Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

    • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    From $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Italians in Chicago: 1945-2005
    Italians in Chicago: 1945-2005
    Italians in Chicago: 1945-2005
    Ebook223 pages1 hour

    Italians in Chicago: 1945-2005

    By Dominic Candeloro

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Drawn from scores of family albums, these intimate snapshots tell the story of the unique and universal saga of Italian immigration and life in Chicago.


    More than 25,000 Italian immigrants came to Chicago after 1945. The story of their exodus and reestablishment in Chicago touches on war torn Italy, the renewal of family and paesani connections, the bureaucratic challenges of the restrictive quota system, the energy and spirit of the new immigrants, and the opportunities and frustrations in American society.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateDec 6, 2010
    ISBN9781439625712
    Italians in Chicago: 1945-2005
    Author

    Dominic Candeloro

    Author Dominic Candeloro is a professor, historian, and the executive director of the American Italian Historical Association. His extensive research on Chicago's Italian-American community and delightful historic images create a timeless record of this unique culture and its impact on the heart of the Midwest.

    Read more from Dominic Candeloro

    Related to Italians in Chicago

    Related ebooks

    Ethnic Studies For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    Related categories

    Reviews for Italians in Chicago

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Italians in Chicago - Dominic Candeloro

      DeButch.

      INTRODUCTION

      I have been deeply involved in Italian American history and culture for the past 35 years. I have produced numerous books, articles, and exhibits, and the usual focus was on the old Italian immigration that occurred before World War I with some lapping over into the 1920s and 1930s. Though my efforts were well received, the Italian American public that most intensely identifies with Italy, the post–World War II immigrants, were sometimes lukewarm to my efforts. I had mostly left them out.

      With this, my fourth Arcadia book on Chicago Italians, I am concluding the story with focus on the new immigrants.

      World War II brought devastation and humiliation to Italy. As depicted in such classic Italian films as Open City, Paesan, and Two Women, life in Italy from 1942 to 1960 was very difficult. Antonio Petrongelli said it best in a 1949 letter, "Siamo rimasti senza patria e senza pane, (We are left without our country and without bread").

      The migration of five million Italians to the United States from 1890 to 1940 generated a large number of returnees (rimpatriati) to Italy. Many of them brought back with them American citizenship and/or children who were born in the United States. When hard times hit after the war, Italians sought rescue in the time-honored solution: migration. And in the period from 1945 to 1965, there was a mad scramble to use family connections in the United States to escape hard times in Italy. Not only did the emigrants see the United States as a refuge, but because of the heroic role that the United States had played during World War II as the savior of the world and because of the Hollywood image of America, the United States was seen as the land of opportunity where everyone could have their dreams come true.

      According to historian Frank Cavaioli, the only problem was that U.S. immigration law from 1945 to 1965 had an annual quota of only 5,666 Italians. While special humanitarian provisions allowed 140,000 additional Italians to enter outside the quota (fuori quota), by the time that the Hart Celler Reform law was passed in 1965, there were three million Italians on the waiting list. After 1965, annual Italian immigration to the United States was about 25,000 until it dropped to 11,000 in 1975. By that time, the Marshall Plan and other factors had restored the Italian economy and many would-be immigrants to the United States had settled for opportunities to immigrate to Canada, Australia, and Latin America. The new wave of immigration was over.

      As for Chicago, ballpark estimates are that about 25,000 Italians came to the metropolitan area between 1945 and 1980. They rescued Italian American life in the city from a total meltdown, injected new enthusiasm into dying institutions and new organizations like the Italian Cultural Center, and regional groups represented recent immigrants from Sicily, Puglia, and Calabria. And they reinforced (at least temporarily) the Italian ethnic population of places like Addison, Elmwood Park, Melrose Park, Norridge, Berwyn, and Westchester.

      The generation that came after World War II was not just a continuation of the previous migration. They were better educated, more entrepreneurial, and more nationalistic. The preservation of Italian culture in America depends on them and their progeny to fashion any kind of biculturalism for Italian Americans in the future.

      The varieties of experiences of Italian immigrants in this period were as different as the geography of Italy. Refugees from Friuli, children of American citizens who had returned to Italy, Sicilian theatrical types, Neapolitan painters, teachers, contadini (small farmers/landless agricultural workers), and more were part of this grand migration. Love stories played themselves out in the saga, as did fabulous success stories. The discipline and apprenticeship tradition of Italy was transplanted in Chicago, enriching both the carriers of those values and the city’s economic and cultural life.

      And then there were the needle trades. Provisions in the immigration law that gave preference to tailors to immigrate outside the quota system brought thousands of men and women to work in Chicago—especially at Hart Schaffner and Marx. Half of the respondents interviewed for this book had tailors in their families. Italian postwar entrepreneurs, like their predecessors, have continued to enjoy success in the food industry. And though this study concentrates on the exploits of Italian immigrant men, it was usually the women in the family who pushed to keep the chain of migration alive so that more family members would join them in Chicago, with the goal of reconstituting the whole family.

      The number and intensity of the paesani (fellow townspeople) and patron saint organizations is an outstanding example of cultural continuity in the postwar immigrant experience. The groups often provided social outlets for their members—group excursions, picnics, dinner dances, and Christmas parties.

      Though not what it once was, the field of Italian language radio broadcasting has played quite a leadership role in keeping Italian immigrants informed. And then there is satellite television and the World Wide Web. Almost 90 percent of the interviewees in this study subscribed to satellite Italian television, mostly for soccer games. Easy and inexpensive telephone connection with Italy has also worked to keep contact alive with the hometown. Many continue to own property in Italy.

      Italian postwar entrepreneurs, like their predecessors, have continued to enjoy success in the food industry.

      While we make no claim that this study is scientific or definitive, there was some rationale and method for the creation of this book. The focus is almost exclusively on immigrants to Chicago after 1945 and their descendents. I used an extensive e-mail list, a flyer sent to members of the Joint Civic Committee, several notices

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1