...2011 ADRIENNE CRISTE Sicilian Americans The ethnic group I have always identified with more is my Sicilian/Italian side. Even though I am only a 1/4 Sicilian, I still feel like I belong to that side more. My grandmother on my dad’s side was full-blooded Sicilian and her parents were immigrants to the United States. The Sicilians have been in America for over 300 years. In the late 17th century, two brothers sailed to what is now New York and were in charge of the Onondaga fort. On the west coast, it is recorded that a Sicilian priest was in charge of converting he natives to Christianity. He was later killed by the natives in 1695. Immigration of the Sicilians was slow until the late 1880s. In 1906, over 100,000 Sicilians came to the United States in that year alone. Most Sicilian immigrants never planned to stay in the US permanently. There is even a special phrase that was coined for Sicilians: "Birds of Passage" since their intent was to be migratory laborers. Even though about 75% of Sicilian immigrants were farmers in Sicily, they did not wish to farm in the US (as it implied a permanence that did not figure in their plans). Instead, they headed for cities where labor was needed and wages were relatively high. Many Sicilian men left their wives and children behind because they expected to return (and many, many did). In any event, for many Sicilian immigrants, migration could not be interpreted as a rejection of Sicily. In fact, it is a defense of the Sicilian way of...
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...ethnic group. I am half Italian and half Irish. Most people only associate me as Italian and the Irish fades into the back ground. More Italians have migrated to the United States than any other group from Europe (digital history, January, 22 2012). Most of the immigration occurred in the 20th century during the years of 1880-1960(digital history, January, 22 2012). Several Italian immigrants originated from southern Italy without much of an education. The foremost reason for Italian immigration was due to the meager financial conditions in Italy during the 20th century. The Italians established themselves in areas where they could network with each other and not be around other ethnic groups. The Italians from southern Italy were not educated greatly so most of them performed manual labor. Most of the Italians were farmers in Italy but, when they immigrated they moved to the cities. Italians faced much prejudice and racism. The Italians in the United States were a very much hated group. News clippings from the 19th century named Italian immigrants as a sub-human race (Italians in America: From Discrimination to Adoration, Racial Discrimination, October 5th, 2009). They were thought of as clannish because they were known to stick with their family. The Italians were also discriminated against for their Catholic beliefs. They were exposed to anti-immigrant discrimination. There were even acts of violence such as lynching and hanging. Some of the immigrants sought to come to America...
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...out to expose the horrific conditions that over one million immigrant workers and their families faced in the tenements of New York's East Side slum district. A citizen's movement prompted by the guilty consciouses of the middle class resulted in the creation of the Board Of Health, that passed the 1867 "Tenement House Act". The act mandated the cutting of 46,000 windows into interior rooms solely for ventilation purposes. These renovations were met with opposition from tenement owners as well as by tenants.In many accounts tenants had to be physically dragged out from cellar apartments by police officials. In spite of the Tenement House Act, many renovated buildings had no apparent improvements . New tenements that were constructed after the act still had floor plans that left rooms dark and dank and, over crowding was still permitted. The air inside the tenements were described as " ...fouler than...
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...migration. The Italians settled in New York City, so we will be looking at the tenement housing, working condition, and the journey from Italy to American. The attitudes of the Americans about the immigrations will also be examined. From 1906 to 1915 almost two million Italians migrated to the United States. Many Italians migrated to the United States because Italy there weren’t any jobs. Overpopulation and poverty was another reason Italians migrated to the United States. They believed that the United States was the land of opportunity and that they will find better jobs and housing. The poverty rate in Italy included lack of medical care, lack of schooling, and poor housing conditions. When they decided to come to America it was a way to escape from these things. The bad economy and the shortage of land caused Italian immigrants to leave Italy. The Majority of the immigrants settled in New York City when they got to the United States. Some of them migrated because of political reasons or because of the dream of one day of returning to Italy with enough money to buy land. Political hardship was also a factor in the Italians migrating to America. In the 1870s the government took measures to repress political views such as anarchy and socialism (Alexander Molnar, 2010). The Italian immigrants became part of what was known as the “New Immigration.” This was the third largest group of immigrants from Europe, which was a combination of Slavs, Jews, and Italians. Most...
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...immigration can be various depending on the circumstances faced by the population. It can be better employment opportunities, better living standards, education facilities or economic or political scenarios that cause people to move from one place to another. Out of the various countries in the world that face the immigration, America faces the highest rate of immigration amongst other countries like Europe, Australia, and China etc. There are both positive and negative aspects of immigration in a country. The positive aspects can be attributed to the infiltration of more talented work forces coming from a country and on the other hand, considering the negative point of immigration, it increases the struggle and competition among the natives and the people that are resident in that particular country. For many decades, large American cities and east and west coast states have been under the influence of immigration and America has been considered as the country containing the blend of people from all countries of the world. The state of immigration in America has been very well reflected by the movie “Lost Boys of Sudan” that was directed by Megan Mylen and John Shenk and was released in the year 2003 and the book “The Melting pot” by Anna Quindlen in the year 1988 by Ballantine Publishing group. The American demographic realities highlight that one in...
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...Chapter 11, Sacco and Vanzetti, in the textbook, After the Fact, covers after world war I, and armed robberies that accrued in December 1919 in the states of Massachusetts for the slater and Morril shoe company near the South Braintree. Alessandro Berardelli got shot and was on the street dead due to the amount of money he contained that was about $15, 776.51. Bridge water police chief Michael Stewart had suspects in mind of previous crimes. Michael suspected an Italian anarchist named Mike Boda, who began to watch him. On May 1920 he had arrested the two foreigners Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti who became the controversial episodes in the American History. Nor did the controversy end with the Jury’s decision. Yet in 1927, Judge Webster...
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...Originality of the Italian Language HUMA215 Kharyssa Rhodes November 21, 2013 Italian is a Romance Language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, and Vatican City by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Somalia, Libya, Ethiopia, and Eritrea and by expatriate communities in the Americas, and Australia. Many speakers are native bilinguals of both standardized Italian and other regional languages accordingly to the Bologna statistics of the European Union, Italian is spoken as a native language by 59 million people in the EU (13% of the EU population), mainly in Italy, and as a second language by 14 million (3%).Including the Italian speakers in non-EU European countries (such as Switzerland and Albania) and on other continents, the total number of speakers is more than 85 million. In Switzerland , Italian is one of four official languages it is studied and learned in all the confederation schools and spoken, as a native language, in the Swiss cantons of Ticino and Grigioni and by the Italian immigrants that are present in large numbers in German- and French- speaking cantons. It is also the official language of San Marino, as well as the primary language of the Vatican Italian is descended from Latin. Unlike most other Romance languages, Italian retains Latin's contrast between short and long consonants. As in most Romance language is distinctive. Among the Romance languages, the Italian is the closest to...
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...The United States was often seen as a divide due to the civil war. However many immigrants came to the U.S with the hope of new opportunities and a new start at life. Therefore the ‘promise of america’ brought many people to the united states of america. Many may ask what kind of effect the the phrase ‘the land of opportunity had on the people that were not at the time living the life of those in the ‘land of opportunity’. Many people around the world were lured in my necessity and search of something new and better. Since the start of the united states many leaders argued about the topic of immigrants. Many had opinions on whether they should be monitored to a certain level or if they should go through a much rigorous course in order to...
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...Italian Culture in America John Smith Psych 105 Dr. Diop Spring, 2012 Italian Culture in America America is known to be the country where most people from outside immigrate to, not only bringing their families but also their traditions with them. “According to the 2000 U.S. Census, almost 16 million Italian Americans live in the United States” (Quagliata, 2011, p. 1). Most immigrants that come to America lose their heritage; however, that is not the case for the Italian culture. Not only did Italians incorporate a style of living in America, they also brought their traditions into the country as well. Some of the customs they brought with them include their food, their game of bocce ball, their religion, and their way of greeting one another. Italian Food When thinking of the Italian culture, the first thing that comes to mind is their food. Cinotto (2000) states, “Since food is a cultural artifact, imbued with meanings and values, the cross-cultural consumption of Italian cuisine is a significant marker of the way in which others see and imagine Italy and the Italians” (p. 1). Pasta, parmesan, and cannoli’s are probably the most popular and most known Italian foods. With the way many Americans fell in love with the Italian food, it soon became part of the American culture as well. The Italian immigrants brought over their historical foods and formed new eating habits for the Americans, and most of the Italian food was shaped in Little Italy where the...
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...July 17, 2016 In the article "Mother Tongue" by Amy Tan she writes about both hers and her mother's experience with language. Tan admits she is "not a scholar or English or literature" (Tan 2006) but expresses her thoughts and supplies empirical evidence about how both she and others judged her mother's intelligence by how she spoke English. Tan introduces us to the concept of "Englishes", i.e. the English used in her household; the English she was taught in school; the English she writes in. Tan writes about the possibility that students, particularly Asian Americans, may be steered away from careers in Literature or creative writing because of the "broken or limited"(Tan, 2006) English used in their homes. I continue to feel that Tan's main goal of the article is to get us to think about the ways we view people who speak "limited or broken" English. As a continuation of the author's goal she writes about how really listening to her own talk as she spoke to various groups about her writing life and her book "The Joy Luck Club” caused her to realize the "whole talk sounded wrong." What she was hearing and learning, perhaps for the first time, was that she was not using one of the "Englishes" that she "did not use at home with my mother." I did identify some new key points and these are how Tan writes about how she thinks "about the power of language--the way it can evoke an emotion, a visual image, a complex idea, or a simple truth." One way the reading supports this...
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...very controversial issue. We have one flag, one government, however no official language. Making English the official language would unite all Americans, no matter the race, creed, culture, heritage or ancestry. In 1907, US President Theodore Roosevelt wrote, “We have room for but one language in this country, and that is the English language, for we intend to see that the crucible turns our people out as Americans, of American nationally and not dwellers in a polyglot boarding house” (English-only movement/Wikipedia). There were as many as twenty different languages that could be heard around the time of our founding fathers. Today, there are presently three hundred twenty nine languages in the United States (US Census 2010). Immigrants of many nationalities have built our nation. Just look our nations motto, E pluribus Unum, (Latin meaning – out of many, one) which was adapted by the committee of Congress on July 4, 1776 to design “a seal for the United States of America”, which is carried by the American eagle. The nation has but one flag which we “pledge our allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all” (MacAuthur). However, 236 years later the United State still has no official language. Casler -2- Multilingualism is costing our country billions of wasted dollars every year and further dividing this nation. We only have to look north to...
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...Among the several languages spoken all through the nation, there are many unique Native American languages, in addition the large number of languages that immigrants from everywhere throughout the world have brought into the nation. Together with English, Italian, German, Dutch, Polish, French, Spanish, Chinese, also Japanese are only a portion of the more than two hundred languages spoken in the United States. Many students whom have immigrant parents or grandparents may experience issues in schools because they do not speak English fluently. Bilingual Education has been studied in numerous structures, in numerous nations, and for a number of years, the use of two languages, native and secondary in schools by teachers, students, or both. Bilingual inculcation perpetuates to receive approval in the national media. This digest analyzes a portion of the feedback, and its impact on popular assumption, which frequently focus around misinterpretations about bilingual training's objectives and practice....
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...conditions but also the new types of industries, immigrants coming to the United States with their culture, the discrimination against certain people who were immigrants, overcrowding and the building of some of the most powerful cities in the world. With the growth of the industry...
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...debate in recent years. The inflow of immigrants may bring a positive effect or negative effect to the destined country. However, in some countries like the United States, their economic development has become dependent on immigrants. As Marco Rubio once said, “Americans believe in the value of immigration”. Immigration has made and is making favorable contribution in term of economy to the host country. Immigrants have benefited the U.S economy by filling in less-skilled job vacancies, increasing native’s wages and labor productivity, and lastly driving innovation. Immigrant Workers Fill the Growing Number of Job Vacancies Immigration plays an important role in filling in the less-skilled jobs vacancies in United States. The main reason why the United States has become significantly reliant on immigrants is because of the growing shortage of workers that are willing to do the less-skilled jobs. In recent years, American worker’s educational level has improved dramatically, thus result in the growing number of less-skilled jobs in which U.S-born workers are available. Less-skilled immigrants are needed to fill in occupations such as construction, farming, fishing, food processing, food preparation and service, building maintenance, landscaping, and many more. Research by Madeline Zavodny and Tamar Jacoby shows that based on the average O*NET score, a database that measures the attributes of every U.S occupation, 13% more immigrants spend more time climbing ladder and working...
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...I would like to answer with just four words the principal difference question. The words are as follows and in this order: population, diaspora, color, and votes. By the 1940s, German-Americans were engrained into American culture. They had a population of 1.2 million German born immigrants living in the US. That number does not included their children who were born in America and considered native to the country. That is a huge number, which potentially leads to votes and happy elected officials. Not only did they have a large population base they also moved westward into Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, and other agricultural states. Their children were American educated. They assimilated easily and many Germans were involved in locally, regionally,...
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