SHIPS - Italian Immigration to U.S. in the Early 20th Century

When I was a little girl, my parents & I immigrated to the US, from EU. This was the late 1960's. I can clearly remember a farmer looking down at me saying "I ain't selling to no goddamned foreigner." Nice thing to say to an 8 year old little girl. This type of "Amerikkan" behavior WAS accepted & LEGAL in the 1960's and not much has changed, unfortunately.

God Bless You, Grandma & Grandpa, & Nonna & Nonno for your sacrifices & hard work to establish your lives in The United States of America, and making our lives here possible. Thank you for your love of America & your love for us. Thank you for your dreams & accomplishments, your humor & lessons on how to live & love. Thank you for your love of God🙏 I love you so much & miss you so much I ache. I’ll never forget you & I pray for you always 🙏😘🥰💕💖

The coming in North America was a challenge in it self but to really understand what push them here is another issue. Southerners the citizens of the ex kingdom of the Two -Sicily's had no choice, "Brigandi o Emigranti." They wear pushed out of their land by invading army of Piedmont and every thing was taken from them. They all faced "Domicilio Coatto. " Prison camps it was a cleansing of culture and people. The south became a colony of the north. There was no other way. Read Loreto Giovannone and Miriam Compagnino, "DEPORTATI." Also "Essays in European History." June K. Burton."

My family came to America in the early 30's and moved to Providence, too.

My grandfather and great grandfather came over together, they worked hard saving money for a trip back to Italy and getting great grandmother and grandma. They were able to buy a house, have children and set up businesses!

I wouldn't be here today if my grandparents hadn't come here from Italy in 1906, when my dad was 3 years old.

Glad i found this. Thanks for the info😊

Very interesting about the restriction of Italian passengers on only Italian steamers. That's a huge loss of revenue.
My mother worked on the Giulio Cesare bringing tourists from Genova to N America

My grandparents immigrated from the Naples region in 1918. They traveled in steerage, and said they were processed at " The Battery, " not on Ellis Island.
As they became established in the US, they learned to speak English, said " we are Americans, we speak English." As Italians they were viewed as second class citizens, and my Dad and his siblings were not taught how to speak Italian.
I have a cousin named KAREN who is a MAGAT. She made a claim that "our grandparents immigration was legal" as an argument for current border security problems.
However, she conveniently overlooks the fact that the American nationalist MAGATs of the day would have persecuted and sh_t on our Italian immigrant grandparents.

The largest lynching was NOT of Italians but the Chinese. Stop spreading that old PROPAGANDA.

Great video. My great grandfather emigrated from northern Italy to Providence, RI. Lived in a tarpaper shack and eventually started doing construction with a shovel and wheel barrow. Through hard work grew into a major roadbuilding corp under the Eisenhower interstate development era. Such interesting times. Much of my family still in RI.

those are some cool cartoons,

A nation of immigrants, including the " founding fathers" YET; YET, nobody likes to hear the words. thats peculiar to me. Does it hurt? How? Why? Is truth a delusional buster? I wish I had a quarter for every racist remark I have ever heard about going back to where you're from. I would be a billionaire. Also, the word " ignorant" should have been added to the prose on the statue of liberty. It seems fitting.

I encourage everyone to research the ship their family traveled on. You can often see pictures. My grandparents arrived on a tiny tuna can that sank on a subsequent journey.

These immigrants came to the US to assimilate AND BECOME AMERICANS!!!, unlike the "asylum seekers" Sleepy Joe lets in by the millions. They learned and spoke English and the American traditions

Hey soul brothers ITALIANS HAD IT ROUGH TOO YET WE STILL LOVE AMERICA GOOBtza heads

We proud ITALIANS LEARNED ENGLISH. NO NEED FOR TWO LANGUAGES. ITALIAN PROUD YOU HEARCTHAT BIDEN

We proud ITALIANS LEARNED ENGLISH. NO NEED FOR TWO LANGUAGES. ITALIAN PROUD YOU HEARCTHAT BIDEN

We proud ITALIANS LEARNED ENGLISH. NO NEED FOR TWO LANGUAGES. ITALIAN PROUD YOU HEARCTHAT BIDEN

My family came here from Sicily in the early 1900s. Italians where treated worse then slaves in Illinois until the mafia came here and got us protection. It wasn't until around the 20s until we got recognized as normal people. We weren't even considered white. Please next time learn how to pronounce Italian words before saying them in a video.

My great grandparents and grandmother came here from Calabria Italy after the 1908 earthquake. This video tells me we the USA didn’t treat them very well. A lot of Italians worked in coal mines in West Virginia. We sold them fairytales.

I wish I could find more information about my great grandmother who came here in 1909. She was only 9 years old and was "sponsored" by an Italian mob family and put into a textile factory outside of Philly. I can only imagine how this journey was for her. She spoke of those years with anger and fear. It is so hard to find information about her history.

History repeats itself. Immigration limitations, hate and mistreatment immigrants. The melting pot may be done but the salad bowl looks great.

God bless my four grandparents.
Growing up they were very patriotic to the United States as well as my parents. My father who is a world war two hero.

Mancini from west Pennsylvania, wondering how we got here.

Get over it boo who

Itiians worked very hard

These English and Irish didn't know history The Romans dominated Europe for 700 years We taught these barbarians to speak The Romans had 50 million under their balls

My grandfather came over in that same ship in 1909

They were better off in their homeland

If any Italian- American is intested, there is a poem by Dino Campana "Viaggio a Montevideo", I am sure you will find the English translation. I consider it a relevant piece of literature on the subject, although about reaching South America...

Matches stories my grandma told us about coming to America. They brought their own food. People dying on board of dysentery. Passing health checks on arrival.

They weren`t emigrants but war refugee's from political takeovers.

In those days they came to work and prosper, today many come for the free gifts from a welfare state paid by tax payers.

Very interesting video with important pictures: greatly appreciated, saved to be kept and watched many times.

Amazing story salute to all my Paesani in Italia and all over esp Rhode Island. Much love from NY.. Im 2nd and 3rd generation from Queens to LI, I love learning about our People. My family has insane stories as well. Salute.🇮🇹✌🏼🇺🇸

Back when our ancestors came LEGALLY

👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼

U no say the truth this no really deal u have wrong story

My great grandmother’s last name was Fabre. Doubt she was related to the liners owner. She came over on the Neustria

Yes we did make a big move and we all adapted to the RULES of the usa not get paid for doing nothing either

My dad was born in 1938 to an Italian mother and a German father. He was raised in a white Protestant San Francisco neighborhood. He did not consider himself white and he told us stories how the other kids told him that he wasn’t bad… for a “dago”. He was much more olive complected than his mother and my grandmother would always remind us that her family was from Northern Italy. This meant nothing to us grand kids. In the 1990s , my dad moved to a small Texas town where he received an invitation letter from the local branch of the KKK. He laughed and said that the KKK must be lowering their recruitment standards. When my sister and I completed our 23 tests and we discovered that my sister is all northern Italian , but I am southern and Sicilian. Which makes sense because , like my dad, in Texas, have always been mistaken for Hispanic. Thanks for sharing. It’s good to know where these attitudes came from historically.

The good Men and Women who helped
America.grow came here legally. They
entered through Ellis Island !

I trace my ancestry to Atwells Avenue on the heights my grandfather was on a ship called the ASTIA in 1909 and he was just a kid too

My grandfather's radio was confiscated in WWII and he had been here for almost 20 years. When they wanted to give it back to him, he had some choice words for them!

I came here by boat in 1972

My Italian ancestors on my mom's side actually came here in 1884 from San Fele, Potenza.

So proud of my grand parents and parents aunts and uncles who came to US first and then to Canada with only the clothes on their back! Italians are not recognized enough for their hard work and contrbutions to society. They were discriminated agsinst in the early 1900 and never rehashed or played the victims.Worked extremely hard to make a life for themselves and never took a dime ftom anyone!
Working on the railroad and in factoties. Such humble people that had a simple life that shared a loaf of bread among 11 people. Can you imagine living this life? I'm so proud of my Italian family! Thank you yo my grand parents znd mh beloved parents for teaching me ethics, morals and respect!

After seeing this documentary, I was shocked and amazed!!!!! One of my work colleagues was Abbruzzese. His father told him it was not non Italians who exploited the immigrants rather fellow Italians!!!! The conditions under which steerage passengers are a disgrace in all respects! Apropos quotas, many immigrants snuck in from Canada.