Greg Antonelli – 3/15/11

Italian immigration into Manhattan was very interesting to read about, especially as an Italian-American. Unlike ToniAnn, however, my family is not as tightly-knit. My immediate family gets along pretty well, but my extended family is not as close as other families I’ve seen who have not been in America as long as mine. That’s interesting to me because from the reading, it seemed like the idea of the domus, and rispetto, and a religious emphasis on family bond, was meant to slow or stop Americanization and keep a level of importance placed on the values of their country. I have Italian-American friends, and some have families that immigrated recently, and some, like me, have families that have been here for a while. It’s easy to see that the longer the family has been here the more broken down the idea of the domus is. I would say that over time, from generation to generation, Americanization is inevitable.
In this era where the idea of the domus “governed” Italian-Harlem, it was really easy for Italian immigrants to feel comfortable in this areas because it maintained the ideals of their home country. Immigrants in East Harlem reminisced about Italy, while their children reminisced about East Harlem when they grew up. While this area wasn’t without it’s crime and grit, the Italians spread the idea of family throughout the immigrant population in Italian-Harlem. This helped reduce the cut-throat, every man for himself feeling of places like the Five Points. Also with the deep religious connection like the one surrounding the celebration of The Madonna it was one less thing for people of this community to argue about.