Italian Americans in the Progressive Era

     "Modern America was born in the Progressive Era. In the first two decades of the twentieth century, the forces accompanying industrialization sent the familiar nineteenth-century world plummeting towards extinction. A land of family farms and scattered settlements was eclipsed by a modern nation of giant corporations, huge factories and office buildings, sprawling cities, and jostling ethnic groups." 1 The Progressive Era was a belief that science and technology was the path to a better future.
     As stated above the first two decades of this century and the last two decades of the nineteenth-century saw a great influx of immigrants. These immigrants came mostly from southern and eastern Europe. They came to this country mainly to find a better life for themselves. Many of these immigrants were extremely poor with little or no education. When they got to America they usually took unskilled or semi-skilled jobs. One immigrant group that meets this criteria are Italians.
     Many people of the Progressive Era did improve their lives and even moved up the social class ladder. " Despite the discrepancies in wealth and stratification, America remained a society in flux. Carnegie and Schwab, self-made millionaires, demonstrated the most extreme and racist kind of success. But whites, both immigrant and native-born, often achieved significant upward occupational mobility or saw the possibility of it." 2  Italians were also part of this upward mobility. "Among Italians and East European Jews who remained in Manhattan between 1905 and 1915, 32 percent moved from blue-collar to white-collar occupations." 3
     Now the question we need to answer is did Italians living in Fredonia, N.Y., between 1910 and 1920 also see this improvement in their life? From the information gathered I think one can see that in the 10 year span Italians did see some improvements in their lives. These improvements may not have been as great as mentioned above but some Italians do move from unskilled or semi-skilled workers to people who began to own their own businesses. In the first few years of the decade a great majority of Italians were laborers. Very few of them owned their own bisinesses. Their were no Italian doctors, lawyers or teachers. As the decade moves on we see more Italians owning their own businesses. These businesses were not factories or textiles. They were hardware store owners, barbers, and shoe repair shops. Many more Italians began to own their own houses.
     So in conclusion one can see that Italians living in Fredonia, N.Y., did see improvements in their lives. They may not have been major improvements as many other people saw in the Progressive Era. However we can see that the Progressive Era did not leave these people behind.
 

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