Sicilian Americans

Sicilian Americans
*Siculo-americani*
*Siculu-miricani*
Total population
85,175 (2000 American Community Survey)^[1]
Languages
American English • Italian • Sicilian
Religion
predominantly Roman Catholic
Related ethnic groups
Italian Americans • Italians • Italian Canadians • Italian Australians • Maltese Americans

Sicilian Americans (Italian:Siculoamericani) (Sicilian:Siculu-miricani) are Americans of Sicilian birth or ancestry. They are one of the largest and most prominent Italian American groups in the United States.

History

Early arrivals and the main immigration

The first Sicilians came to what is now the United States in the seventeenth century as explorers and missionaries. Sicilian emigration to the US then grew substantially in the period starting in the 1880s and in 1906 as many as a 100,000 Sicilians came to the US. By 1924, immigration restrictions had caused this to plummet. This period saw political and economic shifts in Sicily that made emigration desirable. A great portion of the Sicilian immigrants would settle in New York, New Haven, Buffalo, Rochester, Tampa, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Boston, Detroit, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New Orleans and Milwaukee.

Culture

Elements of Sicilian culture came with them, such as theatre and music. Giovanni De Rosalia was a noted Sicilian American playwright in the early period and farce was popular in several Sicilian dominated theatres. In music Sicilian Americans would be linked, to some extent, to jazz. Many of the more popular cities for Sicilian immigrants, like New Orleans or Chicago, are pivotal in the history of jazz. In Chicago the predominantly Sicilian neighborhood was called "Little Sicily" and in New Orleans it was "Little Palermo." One of the earliest, and among the most controversial, figures in jazz was Nick LaRocca, who was of Sicilian heritage. Modern Sicilian American jazz artists include Bobby Militello and Chuck Mangione.

The Sicilian-American respect for San Giuseppe (St. Joseph) is reflected in the celebration of the Feast of St. Joseph, primarily in New Orleans and Buffalo, every March 19. Many families in those cities prepare a "St. Joseph's Day table", at which relatives or neighbors portray Jesus, Joseph and Mary and oversee the serving of meat-free Lenten meals to the poor of the community. The tables are the vestiges of a Sicilian legend which states that farmers prayed to St. Joseph, promising that if he interceded in a drought, they would share their bounty with the poor. The foods served at such tables include: pasta con sarde (spaghetti with sardines); lenticchie (lentils); and various froscie (omelettes) made with cardoon (wild artichoke), cicoria (dandelion) and other homely vegetables. Desserts include sfinge or zeppoli, a light puff pastry; pignolati (honey balls); and cannoli, a Sicilian creation. One tradition has each guest at a St. Joseph's Day table receiving a slice of orange, a bit of fennel and a fava bean, for good luck.

Stereotypes

Sicilian-American immigrants often faced unjust stereotypes and discrimination, often from other Italians. Tensions between Italian regions had not been entirely resolved with unification, and northern Italians had sayings that unjustifiably painted Sicilians as untrustworthy and dishonest. A more persistent stereotype linked Sicilian Americans to the Mafia, and continues to be perpetuated through films such as The Godfather that portray Sicilians in this light. As the Mafia is of Sicilian origin, Sicilian Americans were stereotyped as Mafia-linked to an even greater degree than Italian Americans in general, with the rationalization that the Mafia emerged in Sicily. Despite stereotypic pressures, Sicilian Americans have continued to thrive in the cultural climate of America, with many professionals: physicians, attorneys, intellectuals, actors, directors, musicians, athletes, and politicians of notable prominence.^[2]

References

↑ "Table 1. First, Second, and Total Responses to the Ancestry Question by Detailed Ancestry Code: 2000" (XLS). U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved December 2, 2010.
↑ Coniglio, Angelo F. (May 10, 2014). "I'm a Sicilian American". conigliofamily.com. Archived from the original on December 28, 2015.

External links

European Americans

Central Europe	Austrian^1, ⁸ Czech⁸ Silesian German^1, ⁸ Amish Frisian German Texan⁸ Pennsylvania Dutch German Mennonites from Russia Hungarian⁸ Hungarian Ohioans⁸ Liechtensteiner Luxembourgian⁸ Polish^1, ⁸ Kashubian Slovak⁸ Slovene⁸ Sorbian Swiss

Eastern Europe	Azerbaijani⁵ Belarusian Georgian⁵ Kazakh⁶ Russian^1, ² Chechen Cossack Kalmyk Ukrainian Cossack Rusyn

Northern Europe	Estonian⁸ Finnish⁸ Latvian⁸ Lithuanian⁸ Scandinavian Danish⁸ Faroese Greenlandic Icelandic Norwegian Norwegian Dakotan Norwegian Minnesotan Sami Swedish⁸

Southeast Europe³	Albanian Bosnian Bulgarian⁸ Croatian⁸ Greek⁸ Macedonian Moldovan Montenegrin Romanian Serbian Turkish⁴

Southern Europe	Italian ⁸ Sicilian Maltese⁸ Monacan Portuguese⁸ Sanmarinese Spanish⁸ Asturian Basque Canarian Catalan Galician Hispano

Western Europe	Belgian⁸ Flemish British^8, ⁹ Cornish English Manx Scots-Irish Scottish Welsh Dutch⁸ French⁸ Basque Breton Cajun Corsican Irish⁸ ⁹

Other Europeans	Roma Hungarian Slovak Romanies⁷ Louisiana Creole Cajun Isleños

¹ Poles came to the United States legally as Austrians, Germans, Prussians or Russians throughout the 19th century, because from 1772-1795 till 1918, all Polish lands had been partitioned between imperial Austria, Prussia (a protoplast of Germany) and Russia until Poland regained its sovereignty in the wake of World War I. ² Russia is a transcontinental country in Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. The vast majority of its population (80%) lives in European Russia, therefore Russia as a whole is included as a European country here. ³ Yugoslav Americans are the American people from the former Yugoslavia. ⁴ Turkey is a transcontinental country in the Middle East and Southeast Europe. Has a small part of its territory (3%) in Southeast Europe called Turkish Thrace. ⁵ Azerbaijan and Georgia are transcontinental countries. They have a small part of their territories in the European part of the Caucasus. ⁶ Kazakhstan is technically a bicontinental country, having a small portion in European hands. ⁷ Disputed; Roma have recognized origins and historic ties to Asia (specifically to Northern India), but they experienced at least some distinctive identity development while in diaspora among Europeans. ⁸ Ancestral home is a member of the European Union today despite disputes facing only for the United Kingdom over EU referendum. ⁹ Only for the UK and Ireland; they use a regional variation of the English language but traditionally distinguishes certain customs from Continental Europe.

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