he United States
permanently. The proportion returning to Italy varied between
11 percent and 73 percent. Unlike most earlier immigrants to America,
they did not want to farm, which implied a permanence that did
not figure in their plans. Instead, they headed for cities, where
labor was needed and wages were relatively high. Expecting their
stay in America to be brief, Italian immigrants lived as inexpensively
as possible under conditions that native-born families considered
immigrants were particularly likely to take heavy construction
jobs. About half of all late 19th century Italian immigrants were
manual laborers, compared to a third of their Irish and a seventh
of their German counterparts. Contracted out by a professional
labor broker known as a padrone, Italians dug tunnels, laid railroad
tracks, constructed bridges and roads, and erected the first skyscrapers.
As early as 1890, 90 percent of New York City's public works employees
and 99 percent of Chicago's street workers were Italian. Many
Italian immigrant women worked, but almost never as domestic servants.
Many took piece work into their homes as a way of reconciling
the conflicting needs to earn money and maintain a strong family
Italians, like other immigrant groups, politics, entertainment,
sports, crime, and especially small business served as ladders
for upward mobility. Italian American politicians, however, were
hindered by a lack of ethnic cohesiveness. Italian Americans achieved
notable success in both classical and popular music. Italian Americans
were particularly successful in areas that did not require extensive
formal education such as sales and small business ownership. They
tended to be under-represented in professional occupations requiring
many Italian immigrants, migration to the United States could
not be interpreted as a rejection of Italy. In reality, it was
a defense of the Italian way of life, for the money sent home
helped to preserve the traditional order. Rather than seeking
permanent homes, they desired an opportunity to work for a living,
hoping to save enough money to return to a better life in the
country of their birth.
use the phrase "birds of passage" to describe immigrants
who never intended to make the United States their permanent
home. Unable to earn a livelihood in their home countries,
they were migratory laborers. Most were young men in their
teens and twenties, who planned to work, save money, and return
home. They left behind their parents, young wives, and children,
indications that their absence would not be long. Before 1900
an estimated 78 percent of Italian immigrants were men. Many
of them traveled to America in the early spring, worked until
late fall, and then returned to the warmer climates of their
southern European homes winter. Overall, 20 to 30 percent
of Italian immigrants returned to Italy permanently.
same forces of population pressure, unemployment, and the breakdown
of agrarian societies sent Chinese, French Canadians, Greeks,
Japanese, Mexicans, and Slavs to the United States. Yet while
these migrants tended to view themselves as "sojourners,"
as temporary migrants, most would stay in the United States permanently.