Migrants in a New Land

Between 1820 and 1870 around twenty-five thousand Italians immigrated from Northern Italy to the United States, kickstarting the revolution that would change both Italy and America forever. Between 1880 and 1924, more than four million Italians, mostly from Southern Italy and Sicily, immigrated to the United States, settling across the country from shore to shore. Between 1900 and 1910 alone, over two million migrants boarded ships to make the voyage to America. Many arrived in the United States in New York, arriving through Ellis Island, and didn’t have enough money to keep going and decided to settle there. However, a relatively small group decided to keep going and pushed all the way to California. Once there, they formed communities in their new land and performed many different agricultural and entrepreneurial jobs. They spoke different languages, were accustomed to a completely different culture and were looked at by the majority as inferior. Because of this, they struggled to assimilate and were often only ever around their own people. Slowly but surely, they concreted their identities and purpose in their new land and started to achieve more success. Throughout this exhibit, our group will fulfill the class diversity objectives by talking mostly about Italians in California, and the agricultural and entrepreneurial jobs they occupied while they tried to overcome the inequity and injustice they faced on a daily basis. We will also address their relations with other migrant groups, and how their culture has evolved as they’ve assimilated more and more into American culture. 

Credits

By Dominic Baciocco and Jett Little