Lucia Lopez
Although Jews had made up the largest immigrant population of New York City, the late 19th century and the early 20th century saw the rise of the second largest immigrant group: Italians. Immigration rose immensely from 1900 to 1914; by 1920 there were as many Italians in New York City as German and Irish immigrants combined. Despite the shared goal of a better life and the leaving of a home country of poverty, Italians differed from other immigrant groups in many ways. While Jews usually came to America with skills, many Italians were peasants or laborers who lacked urban skills, known as contadino. Also, Jews usually came to America as families and Irish immigration saw many women travel to AMerica alone; Italian immigrants were often young men looking to make money for their families. They usually held the prospect of going back home to Italy when they’ve made enough money for their families, meanwhile Jewish and Irish immigrants had practically no intentions of going back to their home countries.
Settlement patterns of Italian immigrants usually followed work opportunities. The first Italians in what would be known as “Italian Harlem” were brought over by Irish-American contractors to build the First Avenue trolley tracks. By 1880, Italian Harlem had about 4,000 Italian residents, and rose to its peak in the 1920s. In the Bronx, Italians settled in areas in which they were helping to build streets and railways. In Brooklyn, they first settled at Hamilton Ferry. Italian workers found homes near the waterfront where they sought employment. Labor contractors known as padroni also determined where Italian laborers settled. THey would take a share of employees’ wages in exchange for finding them jobs and housing, but also did other favors such as write letters home for immigrants who were illiterate and helped them find their way around new areas. Native-born Americans did not like the padroni and believed their systems of contract labor to be similar to slavery. Despite being outlawed, they continued their work until around 1910, when they became less important in Italian migration.
Another factor determining residence was the regions from which the immigrants came. The Italians coming in did not simply identify as Italian; they identified with the specific region they came from and normally seeked housing in areas containing people of their same region or village. Many immigrants also had relatives or friends who already lived in America, so they would move to those areas, creating neighborhoods made up of specific groups such as Sicilians, Neapolitans, or Calabrians.
Housing in New York City for Italian immigrants was often unsanitary and overcrowded. Many Italians could not afford decent living space, meanwhile German and Irish immigrants were moving up economically. The unfit tenements were not just in this condition from years of rotting; even new housing was of very poor quality due to the working class community that built it. In “How the Other Half Lives,” Jacob Riis exposed the grim conditions of housing that poorly affected Italian immigrants, causing even children to live on the streets. To gain more income, Italian families would take in lodgers and boarders. Although this somewhat helped, they also contributed to the overcrowdedness of Italian homes.
These neighborhoods were also the hosts of criminal activity. Sensational news reporting didn’t help the situation as they gave Italian immigrants the reputation of criminals. They were soon known for Mafia activity, even though large-scale Mafia migration did not exist in New York City. This caused the New York City police to create an Italian division which investigated possible Mafia activity in Italian neighborhoods. Images of Black Hand criminals also fed this stereotype of Italians being criminals and heightened the anti-immigrant sentiment that had already existed.
As years went on, Italian immigrants began to get involved in kinds of work other than labor-based jobs. Most of the well-off immigrants were those who found municipal work in the sanitation department or in the Italian division. Others found work as barbers, shoemakers waiters, and bartenders. Because of most Italians’ intentions of not remaining in America, they were less interested in unions and used as strikebreakers. Although Italian women were expected to get married and stay home to raise children, they began taking on jobs as well due to the instability most of their husbands’ jobs came with. They mainly worked in the garment industry, making clothes at sweatshops or factories. Children were also forced to find work to increase their family’s’ income, making the focus work rather than education. This differs from Jewish immigrants that had arrived prior, who made education a main priority.
Although Italian immigrants came from a largely Catholic country, they were distrustful of religious institutions in America. Men regarded church-going as women’s work and only attended mass on major holidays or traditional occasions, such as Christmas or weddings. Protestant groups saw this and sent missionaries to Italian communities, successfully converting a few. Despite their attempts, not many Italians converted to Protestantism. Eventually this became known as the “Italian Problem” which was solved when Irish priests expanded church activities to italian neighborhoods and encourage Italians to serve as priests and lead mass.Eventually, certain churches such as Our Lady of Pompei became very important to Italian immigrants. The Italian parishes that now existed began to host festas, or religious celebrations of saints. Thousands would gather to eat food, dance, and join the procession usually led by a statue of the saint being celebrated.
Despite their struggles, Italian immigrants remained a closely-knit group and soon became accustomed to life in America. This was just the beginning of Italian immigrants seeing themselves as not just from their specific region, but as Italians or even Italian-Americans. World War I and the decline of immigration sped up this process, but nevertheless Italians remained closely attached to their ethnic background for years.
