Lori Nolen
LITR 4333 American Immigrant Literature
November 20, 2003 

Italian Americans

Introduction

I approached this research project as a quest to enhance my knowledge of Italian Americans.  Information about other ethnic groups has been available and easily accessible to me through novels and short stories, association, and proximity.  As a Texan, aspects of Mexican culture blended into daily life.  Houston offers access to learn about Vietnamese Americans.  Growing up in Dickinson afforded me the opportunity to learn about Indian Americans and a few others.  However, my knowledge of Italian Americans has not extended beyond the images on film and television or a few real people in my community who did not exhibit any of those stereotypical characteristics.  For the specifics of this research, I chose to examine the immigration patterns of the Italian Americans, the stereotypes of the people and culture, and the Italian influence in the development of Dickinson, Texas.   Through my research, I expanded into other aspects of Italian Americans that are incorporated into the chosen areas of study.

History of Italy

To fully understand the reasons for the flood of Italian immigrants during the “new immigration” at the end of the 1800’s, the history of Italy must be examined.   At the fall of the French rule over Italy, The Congress of Vienna (1814-15) divided what we know as Italy into eight principalities.  Austria, the Bourbons (of Spanish decent), and the papacy ruled over some of these principalities.  Piedmont and Sardinia were the only two areas not under foreign rule.  This distribution of foreign power began a movement for unification by the Italians, known as the Risorgimento (Uprising). 

The Risorgimento began in the northern part of Italy where, traditionally, the wealthy and the educated lived.  The southern region consisted of peasant farmers with a high level of illiteracy and lack of education.  Between 1815 and 1860, several revolutions were attempted, but none were successful until 1860.  Giuseppe Garibaldi decided on Sicily as the initial invasion point.  He gathered middle-class men from the north to follow him into battle with the Sicilians to overthrow the Bourbons.  Garibaldi had his men wear red shirts to serve as their uniform.  The Sicilians initially greeted Garibaldi and the “red shirts” with open arms and joined in to support the mission.  However, once the Bourbons were overthrown, the Sicilians began to take out their repression of years of oppression and began to massacre the gentry, their landlords. 

Since there was a geographical distance as well as an economic distance between northern and southern Italy, Garibaldi had not anticipated this reaction by the Sicilian people.  Garibaldi gave strict laws to establish order, such as requiring all Sicilians to turn in their weapons within a three hour time period or face fatal consequences.  Many Sicilians were killed as a result of these commands of keeping order, but Italy was finally unified. 

Unification came with other severe consequences for the Sicilians.  Before the unification, Sicily had low taxes, but after 1861, Sicily “lost its autonomy, taxes leaped up, and by 1865 the loss of industrial protection (the lower tariffs of Piedmont were extended nationwide) had forced the closure of many factories”  (Richards 99).  This drove the Sicilians into further despair.  They had helped to liberate the region from control of the Bourbons only to suffer more under the agenda of northern Italy.  With lack of income, food, and true independence, Sicilians began a mass emigration in the 1880’s.  

Immigrating to America

Living conditions in the southern part of Italy continued to decline after 1861.  Increased deforestation contributed to the rampant spreading of malaria.  Italy was “the most malarial area in all of Europe” (Mangione 76).  With the deforestation of the land, rain and melted snow was not absorbed into the soil, leaving pools of stagnant water.  This served as a major breeding ground for mosquitoes and skyrocketed the cases of malaria.  By 1904, “malaria killed at least twenty thousand persons annually” (Mangione 76).  Disease, hunger, and lack of work eventually led Italians to decide to leave their homeland. 

Between 1881 and 1920, over 4 million Italians immigrated to America.  Most of these Italian immigrants were Sicilian.  According to the United States government’s records for immigration, Italy led the number of immigrants from 1891-1910.  Over two million Italians came to America during the first decade of the 20^th century.  Ten years before the number was just over 650,000.

Defining the Italian American

Before the mass immigration, Americans did not have the negative connotation of Italians that developed later.  America’s early history includes the immigration of Italian adventurers.  After all, America was discovered by an Italian and named after an Italian.  For the most part, Americans viewed Italians as artisans, skilled laborers, and refugees.  Most were from the northern regions of Italy, and they were educated.  During the latter part of the 19^th century, this perception of Italians began to change.  Immigrating southern Italians were mostly uneducated and lacked specialized skills.  Italy had the highest number of immigrants during this time, so they were obvious targets for blame for America’s economic problems, just as the Irish were before them.  Contributing to this was the northern Italians attitude that their southern counterparts were inferior.  These factors created the myth that Sicilians were ruthless, dirty people who were unwilling to assimilate into American life.        

Addressing the Italian American Stereotypes

When asked what they know about Italian Americans, most other American cultures will offer a response including the mafia and pasta.  These two thoughts extend to macho men of lower intelligence, controlling mothers always in the kitchen, thick Brooklyn accents, and Catholicism.  This part of the journal will break down and explore several of the most common stereotypes associated with Italian Americans.

Most often, landlords did not live near their farming land.  These landlords often hired people to oversee the workings of the property.  Many of these gabelloti, or overseers, who managed the properties began to misuse their power.  They hired the “tough, fiery” mafiosi to collect money and intimidate farmers into their own contracts (Magione 51).  The mafiosi followed the orders of the gabelloti. This muscle man and social role was exploited by the new government in order to justify its policies for economic development which mostly benefited the north. 

According to La Storia, “statistics show that the Italian immigrants involved in American racketeering were few compared to the sons of immigrants who were assimilated into American criminal life.”  At the time of the arrival of the two million Italian immigrants, a gang nation already existed in New York and parts of the United States.  The book Gangs of New York by Herbert Asbury, made into a movie in 2002, depicts the story and history of The Five Points gangs in New York City around 1850.  These gangs were not of Italian decent.  The American natives (earlier American immigrants) and the Irish were in constant battle, largely because of economics and religious beliefs.  The Irish were mostly Catholic and the American natives were of Protestant ancestors who came to the America to escape the corruption of Catholicism.  

William Tweed was the head of the crime organization of The Five Points.  By all counts, he personifies the characteristics associated with the Mafia leaders.  He was physically large and intimidating, devoted to family, tightly connected to the political authorities, and head of a highly organized crime ring.  Given only the description, the common American would assume this description fitting to a leader in the Italian American Mafia.  Once assimilated into this American organized crime world, Italian gangsters and groups emerged.  However, these organizations did not limit membership to Italians and family.  Other ethnic groups were members of the Mafia.  The idea of familial ties and nepotism belongs to William Tweed’s reign.

Film plays an important role in the continual stereotyping of Italian Americans.  Stories of the Mafia and gangster life continue to be a focus of cinema and popular television series.  However, another male stereotype for Italian Americans is that of someone of lower intelligence.  Whether it stems from the superior attitude of the northern, educated Italians, the muscle men of Sicily, the Italian immigrant’s lack of specialized skills, or the lack of command of the English language easily available to previous Irish immigrants, a stereotype of the dumb Italian still has a strong existence in modern media.  There is the gangster’s bodyguard who seems to have an abundance of brawn and not brain.  There is the Rocky, whose muscle, heart, and determination made up for lack of sharp wit.    Then there is the most recent example in Joey from the television show “Friends”.  Joey is devoted to his family and friends.  He is a macho man who can woo countless women with his Brooklyn accented one-liner, “how you doin’.”  However, his display of ignorance is continually the punch line to many jokes on the show.  Although America adores him because he is kind hearted, this undermines the educated Italians and continues the stereotype created by the northern Italian so long ago.  

Italian American women are not exempt from stereotyping.  Mary Ann McDonald Carolan’s article “Italian American Women as Comic Foils:  Exploding the Stereotype in My Cousin Vinny, Moonstruck, and Married to the Mob” uses the noted films to perfectly describe the stereotypical Italian American female.  An obsession with “big hair, pantsuits, lots of gold jewelry, a Brooklyn accent, and stiletto heels” defines the younger Italian American females in film.  Another part of this stereotype is the submission to the Italian American males.  Although the character in My Cousin Vinny saves the day for her boyfriend, she must endure his reaction to injured pride.  The main female character in Married to the Mob spends the entire moving trying to escape Italian American Mafia’s male dominance.   Moonstruck’s lead female does not follow the traditional flashy outer appearance and wins love on her terms.

Older Italian American females are seen as the mother always in the kitchen cooking.  She is an overbearing force constantly meddling in her children’s affairs.  No better example of this is Ray Romano’s mother on the television show, “Everybody Loves Raymond.”  These women are often the glue to keeping Old World traditions and extended families from growing apart.

These stereotypes overlook the real Italian American female.  Many Italian American women are involved with legislation from the local to the national level.  The first female candidate for Vice President was Italian American.  However, these real accomplishments are often forgotten behind the comical media image.

The Italian Influence on Dickinson, Texas

John Dickinson acquired land in Texas in 1824.  He died shortly after and the land was sold to Stephen F. Austin.  By the 1850’s, Dickinson was an established community. 

Italians were migrating to Texas before the 1800’s.  The first recorded Italian in Texas was Vicente Michele, a fur trader, who settled in Nacogdoches in 1793.  He eventually settled in San Antonio where in died in 1848.  By the 1830’s, more Italians had settled in Texas and even served as soldiers on both sides of the battle for Texas’ independence.  While many Sicilians were settling in the Brazos Valley areas, it was mostly the “Piedmontese who were brought to Dickinson by the Stewart Title Company” (Belfiglio 88).  However, it was Clemente Nicolini, who was most influential in the growth of the Italian community in Dickinson.  A former sea captain, he was appointed as consular agent for Galveston by the Italian government.  He lead many Italian Americans to settle in the area, buying land at rather low prices.  Dickinson “shipped tens of thousands of cases of strawberries in refrigerated boxcars to markets throughout the Midwest during 1900-1920.  Figs were also a large crop.  Eventually the large crops diminished as a result of Rio Grande valley undercutting (UTSA 22-23). 

The prosperous and influential families who contributed to the development of Dickinson were the Terminis, Magliolo, and Liggios, and Tamborellos.  Francesco Termini, a grocer, helped develop the business community.  Andrea Magliolo had 4 sons who became doctors in Dickinson and the surrounding areas.  Leo Liggio opened the first movie house in Dickinson.  Frank Tamborello was “one of the largest producers of sand and gravel in Texas” (Belfiglio 90).  Decendents of these families instrumental in the development of Dickinson still reside there today, and many streets in the town are named after these families as well as other Italian American families. 

Italian American Literature

As noted in the stereotype section, most Americans know only of literature reflecting the Mafia.  Other writers choosing different topics of their ethnicity find themselves being pushed aside for the gangster fantasy. Felicia Lee’s article, “Italian Stories” discusses the problem of the constant showing of “vulgar Italian-Americans wolfing down pasta and working for the Mafia.”  People well know Mario Puzo’s The Godfather, but working-class people do not receive the same recognition.  In the article, Robert Viscusi, who won the Americn Book Award in 1996 for “Astoria” and the head of the Italian Writers Association believes that American popular culture is based on “easily recognizable types.”  This is the biggest problem facing today’s writers, as they are often caught in the trap of the narrow view of Italian Americans, forcing them to write about urban life, the mob, food or opera if they want to achieve notice within the popular culture.

During my research, I found the book La Storia by Jerre Mangione and Ben Morreale.  This book was instrumental in telling the history of Italian Americans. The desire to tell the history correctly with the touch of a literary artist’s hands pulls you in to read it not as a history book, but as a narrative for each Italian American.    He expands from the history to the cultural influences.  He recognizes the accomplishments and abilities of other Italian American writers, such as Puzo, playwright Albert Innaurato, and poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, who published Allen Ginsberg’s best-known poetry book Howl, which made him an American icon.  I also read Thomas Belmonte’s, “The Ccontradictions of Italian American Identity:  An Anthropologist’s Personal View” which gives a wonderful look into Italian American identity and culture.

Conclusion

This journal has afforded me the opportunity to learn about Italian Americans.  The research led me to discover aspects to their experience of which I had no previous knowledge.  Italian American writers do not receive the attention and credit that other ethnic and immigrant groups have attained.  Behind the glorified negative stereotypes are writers who have a wonderful ability to tell a story.  The Italian American citizens contribute to the development of cities and the nation.  The early Italian adventurers set sail to the new land that came to be known as America.  The few Italian Americans I have known through school or work I have always considered as extremely kind and devoted, in juxtaposition of the popular stereotypes.  With this project I discovered that these people are not the assimilated minority, but the actual example of the Italian American.

Works Cited

Belfiglio, Valentine J. Italian Experience in Texas:  A Closer Look. Austin: Eakin Press, 1995.

Carolan, Mary Ann McDonald. “Italian American Women as Comic Foils:  Exploding the Stereotype in My Cousin Vinny, Moonstruck, and Married to the Mob”. 2002. Lit: Literature Interpretation Theory. 13(2):155-66. 2002.

Mangione, Jerre and Ben Morreale. La Storia: Five Centuries of the Italian American Experience. New York: HarperCollins, 1992.

Richards, David A. J. Italian American:  The Racializing of an Ethnic Identity. New York: New York University Press, 1999.

The University of Texas at San Antonio.  The Texians and the Texans:  The Italian Texans. San Antonio:  The Encino Press, 1973.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. “The Immigration By Region and Selected Country of Last Residence:  Fiscal Years 1820-2002”.  Fiscal Year 1998 Statistical Yearbook, 1998. http://uscis.gov/graphics/index.htm.