Italian American Families in the Bay Area
The Italian American community is present and accepted in American society today. However, it was a long journey for the immigrants to gain the respect they deserved. They made the arduous journey to America for the chance at a better life and they were met with many difficult challenges when they arrived. It took great resilience to establish their names in the New World. The Pellerano and Giannini families had great impacts on the community and greatly helped the progression toward their acceptance on the West Coast. Both families, with courage and perseverance, paved the way for the success of the Italian American community as a whole.
The experience of traveling over from Italy to the U.S. was treacherous and very tasking for immigrants. Many times, the men came over and tried to make a life for their wives and families before they told them to endure the journey. Not only was the journey one of great stress and pain but once they arrived in the country, they were faced with great discrimination against their whole community. The immigration experience was by no means easy or pleasant, but the immigrants were willing to go through it just for the chance of a better life. Some people had better luck than others, depending on connections, locations, and just overall drive to make a better life in the New World. Some families stayed along the east coast closer to the main ports of immigration, which were New York and New Orleans. Some were willing to take even more of a risk and move West at the time of the Gold Rush. Today, both the West and the East Coast still have strong Italian American roots and communities. In his book, Guarding the Gates, Michael C. LeMay writes, “They were lured to California by the Gold Rush, but instead of mining, most became wine growers, vegetable farmers, and merchants, giving rise to the Italian American folklore that ‘the miners mined the mines, but the Italians mined the miners”. This emphasizes that the Italians wanted to make way for their success and they were willing to put in the work to get there.
Two of the most successful families to travel to the West Coast and make a name for themselves were the Pellerano Family and the Giannini Family. Both of these families had great impacts on the Bay Area and greatly represented the Italian American community. These families are also partly responsible for the Bank of Italy, now renamed as the Bank of America. If it weren’t for families like the Pellerano and Giannini Families, the Italian Americans would not have as great of a presence on the West Coast, specifically the Bay Area.
If it were not for the courage and strength of the Italian American families to make their way to the Bay Area, there would not have been such success for the Italian American community in this area. Families like the Pellerano Family and the Giannini Family helped to establish a strong community in the San Francisco area and inspired more Italians to come over to the New World. Their success was a sign of their great efforts and resilience against great difficulties such as the discrimination of Italians and women in places of work and education. The Bank of Italy was a significant sign of the willingness of Italians to help others in their communities and have overall success in a society that was not open to their achievements.
Credit: Sofia Recupero