Category: Uncategorized

Henry Burby

MHC 10201

3/7/16

Italian Immigration in New York City

The Jewish migration of the mid to late 19^th century overlapped the second largest immigrant group to come to New Your, the Italians. Generally less skilled then the Jews, the Italians were instead more like the Irish. They were unlikely to be literate, had little urban experience, and came to America to escape poverty and starvation. They were faced with financial, occupational hardships, and social prejudice. However, the Italians had different history then the irish, which made them unique. New York’s Italian population shot up from 1880 to 1914. Most early immigrants were young men, planning to purchase land back home with American money. Later, families started to arrive. Italians settled in many areas of the city. They followed the physical jobs they depended on, such as construction projects. Early Italian immigrants depended on padroni, labor contractors who helped with employment and integration, for a price, though this system died out when it was made illegal. The Italians tended to group themselves with others from the same Italian region. With little English, and few valuable skills, Italians made little money, and couldn’t afford decent housing, making their neighborhoods cramped and unhealthy. Large amounts of crime fed stereotypes of the Mafia, and the Black Hand. These led to greater mistrust from some natives, though others disagreed. Though most Italian males were laborers, some found other work as entertainers, municipal workers, and small business owners. Over time, Italians, and especially women, also branched out into the garment industry. Their willingness to accept bad conditions and low pay, and their inexperience with unions, gave them not entirely unfounded reputations as strikebreakers and scabs, making them unpopular with other workers. Italian women tended to be part of families, and if they were single, they were expected to join one as soon as possible, and retire from public life. However, as most Italian families lived below the poverty line, daughters and wives often took jobs to support their families when their husbands experienced lulls. Young single women found work in factories, and married ones often worked at home, often with the help of their children. Families made additional funds by taking on borders. Though men’s jobs were often exhausting, the women suffered as well, in dark, dangerous and dirty workshops and factories. By the Great War, many Italians had successfully climbed the societal ladder, and were beginning to find better work. The children of immigrants understood American language and culture, and they were able to find skilled labor. They had also had access to American public schools. However, many parents felt that schools interfered with the family structure, and saw more benefit from their children as wage earners. Thus, though the second generation had more schooling their predecessors, they were far less educated then, for example, the Jews. By the early 20^th century, many Italians began to join the Jews in the labor unions. This was not true everywhere, and Italian scabs and Italian union workers often stood on opposite sides of the picket line. Italian men, with their unskilled and temporary jobs, were slower to unionize in the women, though some did form. By World War 1, an Italian middle class had begun to form, though it was not a majority. Shop keepers, white collar workers, and even some professionals, began to move to make more money, and find better housing. Italians were less likely to be involved in politics, because they had little experience with democracy. They also experienced discrimination from the Irish, and since they dominated Tammany Hall, Italians were more likely vote republican. By the turn of the century, Tammany stepped up its efforts, leading to a number of Italian Democrats. Many Italians were also attracted to socialist organizations. However, despite some political success, few Italians turned out to vote before World War 1. Though Italians distrusted settlements houses, ethnic organizations achieved great popularity and success. These groups helped to support and Americanize recent immigrants. Mutual aid groups, which provided emergency funds, insurance, and community, were also common. Successful men also formed groups of Prominenti. Many Italian newspapers emerged as well, and some achieved great success. Though most Italians were Catholic, the primarily Irish catholic community of New York was very different from what they were used to. The Irish clergy saw Italian Catholics as superstitious, primitive, and lazy, and Italian services were usually relegated to church basements. It was true that most Italians, especially men,  were infrequent churchgoers. In Italy, they had seen the church as primarily a social institution, but in new York, it had a huge amount of competition. Most Italian men came only to major holidays, weddings and funerals. This led to conversion attempts by Protestant groups, which had some success. Over time, the Irish and the Italians grew to accept each other, and by 1911, many Italian catholic churches had taken root. In certain areas, churches became the centers of their communities. Festas, large holy festivals, were one of the most important religious events for Italian Catholics. Though New York’s Italian population gradually trended towards Americanization, they remained a close community well into the 20thy century.

 

While Italian immigrants came to New York for a better life, they differed greatly from the Jews and other immigrants of the late 19^th and early 20^th century. Most Italian immigrants were illiterate Sicilian and South Italian peasants who believed public schools conflicted with parental authority rather than provided a route for upward mobility. Also, many Italians were men as opposed to entire families, who left to escape poverty rather than persecution or a famine. Many of these men came to America with the intention of earning enough money to return home and buy land; the rest saved money to bring their families to New York. From the 1880s until the early 1900s, these men were aided by the padroni, who took a fee from newcomers’ wages to help them find housing and jobs.

Unlike Jewish immigrants, Italians primarily sought manual labor jobs and organized geographically near workplaces; thus, certain portions of New York became highly concentrated Italian neighborhoods. Living in old, dirty, and crammed tenements, Italian immigrants lived in poor conditions and often took in boarders to increase income. To make matters worse, Sicilian criminals earned pay from small businesses with Black Hand threats that demanded money in return for protection, prompting the NYPD’s launch of an Italian crime division in 1904; the murder of Lieutenant Joseph Petrosino of this division in 1909 contributed to the anti-immigrant laws passed in the 1920s.

Italians grew to find employment under the government in municipal jobs, under the NYPD and sanitation department. They also became musicians, barbers, and merchants. Furthermore, Italians served as strikebreakers and buffers to the Jewish workers who were unionizing in the garment industry and the striking longshoremen. Because they were quick to take these jobs during a strike or unionization, and held the approach that they were in America temporarily, employers sought to use Italians as threats against workers on strike. Because Italian men struggled with the seasonal unemployment that comes with manual labor jobs, many daughters took advantage of the rapidly expanding New York garment industry and found jobs in sweatshops and clothing factories. Most of the Italian women in New York were with families, so this income was supplementary to the male’s wages.

It was not until late in the first decade of the 1900s that Italians began to join the Jewish workers in unionizing in the garment industry. While support for strikes was slow at first, by 1913 many Italians supported strikes in the garment industry. However, longshoremen and construction workers who replaced the Irish remained lethargic in unionizing. The slow process of growing Italian involvement in American life included participation in politics. Many Italian immigrants rejected the Tammany Party and elected the first Italian Fiorello La Guardia, a Republican, to the House of Representatives. Many Italians found both parties too unresponsive to the needs of the poor and threw their support behind Socialist organizations. While the Jewish immigrants remained in control of the most prominent socialist clubs in New York, Italian clubs grew and were effective in spreading Socialism amongst Italians.

In the practice of religion, Italian Catholicism clashed with Irish Catholicism across New York City in the 19^th Century. Irish Catholics believed the Italians to be anti-institutional and ignorant in their observance. Consequently, Italians were not embraced in the Irish Catholic churches, and the dislike was mutual. Italians were already distrustful of the church at home, believing it did not serve the people’s needs. Therefore, they were predisposed to dislike the churches in America under Irish control, especially because Catholicism was a minority religion in the U.S. Because of the Italians lack of religious embrace, Protestants attempted to convert them. However, Irish Catholics encouraged activities to counter these attempts, such as installing Catholic charities and requesting more Italian priests and expanded parish activities in Italian sectors of New York. While Church leaders encouraged Italians to start parochial schools, the men already distrustful of education were not willing to pay for schools when public schools were free. Therefore, while the movement achieved some degree of success, Italian parochial schools were not popular in the early 20^th century among Italian immigrants. Central to Italian religious practices were the festa, parish-organized celebrations of a particular saint that drew thousands.

Italians underwent a process of Americanization that involved growing political activity, economic upward mobility, and the growing accommodation of the Roman Catholic Church. However, Italian immigrants mainly achieved stronger ethnic ties in their settlement in America; they abandoned their provincial identities and truly began to create a self-image as Italians, rather than Sicilians or Southern Italians. While World War I and the restriction acts of the 1920s catalyzed the later generation’s assimilation, the transition to Americanism remained gradual and ethnic ties remained strong.

 

Binder an Reimers: Jews and Italians in Greater New York City, 1880 to World War I: Part ii- Italian Immigrants summary

While the Italians were the second largest group of immigrants at the time that came to New York City, there were many differences between them and their Jewish counterparts. The mainly Sicilian and South Italian immigrants were mostly illiterate members of the working class. These Italian immigrants can better be compared to the Irish immigrants of before when considering their skills, lifestyles, and the problems they faced.

At first, Italian immigrants were mainly young men who were struggling with poverty and had hopes of making enough to return. In the 1850s there were less than one thousand Italians in New York but by the 1900 that number grew to over 250 times its size. In 1920, Italian immigrants (and family members) numbered over 800,000. Italians settled in an estimated 25 communities, including in Manhattan’s Fourteenth Ward, Greenwich Village, Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Italian Harlem. These immigrants preferred to live near their places of work and with those who originated from the same region. Those who called themselves Genoese lived together, Calabrian, Neapolitan, Sicilian, etc. Settled Italian immigrants welcomed more newcomers with open arms. A group of labor contractors, known as the padroni, would abuse the influx of Italian immigrants by promising jobs and housing for a share of the worker’s wages. Laws were passed against their actions but the practice didn’t stop until 1910.

The housing that immigrants found was usually crowded, cramped, odorous, and unhealthy. Poverty-stricken, they could only afford the tenements that were previously occupied by the Irish. They lived in cellars, on the streets, and with boarders. Crime was commonplace and Sicilian criminals, who were thought to be part of the Mafia, demanded payment for business protection in written threats known as “Black Hand” letters. This caused the city to create a separate police force that dealt with Italian crime. This built up an anti- immigration mentality.

Most of the jobs the Italians found were poor, but those who were on the municipal payroll did well. Italians found jobs in the sanitation department, police force, and strikebreaking business. Other occupations included barbers, shoemakers, bartenders, masons, waiters, street merchants, etc. Italians didn’t have much interest in unions (considering many thought they would return to Italy eventually) which is why they were often used as strikebreakers and replacement workers.

Female Italian immigrants were thought to be only wives, daughters, or sisters. They rarely lived alone or were unmarried. They were expected to care for the family and not take jobs, but considering the low pay of most jobs women needed to find alternative income. This caused the New York City Italian immigrant family income to be the lowest. Eventually, one fourth of South Italian families took in boarders for added income. When the New York garment industry grew, women began working in shops and by 1905, 85% of single Italian women were working. Over time, Italian immigrants became upwardly mobile. Their jobs became more specialized by World War I.

Some children of immigrants were actually able to find white collar work. Italians feared public education, believing it was trying to control their children. Second generation immigrants were often removed from school, preventing the from getting even better jobs, in order to join the workforce and start providing for the family. Laborers began joining unions and by World War I an Italian American middle class emerged. It included bankers, real estate promoters, editors, publishers, business owners, performers, doctors, lawyers, and other white collar workers. Eventually, like the Irish, the Italians were able to find better housing.

At first, Italian immigrants remained separate from politics. Tammany Hall ignored them and, considering many thought they would return to Italy, they were uninvolved. Some Italians joined the Jewish- dominated socialist party, or joined the anti- Irish Republican party. After 1900, a few Italian American politicians were appointed. However, it wasn’t until Fiorello La Guardia that a truly successful Italian politician emerged.

Regarding religion, there were tensions between Irish and Italian Catholics. In New York City, the Catholic church was dominated by the Irish. Contrasting views on the importance of some things and the power of magic increased these disputes. The Irish believed the Italian priests were not trained well, while the Italians couldn’t respect the Irish dominated church. To counteract this, by 1911 there were eighty Italian priests serving in fifty Italian Catholic churches. Italian churches had many extravagant religious celebrations for their saints that sometimes lasted days (festa).

Over the decades, Italian immigrants were able to pull themselves up from their poverty- stricken past. They achieved better jobs, moved to better housing, established their own communities, got involved politically, established their own churches, and succeeded in adapting to the widely different environment of urban New York City. They became Italian Americans.

Chapter 5 of Binder’s  All Nations Under Heaven. An Ethnic and Racial History of New York City analyzed the aspects of Eastern European Jewish culture that was introduced to NYC in the 1880s. Though New York City had seen Jewish immigration since colonial times the most massive period of Jewish immigration that it experienced was from 1881-1914. During this time, around two million Jews immigrated from eastern Europe, with a majority coming from Russia. They primarily came from small towns as many rejected emigration because they viewed the United states as an unreligious land. Eventually, due to worsening economic conditions, more and more were forced to emigrate. A bulk of them were urban dwellers and were skilled workers, educated, and politically and culturally active. They lived in the lower east side tenements, and while there were other ethnic groups in the area, Yiddish was the dominant language. According to one historian it was, “the focus of intellectual, cultural, and political life of American Jewry,” (p 118). Eventually that area became the most populated area of the city, known as the Tenth Ward. With the turn of the century came new bridges and subways which presented opportunities for the Jews to move into Brooklyn and Queens in places such as Williamsburg and Rego Park. Although they would move out of the crowded tenements, they still lived in slum conditions in these new neighborhoods as well.

Earlier German- Jewish immigrants who were more Americanized weren’t accepting of the new Jewish immigrants. They didn’t want to be associated with them so they established an Educational Alliance in order to offer training to the new Jews on how to act more Americanized. Though these classes were first resented by the new Jews, eventually the alliance’s cooperation by offering classes in Yiddish, and other useful facilities such as a library and gym, increased the participation. And if new problems aroused from the new Jews, other organizations were started by the German Jews to help. One major problem that the immigrant Jews faced in their community was crime. While it wasn’t violent, there was crimes such as stealing, arson, as well as prostitution, present within these poor Jewish communities. In order to counter this embarrassing issue, the German- Jewish leaders created the New York City Kehillah. The Kehllah brought together smaller organizations to deal with Jewish relationships and mainly crime. Unfortunately, it lost popularity as many didn’t trust the organization.

Another aspect of the eastern European Jews was their respect of the community. Coming into a foreign land, they really respected meeting others from their place of origin. This sense of nationality led to the creations of landsmanshaft organizations. These were organizations of aid which linked fellow countrymen together, offering social services such as synagogues, trade unions, and hospitals such as Beth Israel. Another aspect of Eastern European Jewish culture was their experience in commerce and manufacturing. Jewish immigrants in America would likely be involved in peddling, push carting, or owning their own shops. Other skills Jewish workers possessed was tailoring and factory work. Jewish women especially were the main source of work for garment factories, usually owned by the German Jews. Unfortunately, they experienced bad working conditions such as long hours, low salaries, and even seasonal layoffs. This poor treatment led to new labor union organizations for needle workers. By 1914, Jews dominated garment factory unions.

The socialists who organized these unions were respected individuals who brought together 1/3 of Jews in the Workmen’s Circle unions to join the Socialist party. But clearly, a majority of the Jewish population chose not to. The Jews weren’t very political, and those that decided to vote would just vote for the candidate who supported Jews the most. Usually this meant the Republicans. The most progress politics made amongst the lower East siders was the win of Ukrainian born Meyer London who won a seat in Congress on his third attempt. Socialism and Zionism wasn’t appealing to the mass of Jews anymore.

Likewise, Orthodox Judaism lost its popularity as well. More and more Jews were becoming secular, and realizing that they needed to work in order to live rather than spend that time being faithful to their religion. Many would work during Sabbath and only hold their sense of Jewish identity by attending synagogues for religious holidays. Children grew more and more unattracted to the religion because they were attending school where no religious instructions were taught. Schools gave them other things to get excited about, and parents accepted it because an education was the only way to economic success in the future. Schools meant Americanizing the kids so that they could speak better English, have proper manners and hygiene, and this would effectively produce better citizens. This hype over education and school was more popular among Jews than any other immigrant group. By 1910, 80% of CCNY’s graduating class was Jewish. Education was the ladder of success.

Jews and Italians in Greater New York City, 1880 to World War I: Part i

In the later half of the 19th century and the early 20th century, there was a large influx of approximately two million Jewish immigrants, from various parts of Europe and parts of Asia, into the United States; a majority of them settled in the New York City area. The incoming Jewish population was very diverse in culture, ideas and politics.

Still, some Jews decided to stay in Europe or Asia. Many of those who chose to remain in their homelands, despite the persecution they faced, were extremely religious. They chose to stay because they saw American ideas revolving solely around money and material wealth.

The eastern European Jews that arrived in New York were considered skilled or semiskilled workers, more so than their eastern and southern European immigrant counterparts, because they migrated from urban environments. As a result, they were readily employed in the garment industry, metal industry, food industry and even in building and furnishing.

In addition, many of the Jews coming into the United States were well-educated, politically active and cultured with urban industrial experience, a likely secular education, and also possibly less adherence to the orthodox religion. All of these traits make it easier for the Jews to assimilate compared to other immigrants.

Many of the Jewish immigrants settled in the area enclosed by the Bowery, the East River, Market Street and 14th Street; in this area, Yiddish became the dominant language. However, due to sub-ethnic groups, there were other languages spoken by the Jewish population, languages like Judeo-Spanish, Arabic, and even Greek.

Jewish influence extended beyond language as the streets began to be commercialized. On the streets, one could find clothing, religious articles or anything else from pushcarts in the area. The Jewish population continued to grow; Irish and German immigrants in the area moved elsewhere.

Americanized German Jews sought to do something about their eastern European counterparts, whom they considered “uncouth” and “jargon-speaking.” To the German Jews, it was not only the living conditions that was the problem but also the customs, manners, and practices of the eastern Jews. Therefore, in an effort to Americanize them, German Jews created several organizations for vocational and citizenship training.

Several of these agencies were well received by the eastern European Jewish community. One such agency was the Educational Alliance which offered several educational classes in different languages throughout the day, access to a library, access to a gym, and much more. The German Jews continued to create and fund organizations that sought to solve issues of the eastern European Jewish community, and the community took advantage of the new resources opened to them.

Among the many issues in the eastern European Jewish area was the issue of crime. Violent crimes and illegal activities, such as gambling, arson and prostitution were common. The Lower East Side was referred to as “the world’s brothel.” German-Jewish leaders aimed to reduce crime by creating more programs to resolve problems, and create unity in the Jewish community. However, their efforts proved fruitless.

Soon, landsmanshaft organizations were formed and they provided many services intended to relieve dependence on outside charities; among these services were life insurance, health benefits, and aid in finding jobs or housing. As the community grew, so did the benevolent organizations and businesses — ranging from organizations seeking to find burial plots to organizations providing a place of worship.

The Jewish community then turned to tackling issues regarding labor by forming labor unions. Through strikes, workers were able to make their voices heard. Women played an especially large role in these unions because they were largely the ones being subjected to bad working conditions in the garment shops.

Although the Jewish community showed some appreciation of the socialist party, they did not consider politics their arena, but rather the arena of the Irish. Over time, some political parties rose and fell.

Eastern European Jews by this time were becoming more secular; they worked on the sabbath and preferred to go to the Yiddish theater. Many Jews were no longer strictly orthodox. Secular education was on the rise and religious education was becoming less popular. However, the decline of religion was eased by the Americanized synagogue which offered secular and religious sermons in Yiddish and English. Yet, the Jewish youth digressed and sought entertainment and knowledge elsewhere.

One of the places where the youth mixed and became more Americanized was the public school. Education was prized among the Jewish, males and females, and they saw it as a means of social mobility. They were early to class and less likely to drop out. They explored different areas and attended night school. A majority of the 1910 graduating class at CCNY was Jewish.

Soon, the young Yiddish intellectuals gathered in public places representing a particular political philosophy or a cultural specialty. Writers talked and lectured about Yiddish culture and the Yiddish youth participated directly in this culture — attending lectures, dancing, going to the theater, or going to the candy store.

In fact, the Yiddish theater played an exceptionally large role in Yiddish culture; it addressed much of what the Jewish community faced, such as generational conflict, ethnic identity, and the opposition of secular and religious beliefs. The theater was entertainment and was a means for Jews to participate in American life.

New York City has been an economic hub for all kinds of Jews starting with the Sephardic Jews of Spanish and Portuguese origins to the Ashkenazi Jews of western and central Europe since its early Dutch era. The most influential and largest influx of 1.4 million Jewish people to New York were from Russia, Galicia, Hungary and Romania in the years 1881 to 1914. Some of these early immigrants were not prepared for the demanding urban life and labor of New York City, so they resided in small towns. America was only seen as a place of businesses and to make money with no room for spiritual values. Most immigrant Jews worked in the clothing and food industries and as building and furnishing and machine and metal workers. Almost seventy percent of Jewish immigrants were women or children, while other nationalities had percentages of about fifty. The Lower East Side, unlike many other ghettos, was not overrun by any one particular ethnic group and became the most congested region in the five boroughs due to the increasing Jewish population. New construction of bridges and subways led to an increase in Jewish population in places outside of Manhattan like Brooklyn and Queens.

Crimes such as arson, gambling, fencing stolen goods, picking pockets, and prostitution were common to the Lower East Side. German-Jewish leaders created the New York City Kehilla, which was led by Rabbi Judah Magnes, to maintain order and create a sense of community amidst the illegal activity on the streets. This organization with its many bureaus sought to many issues including improving Jewish education, overseeing Kosher foods preparation, and worker-employee relations. With the starting of World War I, these issues became less important and the group disbanded in 1925, unsuccessful in uniting the Jewish community.

Most eastern European Jews belonged to landsmanshafts, nationality-based organizations that aided in social services like life insurance, sickness and death benefits, and finding a job or housing and creating a sense of cultural community. One of the most significant benevolent-society organizations was the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, which began with the issue of providing burial facilities for those who died on Ellis Island.

Eastern European Jews were prepared for an urban center like New York City and took advantage of the economic opportunities it had to offer. Prior to the 1900s, these Jews dominated the clothing industry working as tailors or launderers. Tenement sweatshop numbers declined due to stricter laws and regulations like the 1892 Tenement House Act and an increase in mechanization of production. Generally, they worked sixty hours a week at ten dollars a week if one were lucky in almost unbearable working conditions. Women were paid a little more than half that amount, but part of their wages went to purchasing needles, thread, and even their own sewing machines. In the very early 1900s many Jews found themselves as pushcart operators, grocers, butchers, bakers, butter and egg shop owners, and candy store owners. Religious and cultural demands of such a large Jewish population spurred the ghetto economy by opening new factories and stores to accommodate their needs.

Unlike their Irish counterparts, eastern European Jews did not actively go to the polls to enact change, but when they did, they voted for the progressive Republican Party. In 1906 Morris Hillquit, an immigrant Bundist from Riga, ran for a seat in Congress on the Socialist ticket five times to no avail. His campaign was like those of other socialist union leaders, fighting for brotherhood, material improvement, and against corruption and inequality, but it could not overcome Tammany’s bribed votes. Finally in 1914, Meyer London, a Ukrainian immigrant socialist, was elected Congressman and gained support from the Orthodox community and the Zionists, who were normally against the Socialist Party.

Most immigrant Jewish did not remain truly orthodox, but retained forms of the religious culture and practices such as joining a synagogue, attending High Holy Days services, observing Passover, and following their diet. This change brought a divide between immigrant parents and American-born or raised children. Religious training for Jews was not emphasized in America as it was in other countries. Secular education was seen as the one option for achieving economic success and social status and the Jewish population teemed with enthusiasm to learn.

Socially, dancing and going to the cinema and theater were among the most popular activities to do for eastern European Jews of the Lower East Side.

Summary of: Jews and Italians in Greater New York City, 1880 to World War I: Part ii

Most people know about some aspects of Jewish immigration and how it affected New York City. However, many more nationalities contributed greatly to the diversity of New York; like the Italians. Italians had a great impact on the New York because they were the second largest group to arrive around the same time of the Jews. Like most immigrants, the Italians came seeking a better life but they were very different than the Jews. Unlike the Jews coming in, most of the Italians were illiterate and closely resembled the Irish when they came to New York. Italians did not suffer a famine in Italy, like the Irish, but they were escaping hardships and poverty. It was not an easy task for the Italians to assimilate in New York. The first Italians to come were mainly men who emigrated looking to make money to send home. Other immigrants rarely returned to their countries. Men would either travel back to get their wives and children to New York or go back to find wives then return. The number of Italians key growing rapidly and by 1900, New York counted 250,000 Italians and this number just kept growing. The immigration number decreased during World War I but then resumed again and by 1920, the number of Italians had risen to 391,000. This was almost the number of foreign born Irish and Germans combined. Soon, counting the children, this number 800,000 in 1920.

Little Italy of Lower Manhattan quickly became the city’s most famous Italian colony but not the center of Italian population. Italians settled uptown, Greenwich Village, and soon moved

to Brooklyn and the Bronx. Italian men provided much needed manual labor for the growing New York and they based their living near their work. For example, along subway routes in Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens. Soon, Italian Harlem was home to 4,000 Italian residents by 1880.

The padroni, labor contractors, had a say in determining settlement and they were looked down upon because of their promotion of contract labor. However, the padronis continued their ways even though the law prohibited it.

In 1897, the SS Trojan Senato arrived with 1,100 Italians and they were treated by over 5,000 friends and family members. Their numbers kept increasing and soon things began to become unsafe and everywhere Italians settled was often crowded and unhealthy. Because Italians came with no experience and not knowing the English language, they could not earn enough money to live in more comfortable environments.

Danish journalist, Jacob Riis, more than any other brought the city’s poor living conditions to the public view. His work contained paintings of some neighborhoods to show exactly what it looked like. Their living spaces not only were overcrowded and unhealthy, they were foul smelling and often had a large number of crimes and this made living conditions more difficult. This soon led to Italians gaining the reputation of criminals and Sicilians were accused of bringing along Mafia members. In 1909, a detective was killed while investigating possible Mafia conditions and this made things worse for Italians as there was more terror spread and this contributed to anti-immigrant sentiment.

Most Italians found work within common labor but they also found jobs outside that category. They became barbers, shoemakers, waiters, teamsters and bartenders and even musicians. They soon became involved in the city’s growing garment business. During strikes, employers looked for Italians as new employees and bosses loved them because their eagerness to work and flexibility with wages.

As mentioned before, women rarely came alone; they came as wives, daughters or sisters. Women who came to New York were expected to raise children, care for the houses rather than make money like the men. However, Italian daughters, single women and even married women, only without children, often found jobs in garment industries and garment-related jobs. Some families however, needed all family members to work to be able to afford the needs of the family. Men and women both had it hard with their different but equally arduous responsibilities. Even young girls and women had it hard as their working conditions were often unsanitary, dirty, poorly lit and they got paid very little. By World War I, Italians strived to enhance lifestyle by aiming for more skilled jobs. This was mainly pertinent to the children of the immigrants because some were able to stay in the city’s public schools and learned English and this led to some receiving white collar jobs. This was not the case for all families because they were untrusting of the public schools and needed their kids to work for the money.

Jews were the backbone of garment industries but soon, Italians became a big part as well. By the outset of WWI, a middle class had emerged from within the Italians as they became bankers, real estate promoters, newspaper editors, white collar workers, shop owners, and even a few musicians, lawyers and doctors. This led to them being able to afford moving to better better housing. Giuseppe Tuoti began selling real estate in Lower Manhattan then branched out to New Jersey, Coney Island, and Staten Island. Soon he became a success and million dollars of property was transferred through Tuoti.

Only after 1900 did Tammany Hall pay attention to Italian districts. Soon some Italians became officeholders such as Fiorello La Guardia who became quite successful In New York before WWI. Italians joined the Socialist party when they found Democrats and Republicans unresponsive to their problems as a working class. Soon groups emerged to help Italians with benefits for sickness, insurance, and other emergencies such as the Society for the Protection of Italian Immigrants formed in 1901. Italians started to publish newspapers in their language to  maintain cultural relations. Also by 1911, the city and fifty Catholic churches to meet the needs of the Italians who were not comfortable in the Irish churches. Italian New Yorkers remained a tightly knit community during the eve of the World War I.

The second largest immigrant group to New York City, the Italians, were very different than the Jewish immigrants that came before them. Unlike the Jews, the Italian immigrants were mostly illiterate Sicilian and Southern Italian peasants or laborers. The Italians resembled the Irish of the “old immigration” in their inadequacy to prosper in an urban setting. Unlike the Irish though, the Italians were not leaving a famine such as the Irish Potato Famine but were leaving a land of poverty. Upon coming to America, the Italians were met with even more poverty, low-paying unskilled labor jobs, deficient housing, and prejudice.

In 1850, the Italian population in New York was only at 853. Towards the beginning of Italian immigration, the Italians who came over were mostly young men who were looking to make enough money in America to return home and purchase land. If a man did intend to create an actual home in America, he would usually board in a lodge to save up enough money to bring their family over. Italian bachelors in America even returned to Italy to find a spouse and then move back to America. The strong family ties that many Italians felt gave them the motivation to work enough to bring their family over to New York City.

By 1920, there were 391,000 foreign-born Italians in New York City and when including their children, over 800,000 Italians. Many of these Italians settled in the Little Italy of lower Manhattan’s Fourteenth Ward while some established themselves in Greenwich Village. After 1900, some southern Italians even crossed the rivers to settle in Brooklyn and the Bronx.

Two of the main priorities for settling in an area for the Italians was that they live with people from their own region (Genoese, Calabrian, Neapolitan, etc…) and that their home is close to work. The padroni, also known as labor contractors, took a share of the new Italian’s wages in order to help them find jobs and housing. Eventually, their services weren’t needed by the immigrants and were banned in New York City.

Since many Italian immigrants came to America with little money and were unskilled, they couldn’t earn enough wages to buy decent housing. The unwanted tenements that were abandoned by the Irish were their only options. These places were almost always cramped and poor quality.

Beyond their poor housing, the neighborhoods these buildings were in were plagued with crime. Soon, a stereotype began that Italians were criminals and belonged to the Mafia. In response to this, New York City enacted an Italian police division to investigate crime, pursue extortion threats, and expose possible ties to criminals in Sicily.

Besides some Italians working in this police division, other immigrants worked for the sanitation department or became musicians, barbers, shoemakers, masons, waiters, teamsters, and bartenders. As industries grew, so did union organization. Whenever a strike was led in any business, the Italians were called upon to break the strikes and replace the workers. Since the women were only expected to marry, raise children, and care for the home, the annual incomes for the Italians became the lowest in the city. After the boom of the garment industry in 1905, almost 85 percent of Italian women were working in garment related jobs.

As time moved on, the Italians moved upwards in the workforce. Many children of immigrants who could speak English and had some schooling were likely to find white collar work. The second generation would probably have found even more skilled jobs if the Italian parents weren’t so distrustful of the city’s public schools. Most Italian parents saw their children as wage-earners rather than as students.

Towards the beginning of World War I, an Italian middle-class had emerged. Italians were now bankers, real estate promoters, newspaper editors and publishers, white collar workers, shop owners, importers, owners of large barber shops, musicians, lawyers, and doctors. By making some money, they bought property and moved to better housing.

After integrating into American society a bit more, the Italians started to get involved politically. To go against the Irish who were predominantly Democrat, many of the Italians became Republican. Other Italians joined the Socialist party and created socialist clubs such as Brooklyn’s Club Avanti.

Another problem with the Irish that the Italians had was that the Irish-run Catholic church in New York did not accommodate to the customs of the Italian Catholics. To prevent the Italian Catholics from converting to other religions, the Catholic church created fifty new churches served by Italian priests.

Overall, the upward mobility of some Italian immigrants, their growing affiliation with the Catholic church, the emergence of a second generation and political activity allowed for more assimilation into American culture.

Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York follows Amsterdam Vallon as he tries to establish himself in the Five Points while plotting his revenge against his father’s killer, Bill “The Butcher” Cutting. Even before Amsterdam was born, his father, Priest Vallon, and Bill were fighting over territorial control of the Five Points. At their final battle in 1846, it is clear to the viewers that the two are not so different despite how much they fight each other. Amsterdam slowly realizes this himself throughout the movie and becomes conflicted about his feelings towards Bill and who he really is as a person. Back in the Five Points, Amsterdam’s developing relationship to Bill complicates his loyalties to Priest Vallon, but by the end of the Draft Riots, the young man emerges as a bridge between the Irish and nativists and the symbol of a better future.

Before Amsterdam’s time, the racial tensions between the Irish immigrants and the nativists caused multiple clashes between the different gangs. Priest Vallon’s group, the Dead Rabbits, and the nativists were the two main gangs at the time and it is eluded to in the movie that they had multiple fights. The leaders of the gangs, Vallon and Bill, are actually very similar despite their differences. In addition to both of them being the heads of their respective parties, they both believed in the ‘old way’ of fighting. This way included organizing a battle and setting the terms of the fight beforehand. If they weren’t different religions, they would have probably worked together in controlling the Five Points. In reminiscing about Priest Vallon, Bill even says that they, “lived by the same principles [but only] faith divided us.” Going on, they both recognized Amsterdam as a son to them. Even though Amsterdam is the actual son of Priest Vallon, the viewers get the sense that Bill sees Amsterdam as a son he never had. Bill starts to think twice about the Irish as Amsterdam becomes closer to him. Due to Bill’s paternal treatment towards him, Amsterdam starts to see Bill as a respected, almost fatherly figure that complicates his duty to his late father.

Although they fought a lot, Priest Vallon and Bill respected each other. Bill actually recognizes Priest Vallon as the, “best beating he’s ever received.” Bill’s respect for Vallon is demonstrated further in the first battle scene of the movie after he kills Vallon where he commands no one to touch the dead body. Every year, Bill commemorates the death of Priest Vallon by holding a celebration. In Bill’s own way, this is the highest respect he can give to a man other than himself. In fact, he doesn’t recognize someone that much until Amsterdam comes into his life.

When Amsterdam first meets Bill, he is immediately regarded for his bravery in saving his friend. The connection that they build is already established from the first encounter. Momentarily forgetting the hatred that he had towards Bill for killing his father, Amsterdam starts to see Bill as a second fatherly figure when he takes him as an apprentice. Bill trains the young boy in skinning and killing while looking after him in social settings. Amsterdam knows that what he is doing is wrong and is conflicted throughout the movie about betraying his father’s will to “never look away.” To express his confliction, he tries to justify how living, “under the wing of a dragon [is] warmer than you think.” It doesn’t help Amsterdam’s conflicted feelings when Bill treats him with such warmth like he would to a son. This relationship proves that the Irish versus nativist tensions were somewhat dying and paving a way for a better future.

Due to his confusing path of loyalty to either Priest Vallon or Bill, Amsterdam doesn’t take revenge on Bill at first. After getting to know him a bit, the young boy starts to see that Bill does really run the Five Points and even the Irish are either working for him or having somewhat civil relations with him. If Amsterdam were to kill him right away without establishing himself back into the community first, he would be disrupting a system that’s been in place for many years. After becoming Bill’s apprentice, Amsterdam sees the glamorous life that a man in power lives and gets pulled into the ring of the nativists. After living the lives of both an Irish immigrant and of a nativist, he breaks down in confusion and frustration of why there should be such sectional differences between the two divisions.

Due to Amsterdam being shown and invited into the world of the nativists, he starts to sympathize with Bill and even tries to save him from a bullet in one instance. Amsterdam starts to see Bill as a fatherly figure and asks for advice and even permission at times. His feelings about killing Bill gradually change from a genuine want to kill him to more of a necessity to kill him to get revenge for his father. According to the laws of the gang, it was only right and fair that Amsterdam kill Bill to set things straight.

After the Draft Riots ended and Bill was killed by Amsterdam, the Five Points became an area where everyone had more of an equal opportunity for power and money. There was no longer a ruler of a gang to lead the area and the future was near. Amsterdam made the future of Irish and nativist equality a reality by destroying the main person in power with the old ideas of inequality. Even though he may have lost a second fatherly figure in his life, he did what he had to do for the entire Irish race.

The ending of the movie Gangs of New York creates a montage of the growing New York City where everyone of any race or religion has an equal shot at happiness. The parallels between Priest Vallon and Bill demonstrate early on in the film that Irish and nativist respect can be achieved if one looks past one’s religion or differences. The similarities between the two confuse Amsterdam on whether to continue his revenge for his father or continue to build a relationship with Bill. Although many Irish shamed Amsterdam for going around with Bill, he couldn’t help but feel a deep respect for him. Throughout the whole movie Scorsese put hints of a changing society in it but it wasn’t until the end that the viewers truly see the change that has occurred.