Sicilian Americans

Sicilian Americans(Italian:siculo-americani;Sicilian:sìculu-miricani) areItalian Americanswho are fully or partially ofSiciliandescent, whose ancestors wereSicilianswho emigrated to United States during theItalian diaspora, or Sicilian-born people in U.S. They are a large ethnic group in the United States.
The first Sicilians who came to the territory that is now the United States wereexplorersandmissionariesin the 17th century under theSpanish crown. Sicilian emigration to the United States then increased significantly starting from the late 1800s to the early 1900s. Direct connections by sea departed from the ports ofPalermoandCastellammare del Golfo.
Since emigration from Sicily began in the United States beforeItalian unification, and reached its peak at a time when regional differences were still very strong and marked, many Sicilian immigrants identified (and still identify), bothlinguisticallyandethnically, primarily on a regional rather than a national basis. Today, there are many studies also dedicated to the history of Sicilian Americans.
Sicilian emigration to the United States grew substantially starting in the 1880s to 1914, when it was cut off byWorld War I. Many Sicilians planned to return home after a few years making money in the United States, but the wartime delay allowed many to assimilate into better jobs and wartime experience, so they did not return.
By 1924, about 4,000,000Italiansemigrated to the US.TheEmergency Quota Act, and the subsequentImmigration Act of 1924sharply reduced immigration from Southern Europe except for relatives of immigrants already in the U.S.This period saw political and economic shifts in Sicily that made emigration desirable. There was also a large wave of immigration after World War II. A great portion of the Sicilian immigrants would settle inMiddletown,New York City,New Jersey,New Haven,Buffalo,Rochester,Erie,Tampa,Pittsburgh,Chicago,Boston,Pittston,Johnston, Rhode Island,Detroit,Philadelphia,Los Angeles,San Francisco,New Orleans,Milwaukee, andBirmingham.
Sicilian immigrants brought with them their own unique culture, including theatre and music. Giovanni De Rosalia was a noted Sicilian American playwright in the early period andfarcewas popular in several Sicilian dominated theatres. In music Sicilian Americans would be linked, to some extent, tojazz. Three of the more popular cities for Sicilian immigrants were New York City (especially Brooklyn), New Orleans and Chicago. The latter two cities were pivotal in the history of jazz. In New York City, the predominantly Sicilian neighborhoods prior to World War II wereEast HarlemandElizabeth Streetin Harlem andLittle Italy, respectively, in Manhattan,Bushwick,Carroll GardensandEast Williamsburgin Brooklyn, and the predominantly Sicilian neighborhoods after World War II wereBensonhurst,Dyker Heights, andGravesend, all in Brooklyn; in Chicago, "Little Sicily" was predominantly Sicilian, and in New Orleans, "LittlePalermo", the lowerFrench Quarter, was mostly Sicilian. One of the earliest, and among the most controversial, figures in jazz wasNick LaRocca, who was of Sicilian heritage.  Modern Sicilian-American jazz artists includeBobby MilitelloandChuck Mangione.
In 1892Mother Cabriniarrived in New Orleans and opened an orphanage which became Cabrini High School in 1959.
The Sicilian-American respect forSan Giuseppe(Saint Joseph) is reflected in the celebration of the Feast of Saint Joseph, primarily inNew OrleansandBuffalo, every March 19.  Many families in those cities prepare a "Saint Joseph's Daytable", at which relatives or neighbors portray Jesus, Joseph and Mary and oversee the serving of meat-freeLentenmeals 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 le sarde(spaghetti with sardines);lenticchie(lentils); and variousfroscie(omelettes) made withcardoon(wild artichoke),cicoria(dandelion) and other homely vegetables.  Desserts includesfingi,zeppoli, a light puff pastry;sfogliatelle,pignolati, struffoli (honey balls); andcannoli, a Sicilian creation.  One tradition has each guest at a St. Joseph's Day table receiving a slice of orange, a bit offenneland afavabean, for good luck.