Forging the Chain: Italian Migration to North America, 1880-1930

Joseph Garcea is an assistant professor of political studies at the
University of Saskatchewan.

This book is a case study of emigration to North America from a small,
economically depressed area (Rende) in the Calabria region (the source
of a substantial portion of the Italian immigration to Canada). The
author examines the factors that fostered the migration of people from
that area and determined their settlement patterns in North America from
1880 to 1930. The book provides insight into both the immigration system
and the experiences of immigrants at that time. Although the work will
be of particular use to scholars studying the migration of Italians to
North America, its themes and methodology will also be of interest to
scholars undertaking similar studies of immigrant groups from other
parts of the world. Such researchers will find the appendix titled
“Methods and Sources” particularly useful.

The book has seven chapters. Chapter 1 describes socioeconomic
conditions in the Rende region and the rest of Italy during the era in
question. Chapter 2 details the causes of emigration from that region.
Chapter 3 looks at the general process of migration from that region to
North America. Chapter 4 examines the so-called “sojourn phase” of
migration—that is, the period when migration from southern Italy to
North America, as well as to other parts of the world, was undertaken
for temporary work excursions, rather than permanent residence in those
countries. Chapter 5 considers the migrants’ experience in such major
North American cities as Chicago and Toronto. Chapter 6 explains the
factors that changed the migrants’ outlook: no longer
“sojourners,” they became “immigrants” who settled in North
America permanently. A key section of that chapter also explains why
immigration was diverted from the United States to Canada. Canada is
depicted both as an alternative destination and as the “back door”
to immigration into the United States, which at the time was beginning
to develop more restrictive immigration policies. Chapter 7 provides an
account both of settlement patterns in Toronto and of the sociocultural
milieu in which immigrants from the Rende region operated. Sociologists
will find the section on “Women and the Family” in this chapter
particularly interesting.