How did the Italian immigrants get here?
Italian immigrants braved the Atlantic Ocean, first on sailing ships and later on steamships, and endured inspection procedures at Ellis Island to settle in the United States.Early ImmigrantsBefore the latter half of the 19th century, Northern Italian craftsmen and merchants took sailing ships to the U.S. to look for business opportunities in a new market.19th Century SurgeBeginning in the 1880s, impoverished people in Southern Italy and Sicily led a wave of immigration to America, using the new steamship technology, after hearing tales of New World prosperity.PassageAs transportation dropped in price, millions of Italian immigrants made the sea voyage to the U.S., according to the Organization of American Historians. American shops in ethnic neighborhoods often sold steamship tickets to immigrants’ Americanized friends or family.Ellis IslandItalian arrivals had to endure processing and inspection at a facility in New York Harbor called Ellis Island. The personnel there occasionally se
