different sections with
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different cultures different contact
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with Europe and in the South where the
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majority of Italians who immigrated to
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the United States eventually would be
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coming from they were much poorer than
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their northern neighbors and so while a
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large percentage of the population that
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had emigrated to the United States
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before unification was from the north
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the wave that came after unification was
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from the south and in the south previous
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to unification it was ruled by kings and
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there was a large peasantry and these
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people suffered economically and
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socially and after unification southern
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Italy was ruled by northern Italians for
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the most part southerners were heavily
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tack there was massive poverty
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starvation was rampant in this part of
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the country and poverty was the main
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reason that people came they wanted to
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earn some money in the United States and
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for the most part returned back to Italy
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many of the first wave of southern
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Italian immigrants went to New Orleans
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slavery had just ended in 1865 at the
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end of the Civil War and in the South
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they needed new labor sources right and
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so you have these southern Italians who
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go to the south and they often worked on
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sugar plantations which is back-breaking
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work but they were making much better
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money than they could in Italy but New
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Orleans was not so welcoming of Italians
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and as would be the case going forward
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there were certain stereotypes that
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perpetuated New Orleans society about
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what these Italians represented and they
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were considered hot-tempered and
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whenever there was violence between
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Italian communities was called a
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vendetta the press as they often do
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built this up and Italians became
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classified as criminal as is often the
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case for newly arrived immigrants they
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were met with great suspicion by local
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authorities when a popular police chief
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was killed
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a popular police chief who had been
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known for being tough on Italian crime
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the Italian community was immediately
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blamed the cops came down extremely hard
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on this community with a massive sweep
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arresting 200 people 19 Italian
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immigrants would be tried for murder
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they were accused of being a mafia this
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is the first time this word comes in to
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the American vernacular and obviously
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then the word mafia would stick with the
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italian-american community but these
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people were being tried without much
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evidence and they were mostly being
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accused because of their Italian
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heritage in 1891 they were found not
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guilty but in the south as often
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happened to African Americans the white
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southern population would not be denied
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what they consider justice 11 of these
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accused murderers were lynched by white
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mobs these events helped shape public
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perceptions of Italians throughout the
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country and also helped shift Italian
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immigration from the u.s. south to New
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York City
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so we're gonna shift - now why southern
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Italians are coming to New York City
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after the civil war in many ways New
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York City won the Civil War the East
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River which separates what is Manhattan
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and Brooklyn which are actually two
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separate cities at the time but also
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both in the top five in terms of largest
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cities in the United States this was the
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busiest river in the world in 1867 two
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years after the Civil War ended the East
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River actually froze over commerce was
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shut down between the two cities and so
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the idea for a Brooklyn Bridge would
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become realize a woman interesting Lee
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ran the projects right in 1869
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construction began in 1883 it would be
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completed and this created coal new
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possibility this was a structure that
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rose well above the existing skyline it
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actually reinvented how to build things
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out of steel so created new
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possibilities for urban growth and then
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in 1898 you have unification of the five
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boroughs including Staten Island
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Manhattan Brooklyn the Bronx and queens
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so with the expanded wealth and growth
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for the city
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what do you need you need immigrants
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right so a wave of new immigrants would
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be coming largely from two places the
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Russian Empire and southern Italy
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the vast majority of Italian immigrants
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who came to the United States would pass
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through Ellis Island the vast majority
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would be southern Italian and a large
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number of those would stay in New York
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City Ellis Island opened in 1892 and
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would service about 12 million
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immigrants before it was finally closed
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these people were getting off ship
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voyages that would last one to two weeks
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these ships were divided by well that
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class where you had wealthy passengers
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living in luxury on the upper decks
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while the vast majority of passengers
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were put in steerage at the bottom of
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the boat with very little space for
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themselves no privacy in pretty awful
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conditions where disease and discomfort
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was rampant from an oral history
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collected by Guttman Community College
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student Madison Walsh who interviewed
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her a hundred and four-year-old
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great-grandmother who remembered the
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voyage upon their arrival new immigrants
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were given a medical exam they would
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look for a range of diseases including a
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contagious side is that called trachoma
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future New York Mayor Thea LaGuardia
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remembers when he serves as an
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interpreter for Italian immigrants
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sometimes if it was a young child who
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suffered from dry coma one of the
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parents had to return to the native
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country with the rejected member of the
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family
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when they learned of their fate they
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were stunned they had no homes to return
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to if they passed the medical exam they
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were given a legal exam where they were
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presented with 29 questions to see if
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they were a threat and to certify who
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they were some newly arrived immigrants
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were detained for months but only about
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2% would be deported back to their
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countries of origin from the island four
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million Italians arrived between 1880
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and 1924 now three million went through
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Ellis Island the idea for most of them
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was that they would make some money
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before returning to southern Italy about
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60% of this community would return home
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which was vastly different from other
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groups that we'll talk about but again
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barracks keeping poverty but they still
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consider Italy their home they were
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gonna make some money bring it back to
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Italy and improve their lives there
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facing stereotypes and discrimination
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because unlike their northern Italian
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compete reott southern Italians were
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darker and less accustomed to European
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ways southern Italians faced many
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obstacles after immigrating to the
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United States Italians were often seen
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as violent and dangerous and unskilled
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workers while they would send letters
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home filled with money they often would
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not report back the grueling work they
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were forced to take on to send that
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money home similar to the Irish a few
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generations earlier Italians were often
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given the most dangerous jobs including
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work on the subway which opened in 1904
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about 7,000 mostly Italian immigrant
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workers helped build the subway yet
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building underground with the limited
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technology that existed at the time
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proved the death sentence for many of
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them what they constructed however did
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change the world for immigrants to come
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the New York subway which unlike metro
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systems and other cities and countries
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is the same fare no matter where you
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begin our end allowed New York City to
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expand with different neighborhoods
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taking on different ethnic identities
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throughout the five boroughs and
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everyone having access to all parts of
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the city
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Italians congregated in neighborhoods
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with people from their same regions of
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Italy little italy was home to
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immigrants mostly from sicily east
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harlem meanwhile was home to italian
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immigrants from the southern port city
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of naples facing some of the same
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discrimination that the irish did a few
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generations earlier because of their
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Catholic faith Italian immigrants found
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a Catholic Church that was less
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accepting of their customs as well
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Catholicism had developed differently in
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Ireland than it had in Italy the Irish
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had built up the Catholic Church in the
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United States and those that now ran it
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raged against Italian immigrants who
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were also Catholic it's not practicing
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the religion properly or being too
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emotive with the way they celebrated
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their Madonna they called their
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religious ceremonies an atmosphere of
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Carnival which was an embarrassment to
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the church because they celebrated the
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religion so differently the Italians
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were often forced to pray and practice
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their faith in the basement of Catholic
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churches throughout the city we also
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have to remember that these Italians
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were
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oh he's planning on staying by and large
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they were gonna return to Italy with the
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money that they had earned as a result
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of this they were the least likely white
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immigrant group to earn their
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citizenship they were judged for not
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learning English fast enough and when
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they did send their children to schools
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they were often frustrated because these
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schools were attempting to Americanize
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them and shed any remnants of their
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Italian heritage school teachers would
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change the names of their students to
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make them more pronounceable Protestant
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missionaries went into Italian
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communities and told them that their
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customs were backwards if an Italian
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child was orphaned oftentimes the
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orphanage would not allow them to speak
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their native language
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this treatment led to resent and this
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resentment led to radical politics that
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would consume the Italian community in
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the 1910s 20s and 30s
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as immigrants often are they were
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offered very few employment
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opportunities a group of Italians were
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forced to work in textile mills where
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children as young as six or seven would
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work alongside their mothers just to
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make ends meet for the family these sort
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of conditions led to a big strike in
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Lawrence Massachusetts when a group of
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textile workers led by the Italian
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immigrants marched off the job when they
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found that their wages had been cut
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previously Italians had been brought in
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as strike breakers and here they were
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strike leaders the police were in the
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pocket of the mill owners however and
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worked to frame the organizers
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despite this the strike dragged on with
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trouble feeding their families many of
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these Italian immigrants were forced to
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send their children to New York City the
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image of these children leaving their
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families to go in search of food
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garnered lots of sympathy throughout the
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country it led to government hearings
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which exposed the starvation wages and
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child labor that these Italian
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immigrants were forced to endure mill
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owners across the region were forced to
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cave and give in to the workers demands
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this sort of organizing exploded in the
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midst of World War one which was seen by
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many as a war that made fortunes for the
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rich while costing poor in immigrant
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communities their sons
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as the United States entered World War
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one in 1970 the government feared that
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the radical politics and labor unrest of
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the early 1910 as well as the immigrant
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communities with untested loyalties
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would undermine the war effort in 1917
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and then in 1918 they passed the
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infamous espionage and Sedition Acts
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which made it illegal to speak out
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against a war thousands of Americans and
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immigrants were arrested for exercising
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what had been their free speech
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government fears were amplified after
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the Russian Revolution succeeded in 1917
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overthrowing the Czarist system in the
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effort to create a more egalitarian or
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equal society in Russia after the war in
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the United States workers who had agreed
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not to go on strike during the war
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wanted to be paid for their loyalty yet
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the workers conditions remained stagnant
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and now with millions of soldiers
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returning home looking for work
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employers have little incentive to treat
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them fairly inequity grew substantially
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during World War one which infuriated
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poor and immigrant workers who often
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served in the conflict that made New
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York financier is very wealthy
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solidarities were building across
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working-class communities this terrified
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the United States government
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the experience of southern Italian
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immigrants in the United States
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conditioned many of them to want to rid
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themselves that the oppressive
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government structures that ruled over
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them the Italian government from which
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they came was ruled by northerners and
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had treated them unfairly and before
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that before Italy was unified southern
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Italy was ruled by autocratic leaders
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who sought to enrich themselves while
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the majority of the population worked in
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destitution when they arrived to the
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United States expecting the land of
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opportunity and equality they faced
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violent discrimination and were forced
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into dangerous and poorly compensated
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occupations this experience led to a
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distrust of the u.s. political and
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economic elite in response to their
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frustration with the way US authorities
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had treated them Italian radicals set
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off to assassinate the United States
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Attorney General Palmer 1919 while this
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bombing failed around 40 bombs went off
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all over the country
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targeting authority figures who
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attempted to suppress labor activists
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immigrants and anti-war groups in the
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preceding years these events led to a
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massive crackdown including the arrests
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of radical activist Nicola Sacco and
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Bartolomeo Vanzetti
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neither of them were radical anarchists
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before they came to the United States
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however having experienced terrible
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working conditions and feeling the real
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oppression of the United States
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government they turned to radical
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political solutions they became
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scapegoats for the US government who was
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looking to send a message to radicals
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everywhere and who put them on trial for
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a murder they almost certainly did not
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commit on September 16 1920 a
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horse-drawn carriage stopped at the
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busiest intersection in New York's
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financial district the center of
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financial power in the United States and
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the greatest symbol of American
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capitalism the carriage was loaded with
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dynamite when it exploded it killed 38
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people and injured hundreds
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the police found flyers demanding the
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release of political prisoners assumed
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to be Sacco and Vanzetti while no one
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was ever charged it was widely assumed
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that Italian anarchists were responsible
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this attack did little to help Sacco and
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Vanzetti who were on trial for their
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lives as the proceedings went forward it
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was clear that the trial was more about
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their act
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and the fact that they were Italian then
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the murder charges the pair was
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sentenced to death in 1927 in his final
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speech been said he said I have never
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stolen I have never killed however my
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conviction is that I have suffered for
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things I am guilty of I am suffering
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because I am a radical and indeed I am a
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radical I have suffered because I was an
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Italian and indeed I am an Italian after
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this speech Sacco and Vanzetti were
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electrocuted to death hundreds of
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thousands came out for the funeral
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however a lesson permeated the Italian
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immigrant community lesson telling them
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they don't belong and they will never be
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seen as equals these events no doubt
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played a significant role in the passage
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of the Johnson Reid Act of 1924 leasing
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quotas on the 1890 census before the
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vast majority of Italian and Eastern
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European immigrants had arrived in the
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United States it said that only 2% of
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the population that existed in the
00:18:02
United States in 1890 from each country
00:18:05
could come into the United States each
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year this helps shut off the flood of
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immigration to a mere trickle in the
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years that followed
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while like all immigrant groups there
00:18:16
was a criminal element to the early
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Italian immigrants to the United States
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it was really prohibition and the
00:18:22
continued discrimination against Italian
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Americans they created the space to the
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US mafia to gain influence and power
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young men did not want to live lives of
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poverty like their fathers had they had
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tried to rise and had been rebuffed at
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every turn mob leaders like Frank
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Costello and Lucky Luciano saw an
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opportunity when prohibition made
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alcohol a illegal to make money off of
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the illicit trade working with other
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ethnic groups in New York City notably
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Meyer Lansky who was a Jewish origin
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prohibition allowed for the development
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of the u.s. mafia in the 1920s and 1930s
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for those not engaged in criminal
00:18:56
activity they start to feel proud of
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their heritage and they were offered the
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opportunity to with the rise of benito
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mussolini who projected italian strength
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through a propaganda campaign in the
00:19:05
united states it was an extremely
00:19:07
popular figure in the United States in
00:19:09
the 1920s and 1930s even after he allied
00:19:12
with Adolf Hitler however when the
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United States went to war with Italy
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Germany and Japan in 1941 after the
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bombing of Pearl Harbor Italian
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Americans found their loyalty questioned
00:19:23
while not as popularized in historic
00:19:25
memory as the Japanese internment camps
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Italians - they severe persecution due
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to their heritage Italians without
00:19:33
citizenship which were mostly older
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Italians who were intimidated by the
00:19:37
process of getting citizenship were
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declared enemy aliens and had to carry
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around ID cards Italians on the west
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coast were forced to move from their
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homes 1,200 Italian Americans were
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detained and 400 were put in internment
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camps heroes like Joe DiMaggio's own
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parents were declared enemy aliens due
00:19:56
to the fact that they had immigrated
00:19:58
from Italy and never gotten citizenship
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yet unlike Japanese Americans Italians
00:20:03
were quickly given the opportunity to
00:20:04
prove their loyalty
00:20:06
while recert 'only played a role perhaps
00:20:08
this is because they had the levers of
00:20:10
political power mayor LaGuardia who is
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the mayor of New York City during this
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period with his mixed background of
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Italian and Jewish he represented what
00:20:18
it meant to be from an immigrant family
00:20:20
in New York City the extremely popular
00:20:22
mayor became a symbol for Italian
00:20:25
Americans across the country and helped
00:20:26
them gain accept
00:20:27
into the mainstream congrat she finished
00:20:30
another one may get to watch Rosie eat
00:20:32
enjoy
