L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2017 www.italoamericano.org 24 L'Italo-Americano LA VITA ITALIANA TRADITIONS HISTORY CULTURE D ear Readers, More November notes with an Italian Con- nection for you: Veteran's Day (formerly Armistice Day), cele- brated earlier this month reminds us that on November 11, 1918 the Armistice agreement was signed and fighting on all battle- fields ceased at 11a.m. as the guns of World War I fell silent after 4 long years. The "war to end all wars" was finally over and a year later, in 1919, Presi- dent Woodrow Wilson pro- claimed November 11 as Armistice Day to remind Ameri- cans of the tragedies of war. In 1938, the day became a Federal holiday and, in 1954, Congress changed the name to "Veterans Day" to honor all United States Veterans because WWI, "the war to end all wars" didn't do so, and World War II and others followed. In World War II Italian Amer- icans were the largest immigrant group in the nation; they were also the largest group in the Armed Forces. Nevertheless, parents and grandparents were compelled to move from the homes where they had raised those now serving their country. The impact of curfews and alien restrictions was widespread and apparently unanticipated by the government. In places like Monterey, Santa Cruz, Pitts- burgh and San Francisco - were the Italians, many of them long- term residents without final citi- zenship papers, constituted a majority of the fishermen, scav- engers, restaurant workers and janitors- the restrictions created serious employment and food- supply problems. And, at a time when all human and food resources were needed for the war effort, many men and women had to give up their jobs because they were located in prohibited zones. Thus, when large numbers of coastal fishermen could no longer fish, the government poster, "Fish is Fighting Food... We need more," encouraged Americans to increase consump- tion of that which its own poli- cies had caused to be scarce. *** Thanksgiving Day was cele- brated on the fourth Thursday in November, as was so fixed by President Lincoln in 1864. The custom dated from the thanks- giving day set aside by the Mayflower Pilgrims after their first harvest in 1621, and was later adopted by the various colonies and states. Thanksgiv- ing has become an established American custom, although the devotional observance of early days has given way largely to sports, family reunions, and feasting on roast turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce and honey baked hams. I can't vouch for the number of "paesani" that attended the original Indigenous People Thanksgiving Feast but I do know, thanks to research done by Giovanni Schiavo and my 1958 copy of his book "Four Centuries of Italian American History," that there were many Italians liv- ing in Colonial Virginia in the early 1600's and more than a million living throughout the other 13 Colonies. It isn't only the role of the worker-immigrants that's impor- tant. it is also the role of pioneer- leaders like Father Chino and Fra Marco da Nizza in the South- west, Henry Tonti in the Missis- sippi Valley, Vigo in the north central states. And then the influ- ence of Italians who never came to American like Cesare Becca- ria, but whose book Crime and Punishment was the basis for jurisprudence in the colonies. But in order to understand what happened during the colo- nial period, one must study how Italians went first to England and from there came to the colonies as Philip Mazzei who was in many respects a Founding Father, did. Italians fought in the Revo- lutionary War and indeed there were three regiments under Rochambeau that were composed mostly of Italians. We find names that are Ital- ian, other names that were Italian but have been altered. At the time, and indeed throughout the immigrant period, spelling was careless. Different people would spell a name in different ways more or less as it sounded to them. Paca became Packer. Tali- aferro became Tolliver. Or some- times the immigrant himself sim- plified his name or perhaps it was anglicized for him. Caboto became Cabot. Rossi became Ross. Clinton Vivion (or Vivian), a shareholder in the Virginia Company, belonged to an Eng- lish family of Italian extraction. Henry Fonda, father of Jane Fonda, was well aware of the Genoese origin of the Fonda fam- ily. Among those who landed at Jamestown on January 2, 1608 was Edward Gargano listed as a gentleman, and who helped orga- nize one of the plantations. In 1610 another "gentleman" arrived, Albiano Lupo who was an enterprising person and soon arranged to bring servants to the colony. He had a claim of 350 acres. At one point, six Venetian glassblowers were brought over to set up glassworks, but the enterprise did not succeed. The glassworks and the Virginia Company came to an end at about the same time. King James I appointed new commissioners to take over, among whom were two Englishmen of Italian extrac- tion: Edward Pallavicino and Sir Julius Caesar. It is interesting to note that the largest importer of Virginia tobacco in all Europe was Philip Burlamachi. It may be that the slim, brittle "Toscani" cigars were developed because of the Virginia tobacco. The steady Italian stream began in 1635 and, from then on, they can be traced in land records. Robert Taliaferro, originally Venetian but then English, arrived in Virginia in 1646 or so with considerable financial capi- tal. He started a dynasty that was represented in many public endeavors including distin- guished military duty. Italians of Huguenot persua- sion came during the religious persecutions. Indeed, at one point, there were so many Ital- ians on the Eastern Shore the areas was called the Banks of Italy or Italia. Many enterprising Italians soon owned considerable acreage. When the Revolution devel- oped, many of the Italians served both in the Virginia Militia and in the Continental Army in addi- tion to being part of the French forces. Carlo Bellini was appointed as Professor of Modern Languages at the College of William and Mary, a position he held for 24 year. He was the first teacher of Italian in an American College. The Italian presence in Vir- ginia is only a small part of the role that Italians played in the creation of America. *** America We Discovered it. We Named it. We Built it and We Continue to Enrich it... *** Friendship makes sad times seem shorter and the happy times last longer. Goodness has three faces, love, affection and friendship. Be thankful for what you have; you'll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you will never ever have enough.

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