Czeiszperger 1

Teresa Czeiszperger

Honors 1000

Professor Rowley

October 8, 2017

Essay 1: Who are we?

The majority of cities in America during the late 1800s and early 1900s lacked

cleanliness and essential services, as well as being characteristically overcrowded. Despite these

conditions, however, American cities were also ripe with opportunity. Cities tended to develop

mixed economies, but often specialized in one dominant trade. For example, New York was a

city commonly used as a port, and Chicago was a city where railroads were prominent. The turn

of the century yielded many enticing qualities to people outside of the United States who were

searching for a new way of life. Rosabelle Moretti was a nineteen-year-old girl from southern

Italy. She migrated to the United States in the year 1908 because she was determined to

transition from her simple way of life in Italy to one filled with new prospects and new people.

Her family had also largely advocated the Catholic religionthis was another characteristic of

immigrants during the eighteen and nineteen hundreds. Southern Italy was the source of three

quarters of Italian immigrants to America. This region was particularly impoverished, and

Rosabelle belonged to a small town on the countryside. Emanating from this region, Rosabelle

had suffered through many years [of] poor soil, drought, unemployment, and political

corruption and oppression (Haskin). Part of a family of artisans, she was resolute towards

finding a better life for herself in the land of opportunity. Her hope was to make enough

money to send back to her family, as well as sustain her lifestyle in America. A few months after
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her nineteenth birthday, Rosabelle packed her small suitcase of belongings, said goodbye to her

parents and little sister, and boarded a boat for the two-week travel from southern Italy to Ellis

Island. From there, she made her way to Detroit City, as the up and coming city showed promise

of many job possibilities.

Upon arriving in the city, Rosabelle took any job that she could: she worked as a

dishwasher for a time, and then tried her luck as a writer. English was her second language,

taught to her while she lived in Italy. The only housing that she could afford was living in a slum

with other Italian immigrants, as those slums had been recently evacuated by other immigrants

(Germans, Jews, Irish) that had moved to better housing. In a 1907 article, the Detroit Free Press

referred to Italians as being characteristically hard workers, and Rosabelle was unfaltering with

her desire to live up to that expectation. She was willing to do whatever it took. Her family

owned a small farm in southern Italy, so she brought the skills that she had learned from that

lifestyle with her to Detroit. The Italian farming style is intensive, contrasting strikingly to the

extravagance of American farming. Rosabelle was able to work in agriculture, as well: her

managing style allowed her to barely have the need to purchase other food than what was grown.

She also found a reliable source of housing on the farmland that she worked on: there were small

patches of Italian owned farmland just outside of the city, so Rosabelle was able to find refuge

with others who shared her first language and culture. Italians in Michigan were thrifty,

economical, saving, and industrious (Detroit Free Press). Though she was unfamiliar with the

democratic style of government that was adopted by the United States, the city changed her in

that she became patriotic very quickly. Being immersed in another culture, one that was bent on

prospering emotionally and monetarily, allowed her to fully embrace her new way of life.

According to Giorgio Bertellini, Italys immigrants to American cities experienced a

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complex, new phenomenon of self-discovery, self-positioning, and self-fashioning. Urban

America was an enticing place for these immigrants to settle because, as most Italians emigrated

from isolated, rural, southern villages, a modern sense of Italian national belonging could not

compete with century old municipal identities (Bertellini 690). However, it was not until

these Italian Americans returned from fighting in the Second World War that they were fully

assimilated into American society. The Catholic community, after receiving such a huge influx

of members into the United States due to the amount of immigration, developed into a diverse

group of people, from many different countries of origin. Rosabelle was able to find solace

within the Catholic community of Detroit. However, this catalyzed discrimination from other

religious groups, as well as other ethnic groups in the city. Rosabelle was able to save enough

money, after five years of work, to bring her parents and sister to America: The younger

generation [of Italians migrating to Detroit in the early 1900s] has made advances quite equal to

the advances made by the first generation of American born descendants of any nationality

(Detroit Free Press). Italians immigrants, like Rosabelle, were able to take full advantage of the

American dream in order to achieve prosperity. Living in Detroit changed her by allowing her to

become independent, as well as integrated into the American culture. Rosabelle had risked

everything by packing up her entire life and leaving everything she had ever known to move to

an unfamiliar place with unfamiliar faces. However, the adversity that she faced, along with the

momentous work that she had to do in order to make a living, was nothing compared to the sense

of accomplishment and inclusion that she felt after incorporating the American culture into her

own and bringing her family to the United States to experience it with her.

Ultimately, the years that Rosabelle spent in America away from her family, forced to do

and earn everything on her own, taught her more than she would have ever learned had she
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stayed in Italy. She was able to immerse herself in an unfamiliar language, as well as an

unfamiliar culture. She faced expectations and hardships that she was unaccustomed to. The

experiences with discrimination that Rosabelle faced were detrimental to her at first, as she had

never been forced to deal with that in her home in Italy. However, in the end, the familiarity with

adverse situations that was forced upon her while living in Detroit worked to make her a

hardened, more liberated woman.

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References

Bertellini, Giorgio. Masculinity, Racial Identity, and Politics among Italian Americans in 1920s

New York City. Journal of Urban History, vol. 31, July 2005, pp. 685726.,

doi:10.1177/0096144205275981.

Brackemyre, Ted, et al. Immigrants, Cities, and Disease. US History Scene, U.S. History

Scene, ushistoryscene.com/article/immigrants-cities-disease/.

City Life in the Early 1900s. City Life at the Turn of the 20th Century, Ibis Communications,

Inc., eyewitnesstohistory.com/snpim2.htm.

Gall, Timothy L, and Jeneen Hobby. Italian Americans. Worldmark Encyclopedia of Cultures

and Daily Life, vol. 2, 2009, pp. 310313. Gale Virtual Reference Library,

go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=GVRL&sw=w&u=lom_waynesu&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CC

X1839300180&it=r.

Haskin, Frederic J. The Italians in America. The Detroit Free Press, 7

Mar. 1907, pp. 77.

Lerner, K Lee. Italian Life in New York. Immigration and Multiculturalism: Essential

Primary Sources, 2006, pp. 7678. Gale Virtual Reference Library,

go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=GVRL&sw=w&u=lom_waynesu&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CC

X2688400044&it=r.

Pozzetta, George. Italian Americans. Countries and Their Cultures, Advameg, Inc.,

www.everyculture.com/multi/Ha-La/Italian-Americans.html.