By 1900 America was in the midst of a Second Industrial Revolution, and almost every industry was transformed. In the first 2 decades, over 3 million Southern Italian immigrants came through Ellis Island. My grand parents also came through Ellis Island, I believe in 1909. But my personal history is for another post. Coming to America to earn a living came at a high cost. Some traveled back and forth across the Atlantic multiple times. The trip across the Atlantic was an 11 day trip and they never planned on staying in America. They were known as "birds of passage". They were the lowest hierarchy of the working class and treated very poorly. At times given jobs that cost them their lives, jobs that would never be given to people today. Another part of history that I won't go into depth is the Secret Italian Society known as the Mafia. The name Mafia first started appearing in newspapers in the 1890's, in New Orleans, Louisiana.
LITTLE ITALY
Little Italy, Manhattan, was a busy place in those early days, filled with immigrants, merchants, push carts, and everyone speaking Italian - streets teaming with people. It was originally the Mulberry District, formerly home to Irish immigrants.
De Palos Market is one of the oldest markets in Little Italy and opened over 100 years ago. They make mozzarella cheese, with imported salt from the Sicilian Mediterranean. One place I want to visit when I go to New York! Other little Italys popped up in East Harlem, Chicago, New Orleans, and Boston, and the rest of the country. Italian immigrants were re-creating Southern Italian society. Their need for a close knit family and privacy is easily understood once we hear what most of them went through.
Part 4 next week.
Good night and God Bless! Aleta
"Family is not an important thing, it's everything." Michael J. Fox - actor
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