di Dominic Campanile

When southern Italians arrived in America , they came to start over. They realized that the language was going to be totally different from their own native language, but there were many things they had not expected. They were taken by surprise on many accounts. They were amazed by the large, busy, city streets which they were not used to, compared to the small, quiet roads of their towns and villages. Also, a financial problem that aroused was that there were no numbers on the American coins. Often, Italians and other immigrants alike were cheated out of those few precious cents that supported the family by American storeowners. And because of this, many Italian immigrants obligated themselves to move into neighborhoods where other Italians lived, owned stores, so they could communicate with each other. A result of this was that Italians from one specific region was forced to live with Italians from other regions, a custom they had avoided for many years. Other Italians, on the other hand, moved to urban territories where jobs were waiting to be filled and speaking the English language was not required. Some of these jobs were in the construction field, such as erecting buildings, laying down cables and railroad tracks, digging tunnels for subway systems and paving streets. In return, Italians helped build some of the greatest standing monuments in the United States such as the extensive New York City subway system and one of the greatest bridges ever built, the Brooklyn Bridge . Many Italian immigrants settled in some of the worst slums of New York City , such as the Mulberry Bend and the notorious Hells Kitchen. The greedy landlords overcharged their apartment’s rents. Also, the poor immigrants that lived in these horrendous apartments were forced to buy there own coal for the stove in the kitchen, which was in fact the only heat generator in the entire house, and also to buy the ice for the icebox. These places were only given cold water so a hot bath or shower wasn’t possible in the wintertime. Although these places were poorly maintained, the children never realized that they were living in a slum. They did this by inventing new street games to enjoy with the neighborhood kids. They played all sorts of games using the living space around them. They even used the fire escape in the back of their buildings as a jungle gym. On hot summer nights, Italian families had other expectations for their fire escapes. Immigrants in all big cities around the United States would turn this fire escape into a family bedroom. They did this because of the intensive heat in the house. But although living conditions for these families were terrible, and their wages were extremely low, Italian immigrants struggled through it and eventually paved the way for future Italian Americans who would set new standards for America and its history.

IDEA DICEMBRE 2001