Italian Immigration Early Immigration formative and first waves small numbers from northern italy skilled artisans religious freedom Northern vs Southern Italy northern cities birthplace of renaissance culture economic development central Italy slower modernization southern Italy very slow economic development largely rural poverty most italian immigrants after 1880 Southern Italian Push Factors Risorgimento and wars 1848 1870 wars of unification political bias toward northern italy famine used older techniques and didn t use modern technology to help prevent famine natural disasters 1906 Mt Vesuvius erupted 1908 earthquake in Sicily 1910 Mt Etna Numbers 1880s over 300 000 1890s 650 000 1900s over 2 million 2nd wave total 4 million return migration birds of passage Immigration Act of 1924 quotas largely against eastern and southern Europe focused on jews quota for italians around 8 500 Location after 1880 new york city crowded tenements San Francisco and New Orleans little Italies ethnic enclave defined by business surrounding the area mostly Secondary location California Mid 19th century Gold Rush agriculture Winemaking industry Immigrant Bankers Amadeo Pietro Gianni Money and Jobs a Bank of Italy 1904 and later renamed Bank of America b San Francisco s North Beach Second Wave southern italy usually poor Manual Labor Padroni italian immigrants who moved early were well established and got later on immigrants set up in the United States but also exploited new immigrants since they were so dependent on them Children worked at early age Valued hard work over education proud to do manual labor saw rich people as lazy and idleness was a sign of moral decay Ellis Island 1892 major immigration station for East Coast Six Second Physical trachoma Immigration Act of 1924 Detention and deportation center closed in 1954 1965 statue of liberty national monument Photography Augustus Sherman Documenting ethnic features Racial categories Lewis Hine more sympathetic fighting nativism dignified style Social Support family and community did not depend on the Church believed in saints and spirits went to church but was different from the Irish were not trusting of priest due to the fact that back in Italy the priest owned the lands and implemented a tax on it Mutual aid societies jobs soup kitchens health insurance death benefits Order of the Sons of Italy 1905 Political Support Stereotypes Northern Italians had light skin money high brow culture mostly protestant came in earlier WASPs accepted them majority of the time Southern Italians backwards illiterate catholic stereotypes darker skin considered white but an inferior ethnicity Criminals Mafia Organized Crime 1890s 1910s small groups extortion 1920s Prohibition and bootlegging Charles Lucky Luciano considered the founder of organized crime organized the Mafia Had a hand in drug trafficking extortions etc Mafia stereotype in mass media Radicalism anarchism communism Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti 1920s McCarthy Trials 1950s Italian Americans became more conservative
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