COMMENT: what did you REALLY learn from this example, in terms of how to approach a task?
I am posting in clear the best (so far) June 8 assignment as a model and to show what kind of standards one can aspire to.
1) You can observe very efficient note-taking.
2) Cartoons:
I don't expect you to do so much work -- quantity-wise; but I hope you will set your standards high enough to try to match it in terms of quality
The comments on the individual cartoons are extremely detailed and go deeply into the materials but, MOST IMPORTANT, they show how it is possible to reflect on one's own thoughts.
In this assignment you can clearly see how the material in front of you eyes (the "text") is ONLY A MIRROR onto which you project your own thoughts. (It's much easier to talk about your personal thought process than to invent arguments about something you know little about.)
Thank you, Yocheved, for an outstanding job.
Yocheved Koschitzki June
8
Task 1: NYT article
·
Author wanted to find more information about a
family murder in Italy in 1800s – details about racism in everyday life more
shocking than the murder
·
Racism even from Italians
·
Current events reminding her about family’s
suffering
·
Her great grandmother came to America for a job
·
Italian women were subjected to systemic rape at
hands of padroni (landlords) – no way to protest because then can’t find work
·
“prima notte” – similar to Roman governors in
Judea (raped brides night before their wedding)
·
In 1800s, half the kids born in Basilicata
“instep” of Italy died before 5 – Italians celebrate 1st birthdays
as a result
·
Subhuman working/living conditions in Italy (very low wages, hard labor, padrones gave
meat 2x a year and bread was mixed with sawdust to stretch it) drove wave of
immigration to US
·
Very expensive to come, some had to sneak in
·
Once they got to America life was still very
hard – menial and dangerous labor
·
Still better than Italy – poor town lost 40%
population to emigration – padroni and Italian govt upset
·
US used racist theories to keep Italians out –
they are physiologically inferior/“natural criminals”
·
Influenced by Italian Dr. Cesare Lombroso – he
said Southern Italians are like primates, savages
·
As a result, US Immigration Act of 1924 banned
most Italian immigration – fell 90%
·
People of Italian descent should keep this in
mind when discussing current political issues like Mexican/Muslim immigration
Task 2: Cartoons
“The Mascot” – This panel of cartoons bothered me because it
felt very manipulative. The goal was first to scare people by showing them
angry looking Italians to scare them, and then showing the “logical” response –
to hunt them down and kill them. I was
surprised at the last one – drowning a group of innocent people alive in a cage
was not something I expected people would draw as a goal.
“The Wop” – this cartoon felt less violent and in a way more
patronizing. It made me feel angry because the Italian is portrayed as the “bad
guy” – he looks stupid and is drooling. The man sitting down getting his shoes
polished looks smug and is watching – I guess to make sure the Italian man did
a good job? If so, that annoyed me because I hate when people watch me work and
that’s even when we can be considered “equal.”
The man watching the Italian man working on his shoes is worse in a way,
because the Italian man probably feels humiliated and degraded already, and
watching him work waiting to criticize him probably just adds to that.
“Directly From the Slums of Europe” – this one was confusing
because a lot more was going on. I got the reference of Italians as “rats” –
unfortunately not surprising to me because that comparison has been made with
regard to my own culture. I don’t understand what Uncle Sam is doing – he looks
a little overwhelmed, and is thinking about the president in the cloud which I
also don’t understand. President McKinley was pro-immigration so why was Uncle
Sam thinking about him?
“Wake Up Sam”! – this cartoon was also confusing until I saw
the commentary after the cartoon. Once I understood the background, I wasn’t
surprised. Unfortunately, I feel like it’s common for people to rile each other
up using fear, so showing Italian immigrants as murderers is a smart, though racist
and bigoted, trick. The “sleeping” policeman is also smart because it gets the
people mad at their own government for ignoring the “problem,” which puts
pressure on politicians to enact laws.
“Why Not Tax Him?” – this cartoon reminded me of modern day
arguments about immigration. Many people are opposed to Mexican immigration
because they claim the immigrants don’t pay their fair share of taxes. It made
me angry because the same outdated arguments used in the past are also used
today which makes me feel like we haven’t made any progress.
“The Padrone” – This
cartoon didn’t really make me feel anything particularly negative. It seems to
be portraying the Italian American “padrones” i.e. landlords as low-life thugs.
Based on my understanding of the NYT article, that’s what they were. The rest
of the people in the cartoon are not drawn in detail so they could be anyone.
Therefore, it doesn’t seem racist or bigoted to me.
“An Age of Infernal Machines, But This the Worst of them
All” – this cartoon made me feel kind of uncomfortable. Many times on the
subway, people come through playing instruments for money. Whenever this
happens I usually try not to make eye contact because it’s uncomfortable.
Although the race/ethnicity of the people isn’t a factor in my discomfort, it
still is similar to the situation in the cartoon. The only reason I have to
believe this is a bigoted cartoon is because the Italian person is drawn darker
than everyone else. I feel like if he would have been drawn white, the cartoon
would not have been as racist.
“Sketch From the Study Window” – this cartoon was also more
neutral for me. At first, I felt bad for the men because it looked like they
were doing hard work, but it didn’t seem racist. The one man facing the front
wasn’t overly caricatured. When I read the description I realized that they
were actually organ grinders and they were supposed to be portrayed as
annoying, but I didn’t get that impression which I think is why the cartoon
didn’t really impact me that much. Also, I didn’t see the louse in the middle
of the street until it was mentioned.
“Making Money” – this
cartoon was amusing to me because of the Italian accents used in the caption,
as well as the mustaches. I was reminded of Mario the Nintendo character. After
I laughed I felt bad because it is derogatory towards Italians by suggesting
they all have money from organ grinders or counterfeit.
New York – This cartoon made me feel sympathetic towards the
Italians because they were pleading to have the law banning them from making a
living revoked Although I think it was intended to make people annoyed at the
begging of these immigrants, it had the opposite effect on me. I felt bad for
the Italians and angry at the mayor and his men, who looked very haughty. The
gate they are standing behind also makes the mayor and his men seem cold and
snobby.
“New Country, Old Jobs”, “Sharpening the Stiletto of One of
New Orlean’s Assassins”, and “A Mafioso Cobbler in the Italian Neighborhood”
are three similar cartoons that made me feel sad and annoyed. They were three
pictures of regular people doing regular things, and then someone had to go and
use them to paint a negative picture of all Italians. It’s annoying to me that
people still assume the worst of everything they see.
“More Italians”? – this cartoon struck a nerve with me
because of the attitudes of the American men talking about the Italian
immigrants. They think of them as greedy and willing to cheat to get ahead.
This reminded me of the many cartoons I’ve seen of Jewish people, portrayed as
sneaky businessmen who are untrustworthy and ambitious. I feel like I can
relate to this cartoon because of that.
“The Fool Pied Piper” – this cartoon is similar to the one
called “Directly From the Slums of Europe”. The only additions are the European
leaders in the background cheering America for taking care of their “problem”
for them. It made me feel like I want to prove to those leaders that bringing
Italians into America was a good decision and benefitted us in the long run.
Task 3: Web Research on The Black Hand
I learned the following from my web research on The Black
Hand: Towards the end of the 19th century and into the beginning of
the 20th century, Italian immigration to the United States increased
dramatically. Many of these new immigrants came from Southern Italy, where
there are many poor, rural villages. The immigrants arrived with very little
assets, and were generally less educated. This means that many of them were
only able to find work as manual laborers. Since they settled in groups, little
neighborhoods populated mostly by Italians popped up. These neighborhoods were
little bubbles of Italian culture with little understanding of American
cultures and systems, including the criminal justice system. Criminals took
advantage of this fear/lack of knowledge about police and extorted wealthier
Italians through fear and intimidation. This method became known as The Black
Hand. It is a common misconception that The Black Hand was an organized
criminal group like a mafia. In reality, many different criminals used Black
Hand methods to extort others. These criminals were not necessarily linked or
working together, they were all just using the same method, which made controlling
them much harder. Black Hand methods included throwing bombs, writing
threatening letters, kidnapping, and others. A criminal would write a note with
demands and a threat. The note would be signed with some form of a hand or a
different threatening image. Black Hand is known for being practiced in New
York City, however it was also used in other cities. In New York City the Black
Hand extortion methods were fought by Joseph Petrosino, an Italian policeman
who was hired to put a stop to Black Hand. He headed a secret police squad to
help him. Soon after the squad was formed, Petrosino was killed while visiting
Italy. However, after 1915, this wave of “Black Hand” crime subsided because of
other factors like tougher sentencing and immigration policy changes.
Task 4: Web Research on New Orleans in 1891
When I started reading the information, I was surprised. I
didn’t realize there was such a significant population of Italian and Sicilian
immigrants in New Orleans, I thought it was mostly French immigrants. It was
interesting to read about the background of the lynchings because of the
political atmosphere surrounding his death. The fighting between the different
factions of Italians and Sicilians was sad because the few violent people on
each side ruined the name of Italians all over the United States. I feel like
many times when a nation or group is struggling or has problems, their problems
are caused or made worse by the infighting, and it seems like that’s what
happened here. I was also surprised by the corruption that seemed to be present
in the police force, with the police and mayor colluding to collect bribes from
brothels and illegal casinos in exchange for protection. Unfortunately, I was
not surprised by what happened after the acquittal of the men accused of
assassinating the chief of police, David Hennessey. The crowd was certain the
men were guilty, and when they were found innocent the crowd was enraged and
became violent. This reminded me of events that have occurred in modern times.
It’s also not surprising that the mob was egged on by racist and provocative
speeches from their leaders, which again, I’ve seen before. It made me angry to
read that the mob was not stopped by the policemen guarding the accused men
even though they had been acquitted, and allowed them to be killed, because the
police should always be expected to protect innocent people from those
situations.
Task 5: Video Short
·
Two men from The Black Hand write a note to the
butcher telling him to pay them $1000 or they will kidnap Maria
(wife/daughter?) and burn down his shop.
·
The butcher gets the note and calls his wife and
daughter to him. His wife panics with him, and then he takes his coat and
leaves somewhere (to tell the police? Pay the ransom?).
·
The butcher is walking on the street with his
daughter when she is suddenly kidnapped by two men in a horse-drawn carriage
(Maria is the daughter). The butcher runs after the wagon (along with some
pedestrians? Hard to see).
·
The kidnappers from Black Hand take Maria inside
a shop which turns out to be their headquarters. Maria is hidden in a bed by
the woman in the gang, who hits her and takes away her coat.
·
Maria tries to escape but makes a noise and
alerts her kidnappers. They beat her and then one almost stabs her but is
stopped by the other two.
·
Meanwhile, two detectives from the NYPD come to
the butcher shop and speak to the butcher. They hide in the shop (freezer?) and
wait for The Black Hand to show up.
·
A man with a gun comes and points it at the
butcher. He slowly puts something on the floor (the ransom money?) and as the
man comes to pick it up he is arrested by the detectives.
·
Someone slips Maria a note to unlock the door.
She does, and the headquarters are raided by the police. Maria is saved and
reunited with her family while The Black Hand gang is arrested.
Task 6: Son of Italy
Notes on the sequence of events:
·
(Chapter 1) Spends some time going over early
childhood memories- his first memory is his grandmother’s death, small leaky
house, childhood fights
·
One time he was accused of throwing a stone at a
kid, ran away to under a bridge, was found by the boy’s sister. After she left
he had a dream about climbing a huge mountain, it broke and he fell off
·
He comes home, terrified of what the villagers
will do to him, it starts to rain. He thinks his family won’t protect him, but
when he gets home his mother comforts him
·
(Chapter 2) Born in 1894, old hamlet near Mount
Majella
·
When he was 6 he wanted to walk with his mother
to the next village – she said it’s too hard but he goes anyway. On the way
there is a thunderstorm, they witness an old man -think he’s a wizard- struck
by lightning = first tragic experience
·
Activities of childhood – looking for nests and
destroying people’s orchards
·
He wrote poems
·
Sent to school at 7 but absent a lot to help
parents, still not behind and learned more from elders (Melengo, Alberto)
·
Stopped school at 12, like most kids – had to
help at home/work
·
Although life was hard, very poor, he was still
happy
·
(Chapter 3) Talking about beggars who came to
his town, a strange scary woman rumored to be a vampire – him and his friends
test by putting salt on her head but never succeed, she scares them away. One
day she talks to the villagers about her powers
·
At a holiday feast the men are drunk and they
talk about vampires, yell at wives not to give the strange woman food – she
appears and they think she was listening in
·
One woman refuses to give food and is cursed by
the witch (beggarwoman), her baby gets sick soon after and people think it’s the
witch’s fault
·
He imagines about piercing her with a needle
(cure the vampirism), asks his friend to help
·
Him and his friend Antonio try and fail to stab
her, instead stab an old lady
·
Meanwhile baby gets sicker, people give the
witch gifts to cure him and no effect
·
He meets the witch/hag on a mountain, pities her
(first time – usually repulsed) and gives her food. She is injured and upset,
cries and mourns. People in hamlet hear, they are suspicious that he has been
affected
·
The baby dies, and the witch is found beaten
almost to death, dies
·
He writes a poem about it – its published (start of poetry career?)
