Essay on Italians in America
Example Essay on Italians in America:
The Italians immigrated into the USA for various reasons, since the 18th century. As a matter of fact, since 1946, approximately 300,000 Italians settled in the United States of America During the early periods, as they began to move into the country, they were faced with massive discrimination. They were discriminated on the ground of their nationality. They were seen as intruders and foreigners in the country For instance, Irish Catholics were barred from exercising their religious rights. They were also barred from receiving quality education, becoming professions, holding public offices; involve themselves in trade or commercial. They were also derived off the rights of purchasing a land, voting and leasing land. Due to all these, the Italians living in America at that time had to look for some survival strategy. They used the ethnic strategy to become acceptable American. In this paper, we are going to discuss about these ethnic strategies, which were used by these people (Morrison,et.al., p. 20-39)
To begin with, they took a step of trying to involve in active trade. They took over some type of trade and started controlling them. They turn out to be very vigorous in trade unions. As a matter of facts, they selected some leaders who played an important role in the American trade. These include people like Giovanniti and Tresca. Some of the trades they were very active in were as we are going to discuss below.
They involved themselves in active innovation. For instance, the Jacuzzi family invented the hot tub Jacuzzi in 1907. This became very rampant in the American market. This Italian family also made propellers. These were for supplying to the American military during the war. They were also very active and developed some jet water pump. All these products from the Italian family played an important role in the American market(Cannistraro, et.al., p.60).
Another place where the Italians played ventured into the market was in the coffee field. An Italian by the name Vince developed a filter for extraction of oil from the coffee beans. These filters entered the American market very rampantly. It is estimated that at least 10 million of them are still being sold annually.
They also ventured into the hotel market. For instance, some became chefs. They left a legend in the hospitality market. For instance, chef Boyardee left a legend of being the best in America in making the best spaghetti dinners. He was also known as the best in making the best pizza mix, sauce and pasta. There was also a famous Italian immigrant, who started a restaurant in Cleveland. In 1930, he began a company for canned foods. Throughout the 2nd world war, his company was the biggest supplier of food to the U.S army. This was a step of the Italian immigrants, into the trade market of America.
An Italian immigrant, pepsin began making wagons in 1917. Up to date, this company is still running and is estimated to produce at least 8,000 wagons in a day. The above are just but a few fields in which the immigrants ventured into, in the world of trade.
Secondly, they started taking part in the political systems America. They were beginning with the city politics. The second generation of Italian immigrants became vigorous in politics. They produced some great public figures such as Laguardia, Vito and Caller. Some instances where the immigrants were involving themselves in the American politics include: during the American evaluation. American Italian played an important role in support American colonists.
Secondly, the immigrants played an important role in the American civil wars. A massive number of Italians served as officers in the civil wars. It is estimated that they were more than 100 Italian Americans. More than 200,000 American Italians served the U.S military during the Second World War (Cannistraro, et.al., pp 92-102).
Thirdly, they were able to manipulate the newfound privileges. This included the political and economic influences which created hospitable environment to new immigrants. After the Second World War, the Americans revised their immigration policies. The policies became lighter to the immigrants and more people could migrate into America. The Italian Americans had a privilege, since they had supported the American government during the war. The discrimination went down and with this, they were able to settle better in America, and invest with less fear (Cannistraro,et.al., p.80)
The above strategies worked well for the Italians. However, they did not go undeterred. For instance, there was the major challenge that came with tribalism and racism. The Italians in America had the label “colored”, and so faced discrimination like any other immigrants in America. They were discriminated in many places in America, and so they found it difficult to apply their strategies. For instance, when they tried to enter the American market, initially, their products were undermined, and hence sold at a cheaper price. The popularity of their products only came to grow after a long duration of time and struggle(Morrison,et.al., p. 59).
In conclusion, though the immigrant laws changed, this does not have a great impact on how the Italian Americans are treated. Up to date, many Native Americans still look down upon the nonnative Americans. In other words, we cannot actually argue that the Italian strategies worked out completely for them. There is still some need to reduce the amount of discrimination in America.
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