10

Italians in Chicago

J.H. Bartels, a German traveler of the eighteenth century, describes admirably the spirit that animates the Italians. He wrote,

I find here people of the brightest intelligence. Under the cruel yoke which hangs upon their necks, it is naturally hard for them to raise their heads. But their means of supporting the yoke and courage which constantly animates them, is the most eloquent evidence of their intelligence. You will never find an Italian giving way to cowardly sobs. He will complain to you of his burden, but he paints his picture with such exactness that you are forced to admit that he sees to the bottom, and though he bends under his burden because a sword hangs over his head, he tries at the same time to discover ways and means of freeing himself from the burden. (Schiavo, 21)

The exodus of the Italians to America happened in the second-half of the nineteenth century. Groups of people from a few regions instead of the whole national area of Italy immigrated to the United States (See Map One). The cause of the population boom was simple: the emigrants followed their relatives or friends who had gone to America before and benefitted from the move. Italians coming to America did not come because they were looking for a political freedom; they had all they wanted in Italy. There was a sort of spirit of adventure in this exodus that gave Italians the urge to come. “An Italian knew that his life in the new world would be one of sorrows, of sacrifices, of humiliations, of self denial. But the desire to change his economic status was by far much stronger than any obstacle that he was to overcome. The myth of America had already gotten hold of him” (Schiavo 21).

Specifically, for Chicago the nineteenth century was the quintessential boomtown. By the start of the twentieth century, immigrants and their children made up almost 80 percent of Chicago’s population (Guglielmo 14). Among the many immigrant groups coming to Chicago were Italians. Chicago’s Italian population soared between 1880 and World War I. In 1870, there were 552 foreign-born Italians in Chicago, by 1890, the population had grown to 5, 685; by 1920, it had grown another ten times to 59, 215. By then, Italians were the fourth largest foreign-born group in Chicago behind Poles, Germans, and Russians (Guglielmo, 14). Chicago’s popularity with Italians allowed the city to grow and become more appealing to Italians who may have already immigrated to the United States. Many who arrived in New York City chose to stay there; however, the Italian boom in Chicago attracted more Italians to move there. This boom caused many rifts in the old communities within Chicago and pushed some to its borders. Italians sprawled out within the city and new communities sprouted up in Chicago. The following essay will not only discuss the geographical positionings of Italian immigrants in Chicago, but also draw attention to the important influences the Italians had on the city of Chicago by means of tradition, way of life, work, and politics.

From 1870 on, more than twenty-six million Italians officially declared their intention to emigrate and of these millions, a fraction went to Chicago. There were two primary groups of Italians who came to Chicago. The first group was young men who were in search of temporary work and who had little intention of settling in the United States permanently (Guglielmo 15). They wanted to find work, save their earnings, and send them to their families back in Italy. Some of these men would travel back and forth between Italy and the United States; others would stay in the states for a few years, make enough money to buy land back in Italy and then return to their family. Alessandro Mastro-Valerio, an Italian-language newspaper editor from Chicago’s Near West Side, noted in 1895, “Italians do not come to America to find a home, as do the British, but to repair the exhausted financial conditions in which they were living in Italy. They leave the mother country with the firm intention of going back to it” (Guglielmo 16). In 1908 alone, returnees out-numbered immigrants by almost two to one. On the other hand, many migrants stayed. These families were the second major group of Italian migrants.

This was how it was for my grandfather’s family. Anthony Ventura is not an Italian immigrant but his parents were. His parents were both from Sicily. Before WWI, his father, Louis Ventura, and his soon to be father-in-law traveled to Savannah, Illinois to work, make money, and eventually go back to Italy. When World War I started, Louis was drafted into the Italian army and had to return to Sicily. After the war, Louis married Rosa Castagna, the daughter of the man who traveled with him to Illinois on their first trip. After they were married, Louis returned to Savannah, Illinois to continue working on the land he had started. He told Rosa to wait in Italy and he would send her money. However, my great-grandmother was a headstrong independent woman and in 1919 when Rosa was nineteen years old, she decided to bring herself to the United States without telling Louis. Louis picked her up from New York and they settled in Chicago. His plan of returning to Italy never happened because they started a life in Chicago.

As an industrial center, a fast-growing city, and the busiest of U.S railroad hubs, Chicago offered immigrants who were interested in making money many options. Italians could find jobs in many of Chicago’s factories and construction projects. Italians chose Chicago because many of them had family and paesani (friends) already there in the city. Prior to their trip, many immigrants were in contact with any friends and family members who might have been able to find them housing and jobs prior to their arrival. Not only did these connections help them find jobs and housing, but it also helped with the initial move to Chicago and accumulate the migrants to this new town.

Upon arrival in the United States, immigrants had a few choices to choose from when it came to their ethnicity. Many immigrants chose to move into neighborhoods where there were people from their same ethnicity. This is how it was for my grandmother. My grandmother grew up in Roseland, Illinois, which was, at the time, an all-Italian neighborhood. My grandmother did not grow up speaking Italian but she grew up with all of the authentic Italian traditions, food, and festivals. The next way of life would be acculturation, which is when a person keeps their original home culture but also adapts and accepts the new culture. Italian immigrants found their homes close to their jobs wherever that may be; meaning Italians could be living in an Irish neighborhood, Polish, or any other ethnicity other than Italian. Even though these immigrants were not living with Italians, many of them would keep their own traditions and language while growing up. This is how life was for my grandfather. His family lived in an Irish neighborhood; however, they themselves spoke Italian and kept the Italian traditions in their family. The third option was assimilation, which is when a person replaces their original home culture with their new culture. It was this form that many early immigrants experienced when they migrated to the United States. Through this form, many immigrants felt that they could better adapt to their new world and fit in. By learning about new traditions and attempting to learn the language, immigrants started to feel more a part of their new city as opposed to a visitor. “One of the most influential institutions in the assimilation process among Italians of the Near West Side was the Hull House, a pioneering settlement house founded in 1889 by Jane Addams and her friend, when they rented some rooms in an old mansion at Polk and Halsted” (Eastwood 110). This was a leader in providing tools for the assimilation of immigrants by providing classes in English, cooking, sewing, baby care, citizenship, and dancing. There were social evenings and ethnic feasts. Many Italians who lived in Hull House felt it gave them an easier opportunity to adjust to this new life and become a part of their city rather than a visitor.

“One of the most obvious factors that shaped Chicago’s social geography seemed to be its role as a magnet for newcomers, with each new group establishing a highly visible presence in some piece of the city and the city overall growing as a mosaic of cultural tiles, a collection of discrete, and durable ethnic cells, resistant to rapid change” (Keating 41).

By World War I, the Chicago area had nearly two-dozen Italian communities both close to downtown in the river wards as well as further away in Kensington, Melrose Park, and Chicago Heights (See Map Two). The communities closest to the river housed the largest number of Italians in the early years. Two of the oldest communities were located on the Near North Side and Polk Depot south of the Loop. This North Italian enclave had 455 residents in 1884 and never grew too much more than twice that number. South of these settlements around Dearborn Station was another small Italian colony called Polk Depot. Many Chicagoans referred to this area as the “Dago District” (Guglielmo 17). Italian Chicago eventually expanded beyond these two colonies, moving west across the southern branch of the Chicago River. Italians clustered on the Near West Side, creating Chicago’s largest Italian neighborhood. The old Nineteenth Ward had twenty-five thousand Italians by 1910, a third of all Chicago’s Italians at the time. Many Italians settled west of Polk Depot but a large number went south into the Near South Side and Armour Square areas. These areas were populated by a large number of Southern Italians: “Riciglianese in Armour Square and Sicilians from Nicosia and Termini on the Near South Side” (Guglielmo 18). The final two major Italian colonies of the river ward were “Little Sicily” on the Near North Side and the Grand Avenue community on its west across from the Chicago River. This small neighborhood had nearly thirteen thousand Italians by 1910, making it the second most populous Italian colony in Chicago due to the immense amount of Sicilian immigrants who come to Chicago at that time; Sicilians made up a majority of the Italian groups who lived in this area. The Grand Avenue community on the Near Northwest Side was the third largest of Chicago’s Italian colonies with 11,500 Italians in 1910. This neighborhood had some of the most variety of Italians living in it with immigrants from Genoa, Tuscany, Basilicata, Rome, Venice, Campania, Abruzzo, Apulia, and Sicily (Guglielmo 19). This was also a neighborhood with the highest welfare cases in the city and welfare agencies considered “Little Sicily” the poorest neighborhood in Chicago (See Map Three). It was in this neighborhood also where integration was starting to become a rapid change. In efforts to try to stop integration, Pastor Luigi Giambastini persuaded the Italian community to buy into public housing. “This project bore the name of both an Illinois governor, Green, and the Italian saint who had lived in Chicago, Cabrini” (Candeloro 19). Unfortunately his plan did not work and integration went forward, causing many Italians to move out of the area and more African Americans to move in; thus what we have today as what was the Cabrini-Green projects, which are now torn down. In total, there were seven river ward colonies and these constituted the core of early Italian Chicago, providing homes for two-thirds of its population in 1910 (Candeloro 19).

Italians also formed communities in other areas inside and just outside of Chicago (See Map Four). On the Far South Side, there were different settlements around Kensignton-Pullman-Roseland area, South Deering, West Englewood, Greater Grand Crossing, and Blue Island. Many Italian immigrants were drawn to this area by work in the Pullman shops, the Illinois Central Railroad yards and construction. Further south of these communities was another Italian Colony in Chicago Heights. This area was populated by migrants from Sicily, Calabria, Abruzzo, and Lazio, and had two Italian neighborhoods, East Side and Hungry Hill. These neighborhoods had over three thousand Italian residents in 1910, making up 20 percent of the town’s population at the time. Another important set of Italian communities were located west of the river wards in places like Cicero, Twenty-fourth and Oakley and Melrose Park. Out of these three the two most populated areas were Melrose Park and Twenty-fourth and Oakley. Melrose Park was a secondary settlement community populated mainly by Italians moving not from Italy but more likely from another part of Chicago. By 1910, the town had over one thousand Italians from regions like Basilicata, Campania, Sicily, Calabria and the Marches (Guglielmo 20). “The community became best known for its annual feast of La Madonna del Carmine, which drew record numbers of Italians from all over Chicagoland and quickly became the most popular of its kind in the area” (Guglielmo 20). Twenty-fourth and Oakley was a different kind of Italian community. Most of the Italians here came from the North, almost all from Tuscany. “Taken together, Italian immigrants settled in a wide variety of communities during their early years in Chicago” (Guglielmo 21). These Italian communities helped Chicago grow and expand its borders. It also introduced itself as a very multicultural city (See Map Five). Chicago is more than an assembly of cultural chunks; its parts are ever changing, and its multicenteredness is rooted deep in the way it grew (Keating, 42).

The standard of living of the immigrants that preceded the Italians was very low. Many of the communities bordered the stockyards and the conditions of the stockyard district have been known worldwide due to the novel called The Jungle written by Upton Sinclair. Unfortunately, my grandfather lived behind a section of the meatpacking factories on 41st and Root Street in Canaryville. Due to the fact that my great-grandfather did not speak English, the man who sold him their house took advantage of him. It was not until their neighbor died that they moved onto 42nd street into a better house, although it was still located behind the factories. When my grandparents first got married, my grandmother could not sleep at his house because she could hear the animals dying. Italians were not greeted with the best of best conditions when they settled in Chicago. “If we add that the sections in which the Italians settled had been for generations the seat of rampant vice, and of the worst types of political corruption, we may form in our mind a vague picture of the wretched conditions with which the Italians were confronted when they settled in Chicago” (Schiavo 32).

Starting around Clark and Adams and the Plymouth Center, living conditions for the Italians were below average. This district was the red light district of Chicago, housing many Italians in old houses of prostitution. From Clark and Polk, the Italians kept moving west until where many of them are today, which is considered “Little Italy” located near Halsted and Taylor. This area contained about 25,000 Italians, one-third of the city’s Italians with immigrants from all over the country (Candeloro 22). One of the surveys which was done on that area noted that the sanitary conditions were fair (Schiavo 33). Social conditions were by far worse than sanitary conditions in this area in 1893. There was a large “criminal district which ranks as one of the most openly and flagrantly vicious in the civilized world, and west of the river the poorest and probably the most crowded section of Chicago” (Schiavo 33). The tenements that Italians occupied were filthy and rotten with foul smells and dilapidated walls. The sewer-pipes were broken and there were piles of garbage, which caused diseases. On top of all of this, children filled every space available, working and playing, eating and sleeping, and bustling in and out of every room and door. These were no conditions to live in or raise a family. From these conditions, many immigrants caught incurable diseases such as tuberculosis and other diseases of the lungs. The mortality among children and infants was high at this time due to these conditions. By 1900, the conditions had not improved any. Many houses were neglected with need of much repair that went unresolved. “Bad hygienic conditions, evil associations, and the collapse of home life produce criminals. Many Italians, Jews, Poles and Bohemians lost their children to criminality” (Schiavo 34). These children were brought up in toxic situations where they could hear every word and see every action that was done and learned from it. “No one who becomes a part of the life in these tenements can escape the contaminated and corrupt atmosphere” (Schiavo 34). Between 1910 and 1920, the Italian population in that district increased only slightly until today where there are only about 10,000 Italians still living there. Another old district that housed Italians in deplorable conditions was the old 22nd ward, also known as “Little Hell”. These houses had rooms with insufficient lighting and running water, which in the summer time turned to a cess-pool with mephitic gases (Schiavo 35). Even with these horrific living conditions, the Italian immigrant pursued his dream of making a life in Chicago. Their main interest above all was family.

For my grandmother, her life in Chicago was one that was surrounded by family and paesani. My great great grandparents emigrated from Italy to Chicago [footnoteRef:2]in order to improve their economic status. My great great grandfather received a job in the coalmines and on the railroads, while my great great grandmother worked small jobs her whole life. Neither of them knew each other at the time of their migration but both came separately with other paesani from their villages. Both of them lived in Roseland, a very Italian neighborhood where both of them knew people who already lived there. The one aspect of Italian immigrants that is very special is that everyone helped out everyone. As mentioned earlier, many immigrants would get in contact with paesani prior to coming to America. My great great grandparents were married in 1902 and had two boys and three girls. My great-grandmother grew up on 116th and Indiana in Roseland and went to school until she was in 6th grade (See Map Six, Point A). After that, she and her other sisters and the rest of the girls in the town started working in onion fields on 127th and Cottage Grove (See Map Six Point B). At 15, my great grandmother, Antionette Alfano, was married to a man who had come from Italy, Vincenzo Gallulo, who was 15 years her senior. Fortunately for my great-grandfather, being an Italian immigrant who spoke broken English, he was able to find a decent paying and steady job throughout the Depression as a mechanic. My great-grandmother spoke Italian because of how many Italians there were in the neighborhood, and also to speak to her parents. My grandmother’s oldest sisters could speak some Italian as well to communicate with them. My grandmother, Maria Ventura, was born in 1930, being the fourth of seven children. My great-grandfather died in 1936, and Joseph, the youngest son, was born in 1937; Vincenzo never knew Antionette was pregnant with him. Through everything, family remained most important. My great great grandmother, Carmella, lived with Antionette and Vincenzo when her husband died; Vincenzo took care of Carmella providing her with a home and money. The paesani who took care of my great great grandparents when they first arrived in Roseland, all stuck together and spent evenings together. Their families would have families and everyone would go to each other’s houses for gatherings. Everyone was your “cousin”. Sunday after church was when spaghetti was served and at night the kids would play in the streets. To my grandmother, Roseland was the greatest place to grow up because of how loving and welcoming everyone was in the neighborhood. [2: We have no documentation of their immigration dates, however we know that they were married in Chicago in 1902. Interesting enough, there had been a lack of communication when it came to filling out immigration papers upon the arrival of my great grandfather due to him being a Southern Italian and most people in Southern Italy cannot communicate with people from Northern Italy. The immigration offices wrote down as much as they could understand; this allowed it to be difficult to find my great grandfather’s immigration papers because of the incorrect information. ]

“Over a six square block area, you would have a network of people who were either your brothers, sisters, or cousins. Then a step from that would be not blood; not always blood relatives but through some ritual had become their godparents or through standing up for somebody’s wedding and then your paesani and then your friends and then those people would have been spread out through the neighborhood. So you would be able to walk throughout the neighborhood and know people on all different blocks or in different areas” – (Casa Italia Cultural Museum)

Sunday was not just a day of rest for Italian immigrants; it was a day full of activities involving families, paesani, and neighbors all gathering together. Religious parades, family dinners, street festivals, meetings of local clubs and organizations were centered in the ethnic colony and the Italians were a prime example (Miller 298). There were numerous Italian festivals what took place at the various churches there was in Chicagoland , such as Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Feast in Melrose Park, Santa Maria Incoronata Procession in Chinatown, and San Roco Feast in Stone Park. In Roseland, St. Anthony Feast was a very important festival to take place; this was the festival my grandmother took part of as a child growing up in Roseland. These feasts served as social gatherings for families and neighbors from all over. Italian neighborhood used many different situations as social events for everyone to get together. There were various Italian orchestras and bands in which many immigrants participated in to branch out and meet other Italians. Some communities formed clubs to be a part of such as Fellowship Club or bocce club. These social clubs and activities were essential to Italian immigrant’s livelihood because it allowed for everyone to connect and keep their heritage alive.

When it came to organizations, the Italian was the ultimate organizer. “Penniless, almost illiterate, without any training whatsoever, the Italian will put up organizations that will astound the most consummate promoter” (Schiavo 55). Italian leaders felt it important to get them out in the social world and attempt to promote themselves around Chicago. The Chicago branch of the Italians in American urban organization created a mutual benefit for those living in Chicago. The first was the Italian Society of Union and Brotherhood, which took care of the mutual benefit and honored the Patron Saint through organized festas. There were never any other functions besides those of mutual benefit and pleasure clubs (Schiavo 57). Their associations were strictly the product of pooer classes and to a certain extent a reproduction of the organizations existing among the middle class in Italy (Schiavo 57). By 1927, there were over two hundred Italian mutual benefit societies in Chicago. A very interesting Italian club in Chicago is the “Club Maria Adelaide”. This club may be called the “Italian Beneficent Society of Chicago” and is well known for its famous semi-annual dance-bunco and card parties that it gives at fashionable hotels in the city (Schiavo 60). This club is interested in social service work, educational work, Americanization work, and child welfare work. The real work of the club is Americanization and social work. Italians are gladly assisted to secure their naturalization papers and are enlightened as to the principles and the workings of American government and democracy (Schiavo 60). Many Italians acquired this knowledge, along with social and education at Hull House. According to the 40th yearbook of Hull House, Italians have played an important part in the following organizations: West Side Sportsmen’s Athletic Association, The Italian Woman’s Club, Circolo Italiano, Red Cross Chapter, Allegros, The Rangers, The Ravens, The Hull House Boys’ Band, Columbian Society, The Delta Rho Tau Club, Golden Age, and Eleanora Duse Dramatic Club. The Italians have not contributed only to Italian causes. American appeals have always found the Italians ready to “chip in” their share to help out. Whether Italians help out voluntarily, or through labor, the Italian was one of the hardest working immigrant groups to pass through Chicago.

As stated previously, many Italian immigrants came to Chicago to work and return to Italy (See Table One). To Italians, work was more than a job; it fulfilled a man’s duty to his family. Deprived of decent opportunities to earn a living in Italy, immigrants came to Chicago for “bread and work” with an enormous work ethic (Candeloro 11). Chicago was frantically building its infrastructure of waterways, sewage and road systems, the rail network and housing, trying to keep up with the population growth. At the turn of the century, 50% of the “gang laborers” on the public work projects were Italian, including my great-grandfather. When my grandfather’s father came to Chicago, he received a job working on the Wabash Railroad working in a section gang of all Italians. He stayed with that job all of his working life. My grandmother’s grandfather also worked on the railroad and in the coalmines when he first arrived in Chicago. Laborers for the railroad and construction were in great demand and the Italian immigrants fit the bill. Many Italian immigrants found work through the padrone system, which was a class of labor developed by immigrants who had been there earlier; these men would provide meals and beds for workers. Many of them were dishonest and took advantage of the employer and the employee. Eventually, the padrone system became obsolete by 1900 when family/community institutions took over.

It was unusual to find Italian employees indoors in factories. A considerable number of Italians worked at the Pullman Plant in Roseland. Not many Italian immigrants worked in the meatpacking plants, even though it was a major employer of immigrants. Many Poles and Slovaks were lured to the stockyards by labor agents of the packing companies to take the jobs of those who came before them (Miller 220). Many Italian immigrants were unskilled but were able to make a living as tradesmen, working as barbers, tailors, and shoemakers. Many became wealthy in the real estate business (Cutler 99). As the density of Italian neighborhoods increased, the demand for Italian products and services created a market for corner groceries, bakeries, saloons, and shoemakers. My great-grandmother served as the “neighborhood nurse” in her community because she gave birth to so many children at a young age; she had no medical training but had a caring heart that welcomed anyone into her home from her neighborhood. My great-grandfather worked as a mechanic when he migrated to Chicago and was one of the few who kept his job through the Depression. In recent years, based on the 1970 United States Census figures, “Italians in Chicago were more likely to be employed as operatives and laborers (31%) and as craftsmen (17%) than the general employed populations; less likely to be professionals and managers (12%) or sales and clerical workers (27%) and just as likely to be service workers (13%). Forty percent of employed Italians worked in manufacturing compared to 32 percent for the general employed population” (Cutler 99).

Although women did not have as strong of a presence in the workforce as men did, women still did as much as they could to help their family out financially. Some Italian women did piecework at home or labored as tailors and seamstresses at many of the neighborhood’s large garment factories (Guglielmo 18). “We had to learn how to cook, how to sew, and how to iron because at the time my mother took in two boarders at a time to make it. My mother used to iron twenty to thirty shirts a week. And I had to learn to do that. My father made me a stool so I could stand on the stool to reach the ironing board” (Casa Italia Cultural Museum) Many women and children worked in the onion fields during the harvest season; as mentioned earlier, my great-grandmother worked in the onion fields with her sisters. My great great grandmother would pick wood and coal for the potbelly stove; it later was discovered that she had emphysema due to sitting next to this stove to get heat and breathing in the coals. Another way the family used resources to make money was by utilizing the space they may have had in their homes. Specifically, for my great great grandmother and her family, they would rent out rooms in their homes to boarders and the design of the Chicago Bungalow made this possible. The floor plans were similar from bungalow to bungalow with six rooms on the first floor including a living room, dining room, kitchen, bath, and two bedrooms, finishing with an attic and basement (Chicago Architecture Foundation 24). My great great grandmother and grandfather turned their front room, or living room, into a bedroom and rented that room out to boarders. Another unique detail that Italians did differently in their homes was making their basements livable by adding a mini-kitchen and a bathroom in their basement. This became known as an “Italian Kitchen” because of how common it was among Italians in Chicago. All of these contributions and changes made to the Italian immigrant’s life helped provide themselves with enough financially to improve their standard of living.

Not only did finances and economic status improve Italian immigrants’ tandard of living in Chicago, but receiving an education helped make an Italian immigrant’s life a little easier. Italians in Chicago, even the poorest and the most ignorant, valued education more than a banker on the Gold Coast (Schiavo 68). The first obstacle many immigrants had to face was the language barrier. Immigrants who worked would have a better chance of picking up the language than those who did not. Also, Italians who lived in a mixed neighborhood or a non-Italian neighborhood would have better chances of learning the language because they were forced to speak it. Many immigrants could not afford English lessons so they would rely on conversation to learn how to speak. However, when it came to children it was extremely important for them to learn how to speak English and be involved in American schools. The poor Italian realized education was more necessary than ever in the struggle for life and was anxious to give his children what he was unable to give for himself. “It was terrible, I couldn’t speak any English…mainly because the neighbor’s kids were Italian or else I wouldn’t go out to play because I couldn’t speak English when I was at school” (Casa Italia Cultural Museum) This was a major feat these children had to overcome because Italian was spoken so often at home; learning English was a difficult task because they had to speak it at school, but they had to speak Italian at home. The schools were not focused on developing the bilingual and bicultural potential of the students, it was something they had to work on by themselves (Casa Italia Cultural Museum). To immigrants, learning English was viewed at as a “rite of passage” to becoming a citizen or even to feel a part of this country; it was very important for their children to learn how to speak English.

The teachers were quite concerned about these foreigners and we all wanted to be 100% American. So it was most of the homes that Italian was spoken but we made an attempt to get our parents to be American because it was out of the feeling of being an American. School was rather tough. (Casa Italia Cultural Museum)

Some female immigrants did not see the value in getting an education. Many felt it was unnecessary because they knew their place was in the home taking care of a family. In my grandmother’s family, her oldest sisters had to drop out of school to take care of their siblings after their father died. It was only my grandmother and her two younger siblings who finished high school. Those who were fortunate enough to receive an education, my grandmother included, valued it very much.

You don’t need an education because eventually you’re going to get married and have little ones to take care of. There was no such thing as getting married and going to work. Forget it. I was determined to get an education. I fought tooth and nail and I went. Out of seven kids, I was the only one who went and graduated. (Casa Italia Cultural Museum)

In addition to the need to learn English, education was highly encouraged among children to help remove them from the filth and hardships of being on the streets. At times, truant officers could not keep children in school because of their necessity to peddle newspapers. The children would be on the streets of the city late at night and would not go home until all of their papers were sold (Schiavo 67). It was important that these children had equal opportunities of success and not let their ethnicity stop them.

Although it was extremely important to learn English and become a citizen and become Americanized, many family members of immigrants regretted not spending the time to know Italian. My grandmother cannot speak Italian because it was not spoken very much in her household growing up; therefore, she was not exposed to it and never learned the language. Even though she lived in Roseland, an Italian enclave, the language barrier lessened and the Italian language was lost in their house. My grandfather can speak a small portion of Italian because his parents spoke it at home; however, English was encouraged more than Italian. My mother and uncles cannot speak the language because it was not spoken in their house. The importance of learning Italian lessened as more generations were born.

You talked English because it was, you know, you were in America, so you spoke the English you were taught, which to this day I regret because I don’t know Italian, and I have plenty of opportunity to speak it with the Italian people, even in this neighborhood. And I don’t know it. I don’t know how to read it. I don’t know how to understand it. Always been proud to be Italian. (Casa Italia Cultural Museum)

By accumulating money and education, Italian immigrants have been able to work their way up the political ladder to make a difference in Chicago.

The Italians have been quick to take advantage of political opportunities offered to them in proportion to the strength of their vote. When the Italians started coming to Chicago in the 1890s, the Germans and Irish had already had a hold on politics in the city. The Italians of those days did not have any desire to remain in the country or to take any interest in the political affairs of the community (Schiavo 102). Those who did vote did so in order to “return” the favors done to them by the politicians of their ward or because the votes were bought. Although these men were illiterate, they had some influence on the politicians of their wards. The Italians of those days had some sort of Italian political leader to look up to; John Ginocchio was a Republican leader and F. Cugo was a Democratic “boss” (Schiavo 103). Some of the first Italians to occupy public offices were Stephen Malato and William Navigato who were state representatives in the 1890s, Frank Gazzolo was elected alderman in 1892 and Frank J. Brignadello was a member of the Illinois Legislature for three consecutive terms from 1984 to 1898.

Since the early 20th century, Italians had started to climb the political ladder. There have been many Italians who hold the position of Illinois judges of the Municipal Court, including Mr. Alberto Gualano in 1922, Mr. Francis Borrelli and Mr. Francis Allegretti in 1924, Mr. John Lupe in 1923 and Mr. John Sbarbaro. There have been a number who have filled the office of state’s attorney and also United States district attorney. Since then, Italians have occupied offices as State Officials, Cook County Officials, and City Officials. In 1975, there were over 65,000 Italian votes in Chicago and these votes are increasing at least 5,000 a year (Schiavo 104).

Upon arrival in Chicago, Italians were welcomed with corruption; as noted earlier, many Italians who voted were paid off for their vote. The influence of the Irish played a big role in the Italian political conscience and many followed in the footsteps of the Irish. Methods, ambitions, ideals, and goals were the same as the Irish in the beginning. However, as the years went on, after learning the language, taking up American customs, the Italian became a more independent politician. They believed in team-work; however, they knew that in order to keep up with the pace of the progress of other nationalities they had to play their cards right.

With political power came crime and corruption. Sociology work was published singling out Southern Italians as “less” than Northern Italians and these beliefs had an effect on the American people, so much as to think that Southern Italians were the root to crime appearing in the neighborhoods they inhabited. Many argued jail would not be a deterrent from crime because “Italians live better and work about as much, have warmer clothing and better beds in the meanest jail in the United States than they experience out of it” (Lombardo 16). The Immigration Commission argued that an alarming feature of Italian immigration was the fact that it included many individuals belonging to the criminal classes, particularly of southern Italy and Sicily. The commission also reported that crimes of personal violence, robbery, blackmail, and extortion were peculiar to the Italian people (Lombardo 16). The homicidal tendency of the Italian immigrant was proven with the increase in immigrants, there was a decrease in murders and homicides in Itay, while at the same time there was a growth of Italian criminality of the same nature in the United States. However, despite these claims, few Italians in Chicago were actually involved in crime. “L’Italia reported in 1892 that of the 22,449 persons arrested in Chicago that year, only twenty-six were Italian; of the fifteen hundred inmates in the Illinois State Prison, only five were Italian immigrants” (Lombardo 17).

Although southern Italians in Chicago failed to live up to their criminal reputation, there were a number of cultural practices that distinguished them from other immigrant groups. Many Italian immigrants entered the United States under a labor agreement controlled by a labor contractor, or padrone. As mentioned earlier, the padrone system was a system of employment many early Italian immigrants had developed; legal or illegal, the system was used among a large number of immigrants seeking employment. These padrones became the subject of much suspicion and government investigations. An investigation of the padrone system in Chicago by the U.S. commissioner of Labor found that among 1,860 Italians interviewed, 403 worked for a padrone. Of these, 379 reported that they paid a commission to the padrone, practices that were often done by immigrants. More importantly, southern Italians and Sicilians brought with them the existence of the Mafia; nothing made Italians more sinister in the minds of the American public than the mysterious stories of the Mafia. On October 24th, 1888 an article appeared in the Chicago Tribune asking the question, “Has Chicago a Mafia?”; the next day the question was answered in the Tribune by announcing, “Wherever there are Sicilians there also is the Mafia” (Lombardo 20). It described the Mafia as a secret Sicilian organization that is worldwide in its operations, levying blackmail on even the poorest of Italians. However, not everyone agreed that the Mafia existed in Chicago. In spite of the initial concern about the existence of the Mafia, it was two years before an alleged Mafia incident again came to light in Chicago.

Many more incidents took place that caused the Chicago public to blame and suspect Mafia activity. While there were not any crimes that were linked directly to the Mafia, there was criminal activity that took place by a man that became nationally famous for his work: Al Capone. Alphonsus Capone was from Castellammare di Stabia, sixteen miles south of Naples. His family lived in Brooklyn Navy Yard when they migrated from Italy and lived in a predominantly Italian neighborhood. While he was not always involved in crime, he was exposed to it at a young age growing up in a poor neighborhood. He was a suspect in two murder;, however, the only charge brought against him was disorderly conduct. Capone became involved in managing racehorses and nightclubs. While he was making a collection in 1919, Capone was involved in a fight with a White Hand gang member and Capone had to leave the city; he went to Chicago to work for Johnny Torrio as a driver and bouncer. While working to Torrio, Capone learned his methods and developed his own instincts when it came to confrontation. Capone observed later, “You can get a lot more done with a kind word and a gun, than with a kind word alone” (Johnson 196). In 1925 Torrio was severely injured in an attack by the North Side Gang; he turned over his business to Capone and returned to Italy. During the Prohibition Era, Capone controlled large portions of the Chicago underworld, which provided The Outfit, Capone’s gang, with an estimated $100 million per year in revenue. This wealth was generated through numerous illegal vice enterprises, such as gambling and prostitution. Capone quickly worked his way to the top and gained respect from everyone who worked beneath him. After the murder of Joe Howard, no mobster ever questioned Capone’s loyalty to those who were loyal to him-even though he might punch them around a little as he occasional did, if they screwed up (Johnson 196). Capone is believed to have been involved in the infamous St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, in which seven victims were maliciously murdered; this massacre was thought to be The Outfit’s revenge on the North Side Gang, who had been stealing liquor from The Outfit. Capone spent his time in jail and at Alcatraz; he was paroled in 1939. Eight years later, Capone suffered a fatal cardiac arrest and died in his home.

In spite of the minimal criminal activity, Italian immigrants were a part of in Chicago, the reputation Capone left in the city caused many Chicagoans to fear Italians and stereotyping all Italians to be a part of the Mafia. Many people outside of Chicago associated Italians in Chicago with Capone and the mafia. Several strides have been made to change this opinion and put Chicago’s Little Italy on the map. Numerous Italian restaurants, shops, and grocers are located on Taylor Street in the city. Italian’s who have either grown up in the area or moved into it to be a part of the enclave inhabit the area. It attracts many Chicagoans and tourists to share a piece of the Italian lifestyle. Chicago definitely has done its best to not lose the Italian heritage. My family specifically has kept Italian traditions alive that have been passed down from generation to generation. When my grandmother moved out of Roseland and into Alsip, a farmland area located just outside the city, the idea of “real” Italian living was nonexistent. My mother, Colette Ventura, states that growing up in Alsip did not offer the same lifestyle that Roseland would have. Every Sunday was spent in Roseland with her family at her grandmother’s house where her aunts and uncles were close neighbors.

My memories are of my grandmother and aunt at the white stove. The back porch is where us kids usually stayed. We played back there. Everyone came over eventually. I remember people coming and going. There were only three bedrooms in the house but seven kids were raised there. It always smelled like spaghetti sauce to me. I liked sitting on the front porch because people would walk by and know everyone. We did not have that in Alsip because there was no one around to walk by!—Colette Ventura Cocokios

Growing up, Colette was surrounded by various Italian traditions; one specific tradition is that of the Seven Fish served on Christmas Eve. Each fish represented a Sacrament in the Catholic Church. All the cousins and aunts and uncles would go to her grandmother’s house in Roseland and walk to midnight mass. This tradition was kept up until she died at 83 in 1993; after she died it was carried on for a few years at my grandmother’s house in Alsip but the tradition ended with the death of my great aunt. Additionally, she was a part of the traditional feasts that took place in Roseland. Everyone from the neighborhood would come out and take part in the big carnival that was set up at St. Anthony’s church and watch on Sunday when the processional of bringing the statue of St. Rocco to the church took place. So many people were in and out of my mother’s life that when she was in 1st grade, she told her teacher she had “over 100 cousins since everyone was supposedly related to me and I thought a paesani was a family member. They were treated like family” (Colette Cocokios) Being surrounded by all this heritage and tradition helped keep the Italian pride alive in my mother’s life; she has passed it down to me and my brother and I hope to continue with it as well.

Italians came here in search for a better life and that is exactly what they got. My family and generations following the immigrants are products of that. As the great grandchildren of a people that cared so deeply about providing a life for their families, Italians in Chicago have benefited from their hard work, their deep sense of family, and their food. Italian Americans have been able to move up from their physically exhausting pasts, and have the better lives their ancestors dreamed for them to have. They have become teachers, and other professionals, and have been able to thrive in universities and battle with pens instead of guns. Italians in Chicago are who they are because generations before paved their way. Not only do they live the opportunities that their ancestors have set out for them, but maybe more importantly they share the same morals, the same hopes and dreams as they had, on a slightly different scale. They want their children to do more, to have more, to be more than they are and are paving the way for them to do just that with the examples set by their Italian paesani. They, including myself, love family; we are family; we will do whatever it takes to do for our family.