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Anthony Leo
Doctor Elizabeth Hudson
Honors 1000
11 October 2016
One Culture to Another
The peasant life is never easy. Growing up within the region of Calabria, Italy, Vincenzo
Leonardo was well-accustomed to poverty and the never-ending struggle to survive. It was 1916
and Italians were immigrating to America in full force in search of work and a better life
Vincenzo was one of them. On a cramped vessel with one-hundred other immigrants, Vincenzo
and his family traveled across the Atlantic to Ellis Island where they officially began their
American story. With his wife and five kids, Vincenzo came to Detroit with the hopes and
dreams of a better future but the new culture and prevalent racism quickly tarnished every
preconceived notion he had.
Vincenzo Leonardo was a proud Italian man with thick, black hair and olive skin. He
was the epitome of a Southern Italian. His wife of 10 years, Sophia, differed as she had paler
skin and hair that appeared to be dark brown. Vincenzo was 30 and Sofia was 27; they had been
brought together through an arranged marriage and had been fast in starting a family in the slums
of Calabria. As Sophia raised the children, Vincenzo held every odd job he could find in order to
put food on the table. From working as a carpenter to working in the local markets, no job was
ruled out. The family was barely able to make ends meet and the life of an unskilled worker was
a life of pain and hardship. This menial existence lasted until the spring of 1916 when Vincenzo
received correspondence from his cousin, Giuseppe. The letter spoke of a relatively new

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program being implemented by Ford Motor Company in the city of Detroit (Helpful Hints) and
highlighted the great benefits of moving to America. Giuseppe had immigrated from Calabria
six years prior and had established connections within the Italian community in Detroit. He put
family first and sought to help his cousin out of poverty. Giuseppe placed emphasis on Ford and
the $5 wage (per day) and exaggerated the ways that Ford sought to help its foreign-born
employees through various programs (Helpful Hints, Martelle). With nothing to lose and
everything to gain, the Leonardos sold their few worldly possessions and purchased one-way
tickets across the Atlantic.
After arriving in New York, they began to make their way to Detroit where they settled
near Gratiot Avenue amongst a population of other Italian immigrants. Ford was not hiring many
new workers (Martelle) and Vincenzo was reliant on an enthusiastic Giuseppe for the job
connection. Giuseppe came through and after getting the job, Vincenzo was shocked by the
extensive requirements and obligations that came with the $5 wage. He struggled to maintain the
health standards and make the obligatory investments (Helpful Hints 25). After a few short
months in America, he enrolled in Ford School where volunteers taught him basic English
(Helpful Hints 31). This program was rooted in the idea of assimilation (Alley) and was a cause
of resentment for Vincenzo as he witnessed his culture starting to slip away. Sophia continued to
play the traditional role of housewife and found solace in the American working class that her
family was merging into. The escape from poverty had been relatively smooth but as they began
to engage in the American way of life, they started to witness and face systemic racism that had
become a part of the citys existence.
Three years had passed since they immigrated and the Leonardos had changed. They
could now speak and write fluent English and had had succeeded in establishing a stable lifestyle

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over a foundation of job security and community involvement. Unfortunately, this lifestyle came
with the underlying tension of racism and discrimination. It was common place to hear racial
epithets shouted across the street and being alert was a mandatory precaution in the wake of the
prominence of the Ku Klux Klan. The violence and outright hatred truly resonated with
Vincenzo as he longed to be back in Italy where life seemed to be simpler. Even other Italians
hated them. The wealthier, fairer skinned immigrants from Northern Italy sought to distance
themselves from their poorer, darker counterparts and actively participated in the name-calling
and discrimination (Alley). The public schools were not immune to the hatred. Sophia was
brought to tears as her children asked her why their classmates referred to them as dagos and
wops (Alley, Watch Peasants).
There was no escape. The papers announced how terrible and filthy the immigrants were
and advocated schemes that would remove the immigrants from the city (Make Farmers).
With all the social commotion, Vincenzo forgot to apply for citizenship as the Ford manual had
advocated and received a wage cut to $2.50 per day as a result (Helpful Hints). With his pay cut
by half, and his family facing an inescapable hardship, Vincenzo pondered over whether leaving
Italy to begin with had been the best decision. He had such high hopes in 1916 and to have that
dream come crashing down was devastating. Even Giuseppe had given up on the dream. In
1920, at the start of prohibition, Giuseppe began to work for the local mafia operating out of
Eastern Market (Alley). Fords restrictions had hurt him as well and he saw no other way.
Vincenzo contemplated following in Giuseppes footsteps but remained committed to the laws of
his new home and sought side-jobs outside of Ford doing the carpentry and construction that had
been his income back in Italy.

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Vincenzo and Sophia debated about going back to Calabria but refused to lose sight of
the bigger picture. They were the foundation of a family that would be carried on by their
children and grandchildren. The roots they placed now would have the possibility of growing
into something beautiful in the future. These motivating thoughts were overridden by the somber
fact that they could not go back to Calabria even if they wanted to. The traveling costs were too
high and they had gone through too much to start over once again (Thrifty Italians). America
remained the only option.
Overall, the struggle of Vincenzo and thousands of other immigrants was not in vain.
They set the foundation of a new America and created new urban forms in and around the city.
Italian restaurants and stores became a common staple of the growing metropolitan centers and
the intermingling of Italians with other immigrants created a culture that does not exist anywhere
else. The racism, hatred, and discrimination against immigrants is terrible but gives us a
definitive answer when asked Who are we? We are a people who persevere.

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Works Cited
Alley-Young, Gordon. "A New Language, A New World: Italian Immigrants in the United States,
1890-1945." Canadian Journal of History 45.1 (2010): 161+. Academic OneFile. Web. 2
Oct. 2016.
Helpful Hints and Advice to Employees. Detroit, Michigan: Ford Motor Company, 1915. Web. 1
Oct. 2016.
"Make Farmers of Immigrants." Detroit Free Press (1858-1922): 15. Oct 17 1909. ProQuest.
Web. 4 Oct. 2016.
Martelle, Scott. Detroit: A Biography. Chicago, Ill: Chicago Review Press, 2012. Print.
"The Immigration Problem Again." Detroit Free Press (1858-1922): 4. Feb 04 1905. ProQuest.
Web. 6 Oct. 2016.
"Thrifty Italians." Detroit Free Press (1858-1922): 1. May 24 1908. ProQuest. Web. 5 Oct. 2016.
"Watch Peasants Feed." Detroit Free Press (1858-1922): 2. Aug 19 1907. ProQuest. Web. 5 Oct.
2016.