A Heart Most Worthy (33 page)
The Great Italian Emigration to America began in 1880 and ended in 1921. It is estimated that 4.2 million people left Italy to settle in the United States. Four
million
people. It was a migration unheard of in modern history, many times larger than the sweep of the Mongol hordes across Asia or the Huns through Western Europe.
Entire Italian towns were emptied. The reasons for the migration were many: drought, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions. Tidal waves and famine. The systemic oppression of southern Italians at the hands of their own government. The immigrants referred to their native land as
La Miseria
. Misery. And who could blame them?
Though the vast majority of Italians came in peace, with no thought but to settle and begin their lives anew, Americans, alarmed at their vast numbers and horrified at their odd customs, reacted with xenophobia and fear. The only other race more frequently lynched during the time period were African-Americans.
On the gradient of acceptable classes, there were white Anglo-Saxon Protestants, white Anglo-Saxon Catholics (among which northern Italians were included), southern Italians, and African-Americans. The label
Italian
, however, confused the newcomers. Italy had only taken its modern form and come under united rule in 1860. The immigrants still considered themselves Avellinos, Abruzzis, and Sicilians. Neapolitans, Genovese, and Calabrese. When the immigrants came to America’s shores, it was only natural that they settled in right beside those they had lived with in their homeland. Those who married in America most often married someone from their same native region or town. While it was frowned upon to marry outside of one’s ethnic region, it was oftentimes more acceptable to marry any nationality of Catholic (Irish included) than to marry a Sicilian.
Along with the peaceful immigrants, however, came a different sort of breed, with a different kind of goal. They called themselves anarchists. Long before the Twin Towers in New York City were ever built, early twentieth-century anarchists had determined that their most powerful weapon was the bomb, their most expendable asset, themselves. Like modern suicide bombers, a surprising number of anarchists blew themselves up – inadvertently or on purpose – in the process of dispatching their brand of violence. Anarchists terrified America in the early decades of the last century, mailing package bombs, distributing pamphlets with dire warnings, and lacing food with poison. In Europe, they especially targeted nobility. The Italian King Umberto; the Russian Tsar, Alexander II; a French president and an American president; two Spanish prime ministers; Elizabeth, Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary; the King of Greece; and Archduke Ferdinand of Austria were all victims of assassinations committed by anarchists. Many other people of nobility had attempts made upon their lives during the epoch as well. But the anarchists’ worst and most long-lasting punishment was inflicted upon their own countrymen.
Italian
swiftly became synonymous with
anarchist
. The vast majority of honest, peaceful immigrants soon became viewed as radical zealots. And none of their indignant protests could convince the average American otherwise.
Americans grappled strenuously with their own justice system and immigration laws before deciding to entrap and deport known anarchists living within their borders. But with the accumulation of threats and explosions, with the destruction caused by the Wall Street Bombing and the collapse of the North End’s Molasses Tank (at first erroneously attributed to the work of anarchists), Americans had had enough. In 1921, Congress voted to set permanent quotas on immigration from certain undesirable countries. It was a historic law in America. For the first time, quotas were applied to immigrants, allowing the United States to clearly favor some nationalities over others. On the foundation provided by this law, the barriers to Jewish immigration during World War II were erected. The quotas were enforced so strenuously during those years that some of them even went unmet. It fell to other countries to do the work that America ought to have done.
With the bill’s passing, the Great Italian Emigration came to an end.
But in the midst of the crucible of undeserved oppression and rabid xenophobia, a strange thing happened to the immigrants. The experiences they lived through, the prejudices they endured, did something that Italy had never quite found a way to do: It turned a disparate collection of provincials into a united group. Though they came to America’s shores as Avellinos, Abruzzis, and Sicilians, when confronted with the harsh realities of the New World, the immigrants finally found a way to stand together. They called themselves, for the first time ever, Italians.
1918 was also the year of the Spanish influenza. It did not originate in Spain and it may not have been influenza, but it was a pandemic the likes of which had never been witnessed before. It first appeared in the spring of 1918. Hitching a ride on the troop transports that circulated between America and Europe, it resurfaced in the fall, seeming to appear everywhere at once. After its third wave in the spring of 1919, it retreated from whence it had come, never to be seen again. Scientists have still not been able to identify its particular strain.
The Spanish influenza killed an estimated twenty to fifty million people worldwide in its frenzied paroxysms of death. It ambushed its victims, often felling them in the course of hours. Its method was pneumonic; it shredded the fabric of the lungs. Its victims quite literally drowned to death. The Spanish influenza
infected
an incredible five hundred million people. And it hit those living in close, cramped conditions like the North End especially hard. When it didn’t kill people, it left them so drained of energy that some families died simply because they had no access to food and water, and none of them had the strength or consciousness to go get any.
The Spanish influenza killed ten times as many Americans as World War I.
It is astounding to me, based on numbers alone, that the Great Italian Emigration and the Spanish influenza have largely been forgotten. But if history repeats itself and human nature rarely ever changes, it might be worth the effort to examine our current physical and sociological ills through the lens of the past. History is a wise teacher . . . if only we will listen to her speak.
The concept of this book owes much to Beth Jusino, who helped me to grow the seed of an idea. I owe a debt of gratitude to Maureen Lang, who cheered me on during the endless weeks it seemed to take to write this, and to my agent, Natasha Kern, who challenged me to improve upon my first draft. The omniscient point of view in which the book was written can only be blamed on my editors, Dave and Sarah Long, who strenuously urged that I use it and then trusted me to get it right. To Linda Derrick and Trudy Mitchell, my encouraging first readers. To my Facebook fan page subscribers who chose Little Matteo’s name.
Merci mille fois
to Dr. Paul Aoki of the University of Washington’s Language Learning Center for responding so quickly to my desperate plea for help; and to Christophe Jamot and Jennifer Keene who forwarded the message.
Mille grazie
to Sabrina Tatta of the University of Washington’s Italian Studies who graciously corrected my terrible Italian. Any mistakes still remaining are mine, not hers. And, finally and forever, to my husband, Tony Mitchell. Everything I write is because of you.
1. Most people in modern cultures have immigrant roots in one way or another. Where did your family come from?
2. Have you ever felt like a stranger in a strange land? What was most disorienting about the experience?
3. Do you see any similarities between American society in 1918 and modern society today?
4. This story revolves around Julietta, Annamaria, and Luciana. Which character did you most like? Why?
5. What flaws did you notice in the novel’s main characters? How were these flaws overcome?
6. As the story began, what did each character want? Were those goals achieved?
7. Julietta flirted with the ideas of anarchy. What appealed to her about this philosophy? Do you see any elements of these beliefs at work in our culture today?
8. Annamaria’s dreams were opposed by the expectations of her parents. Did she handle this conflict in the right way? When is it acceptable to disobey your parents?
9. Luciana found herself in a dire situation and yet she would not ask for help. Why not? What would you have done had you been in her place? If she had gone to the authorities, what do you think might have happened?
10. Each main character in this story learned the same lesson in the end. What was it?
11. Which man embodies your ideal hero: Rafaello, Mauro, or Billy?
12. Define the “American Dream.” How did each woman articulate this dream? Did she achieve it? What is your American Dream? Has it changed over the years?
SIRI MITCHELL is the author of nearly a dozen novels, among them the critically acclaimed Christy Award finalists
Chateau of Echoes
and
The Cubicle Next Door
. A graduate of the University of Washington with a degree in business, she has worked in many different levels of government. As a military spouse, she has lived in places as varied as Tokyo and Paris. Siri currently lives in the D.C.-metro area.
Books by
Siri Mitchell
A Heart Most Worthy
She Walks in Beauty
Love’s Pursuit
A Constant Heart