Italian Immigration

Italian Immigration

The italian group came to the United States, initially, in order to flee the chaos that was occurring in their homeland. During the time that italians were coming, there were major issues occurring back in Italy. Before a certain era, Italy was not a full country and was in constant war up until 1861. This area was made up of various different territories and once they were made to unite there was much tension between the areas that had been combined. This made people want to leave and abandon their homeland.

1. Initially, when the Italian immigrants arrived in the United States, they would initially come through Ellis island. As a matter of fact, in the 1880s, the number of people that were coming through were up to 5,000 people a day. In that same year it was estimated that there was about 300,000 total that went through and stayed in the United States. In the year of 1890, the number of people that had arrived had doubled to 600,000 people. By the 1920s, which is 40 years later, the number of italian immigrants had increased to 4 million people.
2. For the most part, the United States allowed immigration to be passed without many regulations. They were basically allowed to both arrive and go through. At Ellis Island, they would come in as thousands and would typically be greatly revised before allowing to be let in. There would be a routine in which the immigrants would constantly have to be revised by different doctors and go through different tests. One would be a physical test in which their physique would be double checked and to help determine if they would be physically equipped for the labor that they would have to do in the United States. They would also be put through mental tests to see if their mental state was healthy enough to have as a citizen in the United States.
3. For the most part, the citizens of the United States would see the Italian immigrants as a lower class. For the most part, it was observed that they were found to be extremely different. To the rest of society, they were observed to be rowdy and were still seen as Italians rather than Americans. Even when they were in their small villages, when taken pictures of, they were always thought of as outsiders.
4. For the most part they were also seen as a cultural amount of people. They would all stick to their traditions even though they were in the Americas. It is believed that they would be in the streets and have their own flea markets. As a matter of fact, they were also following through with religious traditions too. One famous tradition was when they would all have a parade and honor their patron Saint.
5. Italians, for the most part were allowed to travel into the United States. They were seen as a good labor force and were typically basically let in when they arrived. However, there was one point in which there was beginning to be an overcrowding of italians in the city. What was occurring was that there was beginning to be an overflow of immigrants, and there was not enough work to take care of the immigrants and the people began to blame them for taking away jobs from the Americans.
6. Answered in 5&6