Part Two contains stories of Sicilian Italians who settled in the Delta. Sicilian immigrants had a different history and they immigrated under circumstances different from most other Delta Italians. They were not recruited as indentured workers. Consequently they had to look for work after their arrival. Italians recruited for cotton plantations generally came as families. On the other hand, Sicilian men preceded their wives and children, found work, got settled and then sent for their families.
Most of our immigration stories consist of bits and pieces passed down from one generation to the next over the past 100 plus years. In recent years there has been renewed interest in family history and technology has facilitated research. Hopefully others will research and record a more complete account of our peoples’ struggles in search of a better life for themselves and for us, their descendants.
Gli Italiani del Delta volume II è un supplemento al primo libro . Contiene storie di famiglie ed informazioni non contenute nella pubblicazione del 2003 e tratta di altri immigrati italiani che non furono reclutati per le piantagioni .
La Parte II contiene le storie dei siciliani che si stabilirono nel Delta . I siciliani hanno avuto una storia differente e sono emigrati in circostanze diverse della maggior parte degli altri italiani del Delta . Essi non sono stati reclutati come lavoratori a contratto. Di conseguenza, hanno dovuto cercare un lavoro dopo il loro arrivo . Gli italiani reclutati per le piantagioni di cotone generalmente arrivavano con le loro famiglie . Gli uomini siciliani invece partivano prima delle mogli e dei figli , trovavano lavoro , si sistemavano e poi si facevano raggiungere dalle proprie famiglie . La maggior parte delle nostre storie di emigrazione consiste di frammenti tramandati da una generazione all’altra nell’arco di oltre cento anni
Negli ultimi anni c’è stato un rinnovato interesse per le storie familiari e la tecnologia ha facilitato la ricerca . Speriamo che altri vorranno continuare la ricerca per resoconti più completi delle lotte della nostra gente alla ricerca di una vita migliore per sé e per noi, che siamo i loro figli .
Delta Italians usually ran grapes through the process three times, making what they called a first, second and third wine. The first wine was pure grape juice. the second had some water and sugar added. The third had more water and sugar. It was sometimes called “ladies” wine. (Giovanna Capitani Pandolfi (pouring) and Anna Pirani Biagioli.)
Owens offered to sell Augusto 40 acres of lakefront property for 50 dollars per acre but Augusto refused “because he had his mind set on returning to Italy if he could accumulate some money, which didn’t materialize, and ironically, later in 1918 my father purchased land in the same area with minimal lake frontage paying 125 dollars per acre without any improvements thereon. This same land today sells for about 100 dollars per lakefront running foot. Had my father been fortunate to have foresight and not been influenced by the thought of returning to Italy and had purchased this select property, today the land would be a most valuable asset due to its ideal and prime location.”
The Art of Making Bread in the brick oven
After baking the loaf of bread in hte brick oven, the end product is proudly shown.
A few years before Giacomo’s death, his brother-in-law Giuseppe Corte emigrated to New Orleans with the intention of making some money to improve his life situation and returning to Poggioreale. In 1892, he persuaded his widowed sister, Concetta, to send at least one of her sons to New Orleans and that year Pietro, Concetta’s second son (15), joined his uncle, Giuseppe Corte. Two years later, 1894, Pietro’s younger brother, Giuseppe (15) left for New Orleans with their sister Angela (21), her husband Vincenzo Giarrantano (28) and their ten-month old daughter, Anna. The next year, 1895, Concetta’s family – Pietro (Peter), Joseph, Angela, Vincenzo, and Anna – left New Orleans and began to make their way toward Vicksburg. They first moved to Monroe, Louisiana where they opened a shoe store; but they stayed there just a short time before moving to Natchez.
Sicily’s history is rooted in the most ancient civilizations, like the Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, and Normans. Sicily is located at the crossroads of the Mediterranean trade routes. Consequently, the Island’s history is rooted in the most ancient civilizations, like the Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, and Normans. These foreign invaders and colonizers made great contributions to Sicilian culture, art, science, and even left their marks on the Sicilian language and the food. They established cities with aqueducts, Doric temples, art, and fine libraries. But “the colonizers took far more than they gave. The once rich island of earlier times became one of the most backward areas of Europe… Deforestation, poor agricultural practices, excessive water withdrawal, and salt and sulfur mining had detrimental effects on the land… The historical accounts that describe the fall of Sicily and southern Italy from a once proud position in the ancient world are long and tortuous.”