Interview: Bill Jennaro
What’s the story of the Italian emigration in Wisconsin?
The majority of Italian immigrants in Milwaukee had Sicilian heritage, for instance in Kenosha, not far from here, many came from Calabria; but here in Milwaukee there also was a group from the Dolomites, in the very north of Italy. This last group was representing a different kind of emigration: some of them already spoke English, they had school education and integrated faster and easier than the others. Then they moved and created a new district in Milwaukee, called Bay View, on the southeast shore of the city of Milwaukee overlooking Lake Michigan.
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The Sicilians were mostly uneducated. They came in what was the Irish district at that time, downtown Milwaukee, and the Irish really didn’t like these Italian people, so different from them: they wanted these Italians out, and did nothing to hide this sentiment. Still, in time what once was the Irish district ended up being the Italian district, Milwaukee’s Little Italy.
But even if these two groups of people, one from northern Italy and the other from southern Italy, were made by immigrants coming from the same country who landed in the same city, they didn’t speak to each other. They were two separate colonies, and have been for many many years.
But even if these two groups of people, one from northern Italy and the other from southern Italy, were made by immigrants coming from the same country who landed in the same city, they didn’t speak to each other. They were two separate colonies, and have been for many many years.
How about the actual presence of Italians in Milwaukee and in the whole State, either Italian Americans or Italians born in Italy and now working or studying there? Are there many of them, and who are they?
Well, the migration stopped after the half of the ‘20s, because of the quota system introduced by the US. After that, the numbers went considerably down. So Milwaukee does have a good Italian American community, made by the sons and daughters and grandchildren of those who came here at the beginning of last century: we are the successful generation, who had the possibility to have a better life thanks to the sacrifices of those who came at the beginning of the XX century, until the mid ‘20s.And besides, many many people Italians who passed from here, then moved to other places in the United States, or elsewhere.