The departure, the journey on the steamship, the arrival in the other world. The awe in front of the skyscrapers, the hard work, the daily sacrifice. Little Italy reassembled in mutual aid societies, the white, red and green cockade pinned on the lapel of the jacket. Racism and the Black Hand. Fascism, anti-fascism. Integration and new citizens wit...
READ MOREAn important meeting was held in recent days at the Ellis Island Museum of Immigration as NY between the symbols of Italian-American emigration: the MU.MA and the MEI, with the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation. This is a further step in the international collaboration between these prestigious institutions that will lead to the creation in...
READ MOREIn 1890, a Select Committee of Congressmen decided to replace Castle Garden, an immigration depot run by the State of New York, with a federally managed facility. Liberty Island, with its beloved Statue, seemed the perfect place for it. Why, then, was the depot put on Ellis Island instead? In the 1880s, Italian immigration to the US grew rapidly, a...
READ MORENew York’s Ellis Island Museum pays tribute to the millions of emigrants who sailed into New York harbor in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in search of a better life. The largest group of soon-to-be expats came from Italy; their exodus created one the greatest diasporas in human history. A recently opened museum in Genoa, MEI (the National...
READ MOREThe City of Salerno, with the support of the Presidency of the Campania Region and Scabec, with the extraordinary collaboration of Ellis and Statue of Liberty Island Foundation, the Consulate General of Italy in New York and Slideworld, will implement the project SLIDEDOOR: The World Needs a Door. Beginning December 21, 2021 and ending June 21, 202...
READ MOREOver the last few months in this column, we have been exploring our Italian heritage from the perspective of our ancestors’ life experiences beginning in Italy and culminating with their arrival in America. In June we imagined what our ancestors’ transatlantic journey was like. In this final segment of the series, we will examine the immigrants’ ex...
READ MOREOne of the most wonderful things about the exceptional tradition that unites all those who have built the history of the Italian American community over many decades is the solidarity, generosity, and brotherhood that has allowed so many Italian Americans to survive and grow in very difficult conditions, thanks to the help of other fellow Italians...
READ MOREThese are difficult times for Italian Americans, but maybe they always have been. Ever since they arrived, Italians who emigrated to America have very often been treated with contempt, and have worked very hard to earn the respect that is due to them, sacrificing their lives, giving hard work and talent and beauty and excellence to the United State...
READ MOREMuch has been written on the topic of Italian emigration to America in the 19th and 20th centuries. The experiences of the Italians who immigrated as part of earlier mass migrations waves have been well documented, especially those of Italian men. Yet, scholarly literature has paid significantly less attention to the experiences of Italian women, a...
READ MORECesare "Ches" Agusto Di Marzio storico testimone della nostra emigrazione. La raccontò per l'American Museum of Immigration di "Ellis Island". Lesse e scrisse, per i nostri emigranti, migliaia di lettere da e per l'Italia. Raccolse le lettere dei soldati italo-americani impegnati nella Seconda Guerra Mondiale. Era nato a Cappelle sul Tavo, in prov...
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