- Cartoons
- The Black Hand (short)
- Son of Italy
1) What kind of image is beginning to take shape in your mind about the history of Italian immigration?
2)
The first student to post will comment on the cartoons.
The next student will comment on the short (Black Hand).
The next up will comment on Son.
Then the cycle will start again, round-robin fashion.
Now connect the answer you gave in 1) to a SMALL DETAIL (not a major theme) in the text you were assigned and explain how it reinforces your understanding of the issues at hand.
REPLY: reply only to a comment that tells you something you had not thought about.
There is no doubt that the Immigration of Italians to America was turbulent. When I picture what it was like to be an Italian immigrant, I imagine a group of weary, yet hopeful travelers searching for new home filled with opportunities. Instead, they are greeted with a reception fit for degenerate criminals. The sentiment non-Italian Americans had towards these incoming Italians was best reflected in the cartoons that were produced during the late 19th and early 20th century.
ReplyDeleteRacist cartoons directed toward Italians immigrants portrayed them as "ignorant, insular, superstitious, lazy, prone to crime, ignorant of the law, ignorant of democracy and prone to righting wrongs with personal vendettas and acts of violence." The one detail that continues to stand out to me was the way Italians were depicted: dark, big headed, knife-wielding brutes with bushy mustaches and red bandanas. This depiction is so silly and yet, it served as a powerful way to demean.
I agree with Mehdi: the immigration of Italians to America was unsettling. In learning about The Black Hand, I realized how their stigmatization led to their beatings, assaults, and even death. They were already seen as being savage beasts who were criminals. The Black Hand does reveal criminal activity, so their stigmatization isn't so far off in judgment. However, it is wrong to judge an entire group of people based on the acts of some "bad" people. The Black Hand reflects the difficulty for Italians to earn a living and make money in this new country, so they resorted to criminal activity. The video on The Black Hand showcases Italians in a very ignorant light. The two gangsters in the comedic video look air-headed and nonchalant. The writing of the letter is seen to be a jocular activity. They do not actually seem intimidating or like they have the will to carry out their threats. Instead, this is seen as clever joke to make some money. The Black Hand starts to paint an image of Italians as low-class, ignorant, foolish, and sneaky. It seems as if they only came to America to scam others. It's interesting how this contrasts to the first few chapters I have read of the "Son of Italy." Pascal's family seems to be very honest and hardworking. They are so distraught over their inability to make ends meet, and it takes a toll on Pascal. The moment of Chapter 4 when his mom is crying is climactic in that their decision for the father and son to come to America was highly upsetting. Their family was being broken apart, and they all knew the move would be difficult. Their intentions were honest and hopeful because they truthfully believed that emigrating was the only way to survive. They were so disappointed by their unfulfilling life in Italy. The portrayal of Italian immigrants assumes the complete opposite of the truth Pascal speaks of. Therefore, it's important for everyone to realize that the main intentions for immigrants to come to America is honest.
ReplyDelete1. The image beginning to take shape in my mind about the history of Italian-American immigration is great struggle. Italians left the discrimination in Europe just to come to America and receive the same or even worse treatment. They immigrated to the United States in hopes of a better life for them and their families and better treatment. But instead they were faced with racism that seemed to follow them all the way from Europe.
ReplyDelete2. "Son of Italy" shines a light of the poverty faced by Pascal and his family and neighbors in Italy. They lived in small homes, often having to sleep on bed. Children were taught to work from an early age and would leave school to help their family make a living. At this time in Italy poverty was greater than education. "Son of Italy" reinforces my statements on the history of Italian immigration. In Italy Italians struggled and lived in poverty. They were low in status and had very little in their possession.
This can help us understand why they were treated with little to no regard in America. Their status in Italy seems to have determined their status and treatment in America. They were taken advantage of and mistreated because the American government knew Europe considered them to be their weakest people. So Americans got away with labeling them as criminals, rapist and so on. Everything has a ripple effect.
I never thought about it in a way of the "ripple effect". It is interesting to think now that because they were low in status in Europe, people just associated them with being weak and poor people so they treated and considered them in that way in America.
DeleteImmigration of Italians to the United States was degrading and horrific to say the very least. Imagine emigrating from a place that only wants you because of your labor and being an immigrant in a new place that is suppose to be a safe haven but rather is full of rejection, hate, and violence towards your people. The racist cartoons against Italians caused and perpetuated public and governmental backlash resulting in unfathomable psychological abuse and unsafe territories for families simply seeking refuge.
ReplyDeleteItalians being depicted as rats sends a subliminal message to the reader that they are an infestation, the source of many problems in communities, and that they should be exterminated. This kind of content played a role in influencing the public's aversion to Italians.
I used to think about immigration as kind of a straightforward process - you leave your home for a better life, get on the boat, get off in America, and life gets better. Now I realize that immigration wasn't a smooth and easy process. Just because the family is now in America doesn't mean their lives are automatically improved. In reality, the struggles faced in America were sometimes just as hard.
ReplyDeleteOne image that really stands out in my mind to remind me of this is a scene from "The Black Hand" where Maria is kidnapped. She's hidden on the floor in what looks like a sleeping bag, covered up. That exact moment, short as it was, probably wasn't so different from what her life may have looked like before, if she immigrated from a poor area in Italy. For those few minutes, it's as if she never left Italy. This shows that immigration was not the answer to everyone's problems - the struggles continued once the immigrants got to America.
The point made about how Maria was hidden on the floor in a sleeping bad covered up and how it was probably what her life in Italy looked like made me say wow. I completely did not think of it in that sense, that she was probably reliving her life from Italy only being stuck in a room with strange men, not having the ability to choose her actions. I also agree with what Hazel said that everyone migrated here from Italy for a better life, but the grass is not always greener and even though they did it to have a better life it did not always turn out that way.
DeleteThank you Yocheved for making this comment about Maria's life here after immigration. I never consciously acknowledged that I once thought of immigration as simple. I realize now that I grew up thinking that it was almost magical. When I thought of my grandparents boarding a boat overseeing the ocean and arriving to this new land, I felt joy and excitement. However, I learned how much of a struggle it was as I grew up and heard more immigrant stories. It's interesting because when watching the short, I didn't really think about what Maria might be thinking. After all-- she was kidnapped!
DeleteThat is such a great and insightful point regarding the girl being forced to lay down on the floor and possibly stirring up unwanted memories of her past. The grass isn't always greener on the other side.
ReplyDeleteI am beginning to realize that the immigration of Italians was very conflicting. I say this because their Italians back home (at least those who were well-off) wanted them to leave and go to America. In a sense, they were not wanted in their own country. Then, they make their way to the U.S where they are constantly faced with discrimination and fall victim to unpleasant stereotypes that were nowhere near true. I am also realizing that the immigration of Italians did not simply take place because Italians had a strong desire to leave their country. As with any group of people that move to another country, the migration was a result of NEEDING a better life.
ReplyDeleteIn "Son of Italy" we see this constant theme of a struggle. Children were put to work so that they can help sustain their families. The village people relied on the weather for their income (not directly, of course. However, the weather would affect the crops that grew and this in turn affected how much money the village people can make. And although many of the village people were poor, they still had it in their hearts to give to the less fortunate. This theme in son of Italy goes back to my comment above that the stereotypes about Italians being criminals or thieves are incorrect. Especially since "Son Of Italy" depicts the lives of, what I assume are, common Italians. Lastly, the poverty experienced by Italians in Italy reinforces the idea that they didn't simply make the decision to move the the U.S because they wanted to. They did it because this was their best shot at a better life.
When I think about anyone immigrating to America to try and better their lives for themselves and their family, I think of them being hopeful but also having a little fear in them which is normal. After seeing and reading about what Italians immigrating had to go through, it is absolutely heartbreaking to hear. These people just wanted to get a better job but instead were discriminated against and were victims of racism where there was no need for. They were automatically labeled as prone to crime and bad people, even when they did not get a chance to even prove to everyone that they weren’t.
ReplyDeleteThe cartoons reinforce my understanding about the immigration of Italians because they were treated like they were street trash, they show how badly the Italians were treated and the reputation that they had. They were beaten, arrested and put into cages even if they didn't do anything. They were depicted as apes coming from the “Slums of Europe”, when they were just trying to come to America to better their lives and get a better job for themselves.
The image of what I thought Italian immigration was before reading all these texts and the image that is beginning to form in my mind now is completely different. I originally thought that Italians migrated here hopeful and full of life ready to embrace the challenges that a new life would give them just like every other immigrants faced but instead they faced so many difficulties that were added to the already present difficulties of migrating to a new and strange land. The history of Italian immigration now I imagine women trying to escape the fate of being raped so that there husbands would still have a job, or the hungry children trying to find a way out of working there whole lives on someone else’s land and just being paid 40 cents a day.
ReplyDeleteA small detail that stuck with me from the Black Hand was that Maria was kidnapped and held in a room against her will and she could not do anything about it. This could not have been much different from her life in Italy and how she did not have much control over what happened to her there either. If Maria was to be married in Italy she would have had to sleep with her husbands employer against her will anyway, so this situation must have felt almost identical to her. She could not control her fate no matter how much she tried she had to allow men that were surrounding her decide how she would end up whether good or bad.
Wow, Nicoletta. I failed to make the connection between Maria's inability to control her situation and the practice of prima notte in Italy. However, don't you think Maria was able to help her own situation? She read the letter that was pushed through the side door and unlocked both doors. While the two situations you describe are definitely similar to some extent, I don't know if characterizing Maria with a lack of control in her situation is ideal.
DeleteItalian immigration to America was a struggle. Some immigrants could be categorized as refugees, especially the Italians of Southern Italy. They left a tough situation in their homeland to come to America where they were treated arguably worse.
ReplyDeleteBy looking at the cartoons, I see it was very difficult for Italians to immigrate to America. I'm sure the process of getting a visa was an issue itself, but once the immigrants come to America, they're facing racism, fear and discrimination from other ethic groups. The cartoons showed Italians as criminals, as cockroaches, and thieves.
I believe you were supposed to comment on Pascal D'Angelo: Son of Italy.
Delete1) Italian immigration to America is a lot harder than I ever thought. I did not know that Italians went through so many different struggles just to immigrate. They were put under the microscope and classified as criminals. The way they are represented in videos, cartoons and articles is not the Italians I have been around. I believe they were highly misrepresented.
ReplyDelete2) I would like to compare this to the cartoon where the Italian shoe-shine is represented as a gorilla. In this cartoon we see that Italians are viewed as animals, even though he is working hard to make a living as a show-shine. All the other cartoons represent Italians as criminals, rats, animals, lazy and dirty. When this was not true, since most Italians immigrated to have freedom and be able to work.
Images of Italian Americans much like other "tribes" history is different depending on who is telling the story. All tell the story of a group of people who were not accepted by the society in which they migrated to. All also tell the story of this certain group of people being looked down upon and treated like scum. Hard workers who received no credit, struggling beings who adjusted and readjusted in order to fit into this new society only to be mocked, ridiculed, and paid pennies.
ReplyDeleteThis illustration is consistent with "Son of Italy" where we see the theme of struggle and poverty. The book talks about children in the workforce, working to help their families survive. Rain vs droughts affecting their ability to sustain the crops that grew and that affecting how much a family would have to sell to make money. Son of Italy paints a picture of hard working people not thieves like the other illustrations. The poverty theme is consistent through all of the publications but the other made it seem like because of Italians poverty they were basically made to be thieves, and gangsters and that by doing such crimes they enjoyed it.
I remember reading in the NYT article that Italy was happy that the poor and the worst kinds of Italians were leaving and then when the best and hard working started to leave the Italian government regretted it. That sounds like the history of people who struggled and migrated for a better life, not people who came to get a life that was far worse as they often got the worst jobs and did them with pride.
As far as the cartoon where crimes were committed and the Italians would leave the black hand symbol behind, I compare this to the Black hand film. Italians were painted as these huge criminals, who spent their days plotting to extort people and hurt their families in order to make money to feed their own. It was a consistent illustration that was not true if you compare it to what we are reading in sons of Italy where we see details of the struggle to "earn" not "take". They make it like Italians have no since of pride and I just don't believe that.
I had not thought of tribes in a more encompassing term to represent a large group of people not accepted by the land they have immigrated to. That was definitely an interesting perspective, one that I will keep in mind. If you don't mind me asking, how did you come to this definition? What were your thought processes?
DeleteI am starting to see the Italians as people who have greatly suffered trying to earn a better life. I see them as hard working people who have been pushed down into a never ending poverty. No matter how hard they worked they seem to not get out of the bad places they have encountered. Innocent people trying to find a better life, and people pushing them away just because of media and cartoons. It is a shame how easily people seem to fall into the traps of the government without even realizing it.
ReplyDeleteIn Son of Italy, you get the perspective of how people actually suffered. Little kids were not able to get an education because they had to work in order to earn a little extra money for the rent. The little boy slept in a tiny bed with both his parents and his brother, squeezed tightly together. What other choice did they have. The book really gives you a sense of how hard they actually worked. As you read on, you see that this family is not composed of bad people, they are just people trying to survive. They are trying to make just a little bit more money so they don’t have to live in these terrible conditions, yet they are portrayed as horrible people simple because there are too many of them.
I am beginning to realize that Italian immigration is an integral part of United States history, and even world history, Yet, I am only learning about it now, when I opted to take a class on the subject manner in college. Italian workers in Italy and in the United States, alike, were treated as subhuman. In the United States, in particular, Italian-Americans were dehumanized as infestations to this "great nation." Although Italian-Americans now fall under the white category, they should look back on their history before supporting Muslim and Mexican bans.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the cycle, it would be my turn to post on Pascal D'Angelo: Son of Italy. In this book, we see that D'Angelo's father has decided to move to America. He was not in search for riches, but rather in search for sustenance for his family. Some Italian-Americans in modern day America, as suggested by the NY Times article, support the Muslim and Mexican bans. However, they are forgetting that they were also once considered an infestation to America, as seen in the political cartoons. For them to treat Muslims and Mexicans in the same manner is an irony. D'Angelo's mother murmurs, "I cannot blame him. He works so hard. And we never seem to get any better." (47) Well, the same is true for the many Mexicans and Muslims immigrating to the United States now. They are all attempting to escape their hard-working, yet fruitless lives to better support their families. The author describes the tears that the family members try to hold back. The same holds true for the families that are separated through the Mexican border, and god forbid, a wall. We learn throughout all our readings and media so far that the lives of Italian-Americans then mimics the life of Mexican and Muslim immigrants now.
Seems as if I posted a little after Mariam, so in terms of the cycle, it is now my turn to focus on the political cartoons. If we look at the political cartoon captioned "Wake up, Sam," we see that the Black Hand is shown to murder a respectable United States citizen. That is the same image highlighted in the media of Mexicans and Muslims. However, the actions of a select few cannot define the whole race. As the Black Hand did not represent all Italian-Americans, the few Muslim extremists or the few Mexican thieves can not be used to represent the whole population.
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