An
Italian American ( singular, plural) is an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
of Italian ancestry, and/or may also refer to someone possessing Italian/American dual citizenship. Italian Americans are the fourth largest European ethnic group in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
History
The term "America" is derived from the Italian first name Amerigo, after the Italian cartographer and explorer
Amerigo VespucciAmerigo Vespucci was an Italian explorer, navigator and cartographer. The continent of America is popularly believed to have derived its name from the feminized Latin version of his first name .-Expeditions:Amerigo Vespucci was born and brought up by his uncle in the Republic of Florence in what is...
. Vespucci is credited with proving that Columbus' islands of the New World were in fact a new continent. In 1507,
Martin WaldseemüllerMartin Waldseemüller was a German cartographer. He and Matthias Ringmann are credited with the first recorded usage of the word America, on the 1507 map Universalis Cosmographia in honor of the Florentine explorer Amerigo Vespucci.- Life :Waldseemüller was born in Freiburg in Breisgau Martin...
created a map naming the new continent after Amerigo Vespucci.
The Italian Giovanni da Verrazzano was the first European explorer to pass
New York HarborNew York Harbor, a geographic term, refers collectively to the rivers, bays, and tidal estuaries near the mouth of the Hudson River in the vicinity of New York City. This is sometimes construed in the sense "the ports of New York and New Jersey"...
. The first Italian to live in what is now the United States was Pietro Cesare Alberti, a Venetian sailor, who settled in New York on June 2, 1635. Other Italians played an important role in early United States history, as Filippo Mazzei, an important Italian physician and a promoter of liberty, close friend of
Thomas JeffersonThomas Jefferson was the third President of the United States , the principal author of the Declaration of Independence , and one of the most influential Founding Fathers for his promotion of the ideals of republicanism in the United States...
. He acted as an agent to purchase arms for Virginia during the American Revolutionary War. Throughout the 1800s, Italians arrived in the US in small numbers. Most immigration from Italy occurred in the late 19th and 20th centuries between 1880 and 1924, but more specifically, 1900 and 1914. The Johnson Reed act which had been established in 1924 had put heavy limitations on southern and eastern European immigrants. Most Italian Americans came from Southern Italy, including
SicilySicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is an autonomous region of Italy. Several much smaller islands surrounding it are considered to be part of Sicily....
. Most were from rural places and had little education. Smaller but significant numbers came from the northern regions of
LiguriaLiguria is a coastal region of north-western Italy, the third smallest of the Italian regions. Its capital is Genoa. It is a popular region with tourists for its beautiful beaches, picturesque little towns, and food.- Geography :...
and
VenetoVeneto , is one of the 20 regions of Italy. Its population is about 4.8 million, and its capital is Venice....
.
From 1890 to 1900, 655,888 immigrants arrived in the United States, of which two-thirds were men. The main reasons for Italian immigration were the poor economic conditions in Italy during this period, particularly in the southern regions. In the United States, Italians settled in and dominated specific neighborhoods (often called "
Little ItalyLittle Italy is a general name for an ethnic enclave populated primarily by Italians or people of Italian ancestry, usually in an urban neighborhood.-Canada:*Little Italy, Calgary, in Alberta*Little Italy, Edmonton, in Alberta...
"), where they could interact with one another, establish a familiar cultural presence, and find favorite foods. Many Italian immigrants arrived with little cash or cultural capital (that is, they were not educated) since most had been peasant farmers in Italy, they lacked craft skills and, therefore, generally performed manual labor. Civic and social life flourished in Italian-American neighborhoods, with many people belonging to
hometown societiesA Hometown society is a society of immigrants from the same town or region. These aid organizations were established to deal with social, economic, and cultural problems, and provided a social framework for mutual assistance. Among the most common activities was the provision of insurance...
.
Chain migrationChain migration has two meanings. It refers to the social process by which immigrants from a particular town follow others from that town to a particular city or neighborhood, whether in an immigrant receiving country or in a new, usually urban, location in the home country...
that brought many people from a particular town or region to the same American neighborhood meant that even new immigrants had extensive social networks which helped in the adjustment to America. Many Italians arrived in the United States hoping to earn enough money to return home and set themselves up in a business or with a farm. Among immigrant groups to America, Italians had the highest rate of returning to the old country. Their neighborhoods were typically older areas with overcrowded
tenementsA regular house, Apartment house, Apartment block, Block of flats, or Tenement, is a multi-unit dwelling made up of several apartments , or flats...
and poor
sanitationSanitation is the hygienic means of promoting health through prevention of human contact with the hazards of wastes. Hazards can be either physical, microbiological, biological or chemical agents of disease. Wastes that can cause health problems are human and animal feces, solid wastes, domestic...
.
TuberculosisTuberculosis is a common and often deadly infectious disease caused by mycobacteria...
was rampant. Italian immigration peaked from 1900 until 1914, when
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
made such intercontinental movement impossible. In some areas, Italian immigrants met anti-Roman Catholic and anti-immigrant discrimination, and even violence such as
lynchingLynching is an extrajudicial punishment meted by a mob, usually by hanging. It is an enumerated felony in all states of the United States, defined by some codes of law as "Any act of violence inflicted by a mob upon the body of another person which results in the death of the person," with a 'mob'...
.
The Congress passed the
Emergency Quota ActIn the United States, the Emergency Quota Act also know as the Emergency immigration Act of 1921, of May 19, 1921 was an immigration quota that limited the annual number of immigrants who could be admitted from any country to 3% of the number of persons from that country living in the United...
in 1921, followed by the
Immigration Act of 1924The Immigration Act of 1924, or Johnson-Reed Act, including the National Origins Act, Asian Exclusion Act, was a United States federal law that limited the number of immigrants who could be admitted from any country to 2% of the number of people from that country who were already living in the...
. The Immigration Act of 1924 was aimed at further restricting the Southern and Eastern Europeans, especially Jews, Italians and Slavs, who had begun to enter the country in large numbers beginning in the 1890s. In the ten years following 1900, about 200,000 Italians immigrated annually. With the imposition of the 1924 quota, 4,000 per year were allowed.
It's estimated that two million Italian immigrants arrived between 1900 and 1914. About a third of these immigrants intended to stay only briefly, in order to make money and return to Italy. They were commonly referred to as "Birds of Passage." While one in four did return home, the rest either decided to stay or were prevented from returning by the war.
Internment during World War II
The internment of Italian Americans during
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
was often overshadowed by the more severe
Japanese AmericanJapanese American internment refers to the forcible relocation and internment in 1942 of approximately 120,000 Japanese Americans and Japanese residing in the United States to housing facilities called "War Relocation Camps," in the wake of Imperial Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor. The internment of...
experience. Recently, however, books such as
Una storia segreta (ISBN 1-890771-40-6) by Lawrence DiStasi and
Uncivil Liberties (ISBN 1-58112-754-5) by Stephen Fox have been published, and movies, such as
Prisoners Among Us have been made. They showed that during World War II, roughly 600,000 Italians were required to carry identity cards that labeled them "resident aliens." Some 10,000 people in war zones on the
West Coast of the United StatesThe "West Coast", "Western Seaboard", or "Pacific Coastline" are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the United States. It most often comprises California, Oregon and Washington...
were required to move inland, while hundreds of others were held in military camps for up to two years. Lawrence DiStasi claims that these wartime restrictions and internments contributed more than anything else to the loss of spoken Italian in the United States. After Italy declared war on the U.S., the U.S. government forced many Italian-language papers and schools to close because of their past support for what was then an enemy government.
Involvement in World War II
During World War II, likewise to Japanese Americans and German Americans, despite some Italian Americans being mistreated, many
Italian-Americans served in the
U.S. armed forcesThe United States armed forces are the overall unified military forces of the United States.The history of the United States armed forces dates to 1775, even before the Declaration of Independence marked the establishment of the United States...
to fight the
Axis PowersThe Axis powers comprised the countries that were opposed to the Allies during World War II. The three major Axis powers—Germany, Italy, and Japan—were part of a military alliance on the signing of the Tripartite Pact in September 1940, which officially founded the Axis powers...
.
Numbers
In the 2000
U.S. CensusThe United States Census is a decennial census mandated by the United States Constitution. The population is enumerated every 10 years and the results are used to allocate Congressional seats , electoral votes, and government program funding...
, Italian Americans constituted the fifth largest ancestry group in America with about 15.6 million people (5.6% of the total U.S. population). Sicilian Americans are a subset of numerous Americans of regional Italian ancestries. As of 2006, the Italian-American population climbed to 17.8 million persons constituting 6 percent of the population.
According to the 2000 Census, 5.6% of the U.S. was Italian-American. The Census accounted for 15.6 million Italian-Americans out of 281 million Americans. However, the 2006 Census estimate has claimed there to be 17.8 million of approximately 299.4 million persons. Therefore, the Census has claimed that the 12.2% of U.S. population growth in between 2000 and 2006 was Italian-American, which is more than double what the population was in 2000. The U.S. Census has provided no explanation for this sudden increase.
This seems peculiarly questionable because there has been little to virtually no Italian immigration to the U.S. in recent years. To add to the questionability of the integrity of the U.S. Census, they've claimed the European-American population to continually be declining in percentage. The places where most Italian-Americans live (especially in the Northeast) are some of the most liberal and expensive parts of the country where the fertility rate is below national average.
Politics
In the 1930s, Italian Americans voted heavily
DemocraticThe Democratic Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. It is the oldest political party in continuous operation in the United States and it is one of the oldest parties in the world. In the U.S...
; since the 1960s, they have split about evenly between the Democratic (37%) and the
RepublicanThe Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the Grand Old Party or the GOP, despite being the younger of the two major parties. In the U.S...
(36%) parties. The
U.S. CongressThe United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States of America, consisting of two houses, the Senate and the House of Representatives. Both senators and representatives are chosen through direct election....
includes Italian Americans who are regarded as leaders in both the Republican and Democratic parties. The highest ranking Italian American politician is currently
Nancy PelosiNancy Patricia D'Alesandro Pelosi is the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. She is a member of the Democratic Party...
(D-CA) who became the first woman and Italian American
Speaker of the United States House of RepresentativesThe Speaker of the United States House of Representatives is the presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives. The current Speaker is Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat representing California's 8th congressional district....
, and former
RepublicanThe Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the Grand Old Party or the GOP, despite being the younger of the two major parties. In the U.S...
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
mayor
Rudy Giuliani| align="right"|Rudolph William Louis "Rudy" Giuliani is an American lawyer, businessman and politician from New York. He served as Mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001....
was a candidate for the U.S. presidency in the
2008 electionThe 56th quadrennial United States presidential election was held on November 4, 2008. Outgoing Republican President George W. Bush's policies and actions and the American public's desire for change were key issues throughout the campaign, and during the general election campaign, both major party...
, as was
ColoradoColorado is a U.S. state located in the Rocky Mountain region of the United States of America. It may also be considered to be part of the Western and Southwestern regions of the United States. Colorado entered statehood in 1876 and was nicknamed the “Centennial State”...
Congressman
Tom TancredoThomas Gerard Tancredo is a former Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from Colorado's 6th congressional district, and the current honorary chairman of Youth for Western Civilization....
.
Geraldine FerraroGeraldine Anne Ferraro is an American attorney, a Democratic Party politician and a former member of the United States House of Representatives. She was the first female Vice Presidential candidate representing a major American political party.Ferraro grew up in New York and became a teacher and...
was also a vice-presidential candidate in 1984. Two of the nine U.S. Supreme Court justices—
Antonin Scaliais an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was appointed in 1986 by President Ronald Reagan having previously served on the D.C. Circuit and in the Nixon and Ford administrations, and teaching law at the Universities of Virginia and Chicago...
and
Samuel AlitoSamuel Anthony Alito, Jr. is an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was appointed by President George W. Bush and has served on the court since January 31, 2006....
—are Italian-Americans, appointed by Republican Presidents. Both Italian-American Justices are considered to be key members of the conservative wing of the court, along with Clarence Thomas and Chief Justice John Roberts. Justice Alito was also mentioned in President George W. Bush's farewell address on January 15, 2009, in which Bush described him as being a very wise jurist. The new Second Lady,
Dr Jill Jacobs BidenJill Tracy Biden is an American educator and, as the wife of Vice President of the United States Joe Biden, is the Second Lady of the United States....
's father's family name was originally Giacoppa
http://www.style.com/vogue/feature/2008_Nov_Jill_Biden/.
Business and Economy
Italian-Americans have served an important role in the economy of the United States, and have founded companies of great national importance, such as Bank of America (by
Amadeo GianniniAmadeo Pietro Giannini , born in San Jose, California, was the Italian American founder of Bank of America.-Biography:Giannini's parents were Italian immigrants to the United States, originally from near Genoa, Liguria. He attended Heald College, in San Francisco, California...
in 1904), and companies that have contributed to the local culture and character of U.S. cities, such as
Petrini's MarketsThe Petrini's market chain was established in San Francisco and run as a family owned business until 1989, when it was sold to a large corporation, Provigo. The markets were widely known for having the finest meat in the San Francisco area, and the marketing strategies employed at the stores are...
(founded by Frank Petrini in 1935), among
many others. Italian-Americans have also made important contributions to the growth of the U.S. economy through their business expertise, such as the management of the
ChryslerChrysler Group, LLC is an American automobile manufacturer headquartered in the Detroit suburb of Auburn Hills, Michigan. Chrysler was first organized as the Chrysler Corporation in 1925. From 1998 to 2007, Chrysler and its subsidiaries were part of the German based DaimlerChrysler AG...
Corporation by
Lee IacoccaLido Anthony "Lee" Iacocca is an American businessman known for his revival of the Chrysler Corporation in the 1980s, serving as President and CEO from 1978 and additionally as chairman from 1979, until his retirement at the end of 1992. One of the most famous business people in the world, he was...
, and the creative innovations of
Martin ScorseseMartin Marcantonio Luciano Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. He is the founder of the World Cinema Foundation, a recipient of the AFI Life Achievement Award for his contributions to the cinema and has won awards from the Oscars, Golden Globe,...
for film companies such as
Columbia PicturesColumbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
and Warner Brothers.
Culture
Similarly to Italian descendants in other nations such as Brazil and Argentina, Italian Americans have assimilated into the mainstream American cultural identity. Italian-Americans trace several generations back in this country. Many have intermixed with other ethnic groups. They are well represented in all lines of work. Many Italian Americans still retain aspects of their
cultureCulture is a term that has different meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
. This includes
Italian food, drink,Italian American cuisine is the cuisine of Italian American immigrants and their descendents, who have modified Italian cuisine under the influence of American culture and immigration patterns of Italians to the United States...
art, annual Italian American feasts, and a strong commitment to extended family. Italian Americans influenced popular music in the 1940s and as recently in the 1970s, one of their major contributions to American culture.
Among the most characteristic and popular of Italian American cultural contributions has been their feasts. Throughout the United States, wherever one may find an "Italian neighborhood" (often referred to as 'Little Italy'), one can find festive celebrations such as the well known
Feast of San GennaroThe Feast of San Gennaro, originally a one-day religious commemoration, started when the first Feast in New York City took place September, 1926 when newly arrived immigrants from Naples settled along Mulberry Street in the Little Italy section of New York City to continue the tradition they had...
in
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
, the unique Our Lady of Mount Carmel "Giglio" Feast in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, New York, Italian feasts involve elaborate displays of devotion to God and
patron saintA patron saint is a saint who is regarded as the intercessor and advocate in heaven of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, or person. Patron saints, because they have already transcended to the metaphysical, are able to intercede effectively for the needs of their special charges...
s. On the weekend of the last Sunday in August, the residents of Boston's North End celebrate the "Feast of all Feasts" in honor of St. Anthony of Padua, which was started over 300 years ago in Montefalcione, Italy. Perhaps the most widely known is St. Joseph's feast day on March 19. These feasts are much more than simply isolated events within the year. Feast (
Festa in Italian) is an umbrella term for the various secular and religious, indoor and outdoor activities surrounding a religious holiday. Typically, Italian feasts consist of festive communal meals, religious services, games of chance and skill and elaborate outdoor processions consisting of statues resplendent in jewels and donations. This merriment usually takes place over the course of several days, and is communally prepared by a church community or a religious organization over the course of several months.
Currently, there are more than 300 Italian feasts celebrated throughout the United States. These feasts are visited each year by millions of Americans from various backgrounds who come together to enjoy Italian delicacies such as Zeppole and sausage sandwiches. Though in past, and still unto this day, much of Italian American culture is centered around music and food, in recent years, a large and growing group of Italian American authors are having success publishing and selling books in America.
Some of the authors who have written about everyday, hardworking Italians are Pietro DiDonato
http://www.ihrc.umn.edu/research/vitrage/all/da/ihrc541.html,
Lawrence FerlinghettiLawrence Ferlinghetti is an American poet, painter, liberal activist, and the co-founder of City Lights Booksellers & Publishers...
http://www.citylights.com/ferlinghetti/,
Dana GioiaMichael Dana Gioia is an American poet and critic who retired early from his career as a corporate executive at General Foods to write full-time...
http://www.danagioia.net/, Executive Director of the National Endowment for the Arts; Daniela Gioseffi
http://www.gioseffi.com/, Winner of the John Ciardi Award for Lifetime Achievement in Poetry, and
Helen BaroliniHelen Barolini is an American author, born in Syracuse, New York. She married Antonio Barolini, an Italian poet, and lives mainly in Italy.She has been included in Best American Essays for 1991 and 1993...
, author of
The Dream Book, a collection of Italian American women's writings. Both women are
American Book AwardThe American Book Award was established in 1978 by the Before Columbus Foundation. It seeks to recognize outstanding literary achievement by contemporary American authors, without restriction to race, sex, ethnic background, or genre...
winners
http://www.bookweb.org/news/awards/1293.html and pioneers of Italian American writing, as is poet, Maria Mazziotti Gillan
http://www.italianamericanwriters.com/Gillan.html. These women have authored many books depicting Italian American women in a new light. They, along with several other poets and writers, can be found at Italian American Writers
http://www.ItalianAmericanWriters.com/.
Among the scholars who have led the Renaissance in Italian American literature are professors Richard Gambino,
Anthony Julian TamburriAnthony Julian Tamburri is Dean of the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute of Queens College/CUNY and Professor of Italian & Italian/American Studies...
,
Paolo GiordanoPaolo Giordano is an Italian writer who won Italy's premier literary award, the Premio Strega, with his first novel The Solitude of Prime Numbers- Biography :...
, and Fred Gardaphe. The latter three founded Bordighera Press, Inc. and edited
From the Margin, An Anthology of Italian American Writing, Purdue University Press. These men along with professors like novelist and accomplished critic, Dr. Josephine Gattuso-Hendin of
New York UniversityNew York University is a private, nonsectarian, research university in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
, have taught Italian American studies far and wide, at such institutions as The
City University of New YorkThe City University of New York , is the public university system of New York City. It is the largest urban university in the United States, consisting of 23 institutions: 11 senior colleges, six community colleges, the William E...
, John D. Calandra Institute
http://www.qcpages.qc.cuny.edu/calandra/,
Queens College (CUNY)Queens College, located in Flushing, Queens, New York City, is one of the senior colleges of the City University of New York.-History and enrollment:...
, and Stony Brook University, as well as
Brooklyn CollegeBrooklyn College is a senior college of the City University of New York, located in Brooklyn, New York.Established in 1930 by the New York City Board of Higher Education, the College had its beginnings as the Downtown Brooklyn branches of Hunter College and the City College of New York...
, where Dr. Robert Viscusi, founded the Italian American Writers Association
http://www.iawa.net/, and is an author and American Book Award winner, himself.
As a result of the efforts of magazines like
VIA: Voices in Italian Americana, and
Italian Americana, and many authors old and young, too numerous to mention, as well as early immigrant, pioneer writers like poet, Emanuel Carnevali, "Furnished Rooms," and novelist, Pietro DiDonato, author of "Christ in Concrete " --Italian Americans are beginning to read more of their own writers. A growing number of books featuring ordinary, hardworking Italians—having nothing to do with criminality—are published yearly to confront the perceived television and Hollywood stereotyping of this ethnic group. (See "Stereotypes," below.) Famed authors like
Don DeLilloDon DeLillo is an American author whose work paints a detailed portrait of American life in the late 20th and early 21st centuries...
,
Gilbert SorrentinoGilbert Sorrentino was an American novelist, short story writer, poet, literary critic, and editor.In over twenty-five works of fiction and poetry, Sorrentino explored the comic and formal possibilities of language and literature...
, Lawrence Ferlinghetti,
Gay TaleseGay Talese is an American author. He wrote for The New York Times in the early 1960s and helped to define literary journalism or "new nonfiction reportage", also known as New Journalism...
,
John FanteJohn Fante was an American novelist, short story writer and screenwriter of Italian descent.-Life:Born in Denver, Colorado, Fante's early years were spent in relative poverty...
Tina DeRosa,
Kim AddonizioKim Addonizio is an award-winning American poet and novelist.-Life:She is the daughter of tennis champion Pauline Betz and grew up in Silver Spring, Maryland....
,
Daniela GioseffiDaniela Gioseffi is an American Book Award winning poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, performer, and editor of the not-for-profit literary website, PoetsUSA, as well as one of the first Italian American women writers to be widely published in the main stream of American poetry...
, Dana Gioia, to name a few who have broken through to main stream American literature and publishing, are changing the image of Italians in America with their books, stories, poems and essays far too numerous to cite. Many of these authors' books and writings are easily found on the internet and on Italian American Writers
http://www.italianamericanwriters.com/ as well as in bibliographies online at Stonybrook University's Italian American Studies Dept. in New York
http://www.italianstudies.org/iam/Gesualdi.htm or at The Italian American Writers Association website
http://www.iawa.net/database.htm. The cultural face of Italian Americana is widening and changing daily to combat stereotyping by American movies and television.
Religion
Most immigrants had been Catholics in Italy. In spite of the Catholic dominance among the immigrants, it can be noted that Italian religious minorities—such as
WaldensiansWaldensians, Waldenses or Vaudois are names for a Christian spiritual movement of the later Middle Ages, descendants of which still exist in various regions. Over time, the denomination joined the Genevan or Reformed branch of Protestantism. About the earlier history of the Waldenses considerable...
, Greek Catholics, Greek Orthodox and
Italian JewsItalian Jews can be used in a broad sense to mean all Jews living in Italy or in a narrower sense to mean the ancient community who use the Italian rite, as distinct from newer arrivals who use the Sephardi or Ashkenazi rite.-Divisions:...
—also took part in the Italian immigration to America.
In some Italian American communities, Saint Joseph's Day (March 19) is marked by celebrations and parades.
Columbus DayMany countries in the New World and elsewhere celebrate the anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas, which occurred on October 12, 1492 in the Julian calendar and October 21, 1492 in the modern Gregorian calendar, as an official holiday...
is also widely celebrated, as are the feasts of some regional Italian
patron saintA patron saint is a saint who is regarded as the intercessor and advocate in heaven of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, or person. Patron saints, because they have already transcended to the metaphysical, are able to intercede effectively for the needs of their special charges...
s, most notably
St. Januarius (San Gennaro)Saint Januarius, , Bishop of Naples, is a martyr saint of both the Roman Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox Churches. While no contemporary sources on his life are preserved, later sources and legends claim that he died during the Diocletianic Persecution, which ended with Diocletian's retirement in...
(September 19) (especially by those claiming
NeapolitanNaples in Italy, is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples. The city is known for its rich history, art, culture, architecture, music and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,800 years old...
heritage), and
Santa RosaliaSaint Rosalia , also called La Santuzza or "The Little Saint", is the patron saint of Palermo, Sicily, El Hatillo,Venezuela, and Zuata, Anzoategui,Venezuela....
(September 4) by immigrants from
SicilySicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is an autonomous region of Italy. Several much smaller islands surrounding it are considered to be part of Sicily....
. The immigrants from
Potenza, ItalyPotenza is a town and comune in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata . It is the capital of the province of Potenza and the Basilicata region....
celebrate the Saint Rocco's day (August 16) feast at the Potenza Lodge in
Denver, ColoradoThe City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the state of Colorado, in the United States. Denver is a consolidated city-county located in the South Platte River Valley on the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...
the 3rd weekend of August. San Rocco is the patron saint of
PotenzaPotenza is a town and comune in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata . It is the capital of the province of Potenza and the Basilicata region....
as is San Gerardo. Many still celebrate the Christmas season with a
Feast of the seven fishesSouthern Italians around the world celebrate Christmas Eve with a Feast of the Seven Fishes , also known as La Vigilia ....
. In
Cleveland, OhioCleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The municipality is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately 60 miles west of the Pennsylvania border...
, the Feast of Assumption is celebrated in Cleveland's Little Italy on August 15. On this feast day, people will pin money on
Blessed Virgin MaryThe Blessed Virgin Mary, sometimes shortened to the Blessed Virgin or the Virgin Mary, is a traditional title used by most Christians and most specifically used by liturgical Christians such as Roman Catholics, Anglicans, Lutherans, Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholics, and some others to...
statue as symbol of prosperity. The statue is paraded through Little Italy to Holy Rosary Parish. For almost 25 years, Cleveland Catholic Bishop
Anthony PillaAnthony Michael Pilla was bishop of the Diocese of Cleveland. He was ordained a priest on May 23, 1959 and elevated to bishop on January 6, 1981. He was elected president of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops in November, 1995. In January, 2006, Pilla announced his retirement. He was...
would join in the parade and mass due to his Italian heritage. Pilla resigned in April 2006, but he still celebrates.
While most Italian-American families have a Catholic background, there are various groups of Italian-American Christians who have chosen to practice
Protestant ChristianityProtestantism is a branch within Christianity, containing many denominations with some differing practices and doctrines, that principally originated in the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation. It is considered to be one of the major divisions within Christianity, together with the Roman...
for various reasons. One reason why Italian-Americans have become more apart of Protestant faiths is due to intermarriage with other ethnic groups that were traditionally Protestant. In some cases, similarly to other ethnic groups, there are individuals and families who have become resentful of, or disenchanted with, the Catholic religion, and completely leave the church, no longer considering themselves as being a part of the Catholic traditions in any way. Many joined the Episcopal Church because of disagreement with local Catholic Church leadership while still retaining much of the
liturgicalA liturgy is the customary public worship done by a specific religious group, according to its particular traditions. The word may refer to an elaborate formal ritual such as the Eastern Orthodox Divine Liturgy and Catholic Mass, or a daily activity such as the Muslim salat and Jewish services...
form. Many converted to
EvangelicalEvangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s.Most adherents consider its key characteristics to be: a belief in the need for personal conversion ; some expression of the gospel in effort; a high regard for biblical authority; and an emphasis on the...
Christianity because they did not agree with the ritualistic nature of the Catholic religion, as well as their belief that Catholics have an incorrect interpretation of certain doctrines concerning the
MagisteriumThe Magisterium is the "teaching authority of the Roman Catholic Church". The word is derived from Latin magisterium, which originally meant the office of a president, chief, director, superintendent, etc...
, the
Blessed Virgin MaryThe Blessed Virgin Mary, sometimes shortened to the Blessed Virgin or the Virgin Mary, is a traditional title used by most Christians and most specifically used by liturgical Christians such as Roman Catholics, Anglicans, Lutherans, Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholics, and some others to...
, the
SaintSaints, individuals of exceptional holiness, are significant in many religions, particularly Christianity.-General characteristics :Though the term is mostly used for Christians considered holy or virtuous, many religions use similar concepts to elevate people worthy of respect, e.g. see Hindu...
s, and the doctrine of
TransubstantiationIn Roman Catholic theology, "transubstantiation" means the change of the substance of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist, while all that is accessible to the senses remains as before.Some Greek confessions use the term "transubstantiation" , but most Orthodox...
.
There are many ex-Catholic Italian-American members of mainline liberal Protestant churches, such as the
United Church of ChristThe United Church of Christ is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination principally in the United States, generally considered within the Reformed tradition. The UCC formed in 1957 with the union of the Evangelical and Reformed Church and the Congregational Christian Churches...
, most of whom left the Catholic Church because they thought it to be too doctrinally conservative. There are also a significant number of ex-Catholic Italian-American converts to the
UnitarianUnitarianism as a theology is the belief in the single personality of God, in contrast to the doctrine of the Trinity ....
Universalist Church. Fiorello La Guardia was an Episcopalian (on his father's side; his mother was from the small but significant community of
Italian JewsItalian Jews can be used in a broad sense to mean all Jews living in Italy or in a narrower sense to mean the ancient community who use the Italian rite, as distinct from newer arrivals who use the Sephardi or Ashkenazi rite.-Divisions:...
). Frank Santora is an ex-Catholic Italian-American pastor of Faith Church, a large Evangelical
megachurchA megachurch is a church having around 2,000 or more attendants for a typical weekly service. The Hartford Institute's database lists more than 1,300 such Protestant churches in the United States. According to these data, about 50 churches on the list have attendance ranging from 10,000 to 47,000...
in
New Milford, ConnecticutNew Milford is a town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States north of Danbury, on the Housatonic River. It is the largest town in the state in terms of land area at nearly . The population was 28,671 according to the Census Bureau's 2006 estimates....
. There is a small charismatic denomination, called the
Christian Church of North AmericaThe International Fellowship of Christian Assemblies, formerly known as the Christian Church of North America is a North American Pentecostal denomination of Christians....
, which is rooted in the Italian Pentecostal Movement that came out of Chicago in the early 1900s. It should also be noted that the first group of Italian immigrants to Trenton converted to the
BaptistA Baptist is a Christian who subscribes to a theology and may belong to a church that, among other things, is committed to believer's baptism and, with respect to church polity, favors the congregational model...
denomination. In the early 1900s, a number of Protestant denominations and missionaries worked in urban Italian American neighborhoods of the
Northeastern United StatesThe Northeastern United States is a region of the United States. According to the definition used by the United States Census Bureau, the Northeast region consists of nine states: the New England states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut; and the...
.
Max LucadoMax Lucado is a best-selling Christian author and minister of writing and preaching at Oak Hills Church in San Antonio, Texas...
—bestselling author, alumnus of
Abilene Christian University, and preacher in Churches of Christ—is a prominent example of an Italian-American in non-Catholic ministry. The Church of Jesus Christ (Bickertonite), headquartered in Monongahela, Pennsylvania, is a denomination of the Latter Day Saint movement that counts significant numbers of Italian-Americans in its leadership and membership.
Education
According to Census Bureau data, Italian Americans have an average high school graduation rate, and a higher rate of advanced degrees compared to the national average. Italian Americans throughout the United States are well represented in a wide variety of occupations and professions, from skilled trades, to the arts, to engineering, science, mathematics, law, and medicine, and include numerous
Nobel prizeThe Nobel Prize is a Sweden-based international monetary prize. The award was established by the 1895 will and estate of Swedish chemist and inventor Alfred Nobel. It was first awarded in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, and Peace in 1901...
winners.
http://www.italiansrus.com/articles/nobelprizes.htm
Italian language in the United States
According to the , from 1998 to 2002 the enrollment in college
Italian languageItalian is a Romance language spoken by about 60 million people in Italy, and by a total of around 70 million in the world. In Switzerland, Italian is one of four official languages. It is also the official language of San Marino, as well as the primary language of Vatican City...
courses grew by 30%, faster than the enrollment rates for French and German. Italian is the fourth most commonly taught foreign language in U.S. colleges and universities behind Spanish, French, and German. According to the U.S. 2000 Census, Italian is the fifth (seventh overall) most spoken language in the United States (tied with Vietnamese) with over 1 million speakers.
As a result of the large wave of Italian immigration to the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Italian language was once widely spoken in much of the U.S., especially in northeastern and Great Lakes area cities like
RochesterRochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. The Rochester metropolitan area is the second largest economy in New York State, behind the New York City metropolitan area. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and...
,
ChicagoChicago is the largest city in the U.S. state of Illinois, and with more than 2.8 million people, the 3rd largest city in the United States...
, Cleveland, and Milwaukee, as well as San Francisco, Saint Louis and New Orleans. Italian-language newspapers exist in many American cities, especially
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
, and Italian-language movie theatres existed in the U.S. as late as the 1950s.
Today, Prizes like The Bordighera Annual Poetry Prize
http://www.ItalianAmericanWriters.com/prize.html/ founded by Daniela Gioseffi, Pietro Mastrandrea and Alfredo di Palchi with support from the Sonia Rraiziss-Giop Foundation, and Bordighera Press,
http://www.bordigherapress.org/ which publishes the winners in bilingual editions, have helped to encourage writers of the diaspora to write and read in Italian. Chelsea Books in New York City and Gradiva Press on Long Island have published many bilingual books also due to the efforts of bilingual writers of the diaspora like Paolo Valesio
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/italian/fac-bios/valesio/faculty.html, Alfredo de Palchi
http://www.italianamericanwriters.com/dePalchi.html, Luigi Fontanella. Dr. Luigi Bonaffini
http://userhome.brooklyn.cuny.edu/bonaffini/DP/index.html of The City University of New York, publisher of
The Journal of Italian Translation at Brooklyn College, has fostered Italian dialectic poetry throughout his homeland and the USA. Joseph Tusiani of New York and New York University
http://siba3.unile.it/ctle/tusiani/biography.htm, a highly distinguised linguist and prize winning poet born in Italy, paved the way for Italian works of literature in English and has published many bilingual books and Italian classics for the American audience, among them the first complete works of Michaelangelo's poems in English to be published in the United States. All of this literary endeavor has helped to foster the Italian language, along with the Italian opera, of course, in the United States. Many of these authors and their bilingual books are located throughout the internet.
Author Lawrence Distasi
http://books.google.com argues that the loss of spoken Italian among the Italian American population can be tied to U.S. government pressures during
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. During World War II, in various parts of the country, the U.S. government displayed signs that read,
Don't Speak the Enemy's Language. Such signs designated the languages of the
Axis powersThe Axis powers comprised the countries that were opposed to the Allies during World War II. The three major Axis powers—Germany, Italy, and Japan—were part of a military alliance on the signing of the Tripartite Pact in September 1940, which officially founded the Axis powers...
, German, Japanese, and Italian, as "enemy languages". Shortly after the Axis powers declared war on the U.S., many Italian, Japanese and German citizens were interned. Among the Italian Americans, those who spoke Italian, who had never taken out citizenship papers, and who belonged to groups that praised
Benito MussoliniBenito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini,
KSMOM GCTE was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism. He became the Prime Minister of Italy in 1922 and began using the title Il Duce by...
, were most likely to become candidates for internment. Distasi claims that many Italian language schools closed down in the
San Francisco Bay AreaThe San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, or the Yay Area, is a metropolitan region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses large cities such as San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and...
within a week of the U.S. declaration of war on the Axis powers. Such closures were inevitable since most of the teachers in Italian languages were interned.
The Italian language is still spoken and studied by those of Italian American descent, and it can be heard in various American communities, especially among older Italian Americans. During the late 20th and early 21st centuries, interest in Italian language and culture has surged among Italian Americans.
The formal "Italian" that is taught in colleges and universities is generally not the "Italian" with which Italian Americans are acquainted. Because the Italian of Italian Americans comes from a time just after the unification of the state, their language is in many ways anachronistic and demonstrates what the dialects of Southern Italy used to be at the time. Because of this, Italian Americans studying Italian are often learning a language that does not include all of the words and phrases they may have learned from family.
Stereotypes
Rampant anti-immigrant sentiment brought about The Immigration Act of 1924 and the nation's Italian Americans moved to defeat it. The small percentage of criminal elements active in the Italian American community, Black Hand practitioners and those who came up during the Prohibition Era, only lodged prejudices more firmly in the public’s mind. The most publicized protest from the community came in 2001 when the Chicago-based American Italian Defamation Association (AIDA) sued Time Warner for distributing HBO’s hit series
The SopranosThe Sopranos is an American television drama series created and produced by David Chase. It premiered on the premium cable network HBO in the United States on January 10, 1999 and ended its original run of six seasons and 86 episodes on June 10, 2007. The show has also been broadcast on A&E in...
because of its negative portrayal of Italian Americans.. The results are still inconclusive.
History
In the 1890-1920 period Italian Americans were often stereotyped as being "violent" and "controlled by the
MafiaThe Mafia is a Sicilian criminal society which is believed to have emerged in late 19th century Sicily, and the first such society to be referred to as a mafia . It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct...
".
http://www.niaf.org/research/report_zogby.asp In the 1920s, many Americans used the
Sacco and VanzettiFerdinando Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were two Italian-born laborers and anarchists who were tried, convicted and executed via electrocution on August 23, 1927 in Massachusetts for the 1920 armed robbery and murder of a pay-clerk and a security guard in Braintree, Massachusetts.Today,...
trial, in which two Italian anarchists were sentenced to death, to denounce Italian immigrants as anarchists and criminals. During the 19th and early 20th century, Italian Americans were one of the most likely groups to be lynched. In 1891, eleven Italian immigrants in New Orleans were
lynchedLynching is an extrajudicial punishment meted by a mob, usually by hanging. It is an enumerated felony in all states of the United States, defined by some codes of law as "Any act of violence inflicted by a mob upon the body of another person which results in the death of the person," with a 'mob'...
due to their ethnicity and suspicion of being involved in the Mafia (see: David Hennessy). This was the largest mass
lynchingLynching in the United States was the practice of killing people by extrajudicial mob action in the United States of America, chiefly from the late 1700s through the 1950s...
in US history.
Present
Italian-Americans work in all lines of work. They're well representative of the average group in mainstream American society.
The
National Italian American Foundation- The National Italian American Foundation - Introduction :The National Italian American Foundation is a nonprofit, nonpartisan educational foundation that promotes Italian American culture and heritage...
, the National American Italian Association and other Italian American organizations have asserted that the
American MafiaThis article is about American Mafia. For other uses, see Mafia .The American Mafia This article is about American Mafia. For other uses, see Mafia (disambiguation).The American Mafia This article is about American Mafia. For other uses, see Mafia (disambiguation).The American Mafia (usually called...
in the United States have never numbered more than a few thousand individuals, and that it is unfair to associate such a small minority with the general population of Italian Americans.
Contrary to public belief, organized crime existed in America long before the migration of Italians from southern Italy. The Italian-American contingent of organized crime, although late in arriving, dominated the already flourishing crime families of the various ethnic groups.
Taylor Street Archives
Communities
States known for their high concentrations of Italian Americans include
Rhode IslandRhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...
,
ConnecticutConnecticut is a state in the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and New York to the west and south ....
,
New JerseyNew Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bordered on the north by New York, and to the east by the Hudson River, Upper New York Bay, the Kill Van Kull, Newark Bay, the Arthur Kill, Raritan Bay, Sandy Hook Bay, Westchester County, New York City, Long Island, and...
,
New YorkNew York is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous. The state is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
,
MassachusettsThe Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. Most of its population of...
and
PennsylvaniaThe Commonwealth of Pennsylvania , often colloquially referred to as PA by natives and Northeasterners, is a state located in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States...
. Among major cities across the country,
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
, Philadelphia,
BostonBoston is the capital and largest city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is considered the economic and cultural center of the region and is sometimes regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England"...
,
ChicagoChicago is the largest city in the U.S. state of Illinois, and with more than 2.8 million people, the 3rd largest city in the United States...
, Miami, and
ProvidenceProvidence is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island, and one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the estimated second or third largest city in the New England region...
have America's six largest Italian communities. New Haven and its surrounding suburbs also exhibit a high Italian concentration (New Haven's mayor John DeStefano Jr. and Congressional Representative
Rosa DeLauroRosa L. DeLauro , American politician, has been a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives since 1991, representing . The district is based in New Haven, and includes most of that city's suburbs....
are both Italian-Americans).
State totals
Numbers
- New York
New York is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous. The state is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
3,254,298
- New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bordered on the north by New York, and to the east by the Hudson River, Upper New York Bay, the Kill Van Kull, Newark Bay, the Arthur Kill, Raritan Bay, Sandy Hook Bay, Westchester County, New York City, Long Island, and...
1,590,225
- Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania , often colloquially referred to as PA by natives and Northeasterners, is a state located in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States...
1,547,470
- Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. Most of its population of...
1,518,838
- California
California is the most populous state in the United States, and the third largest by area. California is the second most populous sub-national entity in the Americas, behind only São Paulo, Brazil...
1,149,351
- Florida
Florida is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the north. It was the 27th state admitted to the United States...
1,147,946
- Illinois
Illinois , the 21st state admitted to the United States of America, is the most populous and demographically diverse Midwestern state and the fifth most populous state in the nation...
739,284
- Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state of the United States. The thirty-fourth largest state by area in the U.S., it is the seventh-most populous with nearly 11.5 million residents...
720,847
- Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and New York to the west and south ....
652,016
- Michigan
Michigan is a Midwestern state of the United States of America. It was named after Lake Michigan, whose name is a French adaptation of the Ojibwe term mishigama, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
484,486
- Texas
Texas is the second-largest U.S. state in both area and population, and the largest state in the contiguous United States.The name had wide usage among native Americans, meaning "friends" or "allies"...
approx. 363,354
- Rhode Island
Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...
approx. 201,134
- Louisiana
The State of Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state divided into parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
approx. 195,561
Percentage
- Rhode Island
Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...
19.1%
- Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and New York to the west and south ....
18.6%
- New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bordered on the north by New York, and to the east by the Hudson River, Upper New York Bay, the Kill Van Kull, Newark Bay, the Arthur Kill, Raritan Bay, Sandy Hook Bay, Westchester County, New York City, Long Island, and...
17.9%
- Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. Most of its population of...
16.5%
- New York
New York is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous. The state is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
14.4%
- Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania , often colloquially referred to as PA by natives and Northeasterners, is a state located in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States...
12.8%
Communities by concentration of Italian ancestry
The top 25 U.S. communities with the highest percentage of people claiming Italian ancestry are:
- Hammonton, New Jersey
Hammonton, founded by Charles K. Landis, is a town in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the town population was 12,604...
47%
- Johnston, Rhode Island
Johnston is a town in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 28,195 at the 2000 census. Johnston is the site of the Clemence Irons House a stone-ender museum and the only landfill in Rhode Island...
46%
- Frankfort, New York
Frankfort is a village in Herkimer County, New York, USA. The population was 2,537 at the 2000 census. Like the town, the village is named after early settler, Lawrence Frank....
(villageA village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet, but smaller than a town or city. Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New York City and the Saifi Village in...
) 44.70%
- North Providence, Rhode Island
North Providence is a town in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 32,411 at the 2000 census.The town has the distinction of being the smallest by area in the smallest state . Though at only , the city of Central Falls is Rhode Island's smallest municipality...
44%
- East Haven, Connecticut
East Haven is a town in New Haven County, Connecticut, in the United States. As of the 2000 census, the town population was 28,189. The town is just 3 minutes from downtown New Haven...
43%
- Roseto, Pennsylvania
Roseto is a borough in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, United States. Roseto is located in the Lehigh Valley region of the state. It is part of Pennsylvania's Slate Belt.The population of Roseto was 1,653 at the 2000 census.-Geography:...
42%
- Pittston Township, Pennsylvania
Pittston Township is a township within the Greater Pittston area of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 3,450 at the 2000 census. Within the township is the borough of Avoca, where the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport is located.-History:Pittston Township was...
41%
- Franklin Square, New York
Franklin Square is a hamlet in Nassau County, New York, United States. The population was 29,342 at the 2000 census...
40%
- Revere, Massachusetts
Revere is a city in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, United States. It borders Winthrop, East Boston and Chelsea to the south, Everett and Malden to the west, Saugus and Lynn to the north, Melrose to the northwest, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. It comprises 10.0 square miles, although 4.1 of...
39.7%
- Saugus, Massachusetts
Saugus is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. The population was 26,078 at the 2000 census.-History:Saugus was first settled in 1629. Saugus is an Indian name believed to mean "great" or "extended"...
39.5%
- North Massapequa, New York
North Massapequa is a hamlet located within the Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, New York, United States. The population was 19,152 at the 2000 census.-Geography:North Massapequa is located at ....
39%
- Frankfort, New York
Frankfort is a town in Herkimer County, New York, United States. The population was 7,478 at the 2000 census. The town is named after one of its earliest settlers, Lawrence Frank. The town of Frankfort includes a village also called Frankfort. The town is east of Utica...
(townA town is a type of settlement ranging from a few hundred to several thousand inhabitants, although it may be applied loosely even to huge metropolitan areas; the precise meaning varies between countries and is not always a matter of legal definition...
) 38%
- Totowa, New Jersey
Totowa is a borough in Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the borough population was 9,892.Totowa was formed as a borough by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 15, 1898, from portions of the now-defunct Manchester Township and Wayne...
38%
- Lowellville, Ohio
Lowellville is a village in Mahoning County, Ohio, United States, in the "Steel Valley" area of the northeast part of the state, southeast of Youngstown. The village is an older, predominantly Italian-American, working-class community built along the banks of the Mahoning River, and centered around...
37%
- Fairfield Township (Essex County), New Jersey
Fairfield Township is the name of some places in the U.S. state of New Jersey:*Fairfield Township, Cumberland County, New Jersey*Fairfield Township, Essex County, New Jersey...
37%
- Thornwood, New York
Thornwood is an unincorporated hamlet and census-designated place located in the town of Mount Pleasant in Westchester County, New York. The population was 5,980 at the 2000 census.-History:...
36%
- South Hackensack, New Jersey
South Hackensack Township is a township in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the township population was 2,249....
36%
- Hawthorne, New York
Hawthorne is an unincorporated hamlet and census-designated place located in the town of Mount Pleasant in Westchester County, New York. The population was 5,083 at the 2000 census.-History:...
36%
- Nutley Township, New Jersey
Nutley is a township in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the township population was 27,362. For 2008, the population of Nutley is estimated to be over 30,000 residents....
36%
- Jessup, Pennsylvania
Jessup is a borough in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 4,718 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Jessup is located at ....
36%
- Pittston, Pennsylvania
Pittston is a city in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States, between Scranton and Wilkes-Barre. It gained prominence in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as an active anthracite coal mining city, drawing a large portion of its labor force from European immigrants...
36%
- East Hanover Township, New Jersey
East Hanover Township is a township in Morris County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the township population was 11,393. Incorporated in 1928, it is a largely middle to upper-income suburban community situated roughly 25 miles west of New York City...
36%
- Harrison, New York
Harrison is a coterminus town/village in Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 24,154 at the 2000 census and estimated at 26,665 today...
(both the town and village) and Deer Park, New YorkDeer Park is a hamlet and census-designated place in Suffolk County, New York, United States. The population was 28,316 at the 2000 census.-History:...
35%
- Woodland Park, New Jersey 34%
- Valhalla, New York
Valhalla is a hamlet and census-designated place located in the town of Mount Pleasant in Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 5,379 at the 2000 census...
34%
- Lyndhurst Township, New Jersey
Lyndhurst is a township in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the township population was 19,383.Lyndhurst was originally formed as Union Township on February 19, 1852 from portions of Harrison Township...
34%
- North Haven, Connecticut
North Haven is a suburban town in New Haven County, Connecticut on the outskirts of New Haven, Connecticut. North Haven is less than 10 minutes from downtown New Haven and Yale University. It is also near Quinnipiac University and Sleeping Giant State Park. It has easy access to I-91 and Route 15...
34%
- Staten Island, New York, Buena, New Jersey
Buena is a borough in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the borough population was 3,873.Landisville and Minotola are unincorporated areas located within Buena Borough....
and Old Forge, PennsylvaniaOld Forge is the name of two places in the State of Pennsylvania:* Old Forge, Franklin County, Pennsylvania* Old Forge, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania...
33%
See also
- Taliaferro
Taliaferro, Tolliver, or Toliver , is a prominent family in the United States Commonwealth of Virginia. The Taliaferros are one of the early families who settled in Virginia in the 17th century...
- European American
A European American is a person who resides in the United States and is either from Europe or is the descendant of European immigrants or founding colonists. Spanish Americans are the earliest European American group, with a continuous presence since 1565...
- Hyphenated American
In the United States, the term hyphenated American is an epithet commonly used from 1890 to 1920 to disparage Americans who were of foreign birth or origin, and who displayed an allegiance to a foreign country. It was most commonly used to disparage German Americans or Irish Americans who called...
- Immigration to the United States
American immigration refers to the movement of non-residents to the United States...
- Italian people
The Italian people are an ethnic group, in the sense of sharing a common Italian culture, descent, and speaking the Italian language as a mother tongue...
- Italian-American cuisine
Italian American cuisine is the cuisine of Italian American immigrants and their descendents, who have modified Italian cuisine under the influence of American culture and immigration patterns of Italians to the United States...
- Italian diaspora
The term Italian diaspora refers to the large-scale migration of Italians away from Italy in the period roughly beginning with the unification of Italy in 1861 and ending with the Italian economic miracle in the 1960s....
- Anti-Italianism
Anti-Italianism is a hostility toward Italian people and Italian culture. It uses stereotypes about Italian people, a popular one being that most Italians are naturally violent, or somehow associated with the Mafia...
- Italy-USA Foundation
Italy-USA Foundation was established on 4 July 2005 to promote the friendship between Italians and Americans and American culture in Italy. The foundation is a non-profit organization based in Rome, Italy...
- List of Italian Americans
- National Italian American Foundation
- The National Italian American Foundation - Introduction :The National Italian American Foundation is a nonprofit, nonpartisan educational foundation that promotes Italian American culture and heritage...
- Order Sons of Italy in America
The Order of the Sons of Italy in America is the largest and oldest Italian American fraternal organization in the United States. A similar organization also exists in Canada....
- Sicilian American
- Utah Italians
Utah Italians include the descendants of immigrants from Italy, and a small number of recent immigrants from Italy. More and more Utah Italians of the third and fourth generations are trying to reconnect to the rich heritage of their country of origin, also to gain a better perspective of their...
External links
John D. Calandra Italian American Institute, City University of New York and
i-italy.org: The Italian/American Digital Project and
i-italy.us: The Italian/American Social Network H-ItAm daily discussion email group moderated by scholars The Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America National Italian American Foundation National Organization of Italian American Women Sons of Italy in America Italian American Writers: A Growing Online Archive Towards a New Italian American Identity Italy-USA Foundation Italian Heritage & Culture Month Committee of New York Italian American Committee on Education
Useful links for Italians in USA
Italian American History Ministry for Foreign Affairs The Annotico Report: A commentary on current news of interest to those of Italian ancestry, that appear in US, Italian, and International publications Italian American Writers: A Growing Online Archive The Italian American Press America Oggi, an Italian-language daily published in the US Voce Italiana is the Italian American voice from the Nation's Capital L'Idea MagazineA Magazine for the Italians in USA
Italian Americana: The voice of leading cultural, intellectual and literary Italian Americans
- Taylor Street Archives The psychological genocide of a people who carried with them, from the shores of southern Italy, the genes of the Ceasars and the Michaelangelos.