Sicilian Americans

History

Although Sicilians had been present on American soil since the 17th century, the first significant wave of immigration began in the late 1880s. It is estimated that of the 4.5 million Italians who crossed the Atlantic between 1880 and 1930, one out of four was from Sicily. However, it was only after the revolt known as Fasci Siciliani, in 1892 and 1893, that regional emigration swelled. The movement, which had the support of poor peasants and exploited miners, aimed at improving working conditions but soon grew into outright revolt toward the ruling class when its demands were ignored. The Italian government restored order using force in 1894. Peasants, even those marginally involved in the riots, saw in emigration the only hope for a better future. Many were “birds of passage,” males who planned to work temporarily and save enough money to make a decent living back home.

Sicilian immigrants scattered throughout the United States. One of the earliest destinations was New Orleans, where seasonal work in the cane fields of Louisiana was available. A sizable Sicilian community took root in Tampa, Florida, where immigrants found employment in the cigar factories. Most settled in urban centers, like San Francisco, Chicago, and New York, that offered plenty of unskilled jobs, such as bricklayers, street sweepers, bootblacks, pieceworkers, and longshoremen.

Sicilians mostly clustered together, sometimes with other Italians and in some cases on their own, creating Little Sicilies, such as the Near North Side neighborhood in Chicago where, around 1910, most of the 8,000 residents were Sicilians.

In these enclaves, the native dialects and traditions were maintained, as well as forms of entertainment (traditional songs and dances). As communities grew, Sicilians were able to stage their own religious festivities (feste). These occasions were the focal point of communal life, combining a religious program—a holy mass and a procession in which the statues of patron saints or the Virgin Mary were carried along the streets—with more mundane activities like games, dances, lotteries, and the puppet theater, where marionettes performed stories adapted from the popular tradition or representing the medieval epic struggles between Christian knights and Saracens. The feste were organized by mutual aid societies (such as the Trinacria Fratellanza Siciliana in Chicago), which also helped newcomers to find jobs and housing, and provided medical insurance.

...