La Merica: Images Of Italian Greenhorn Experience

2. Landing in New York

TWO Landing in New York "I was disappointed with America at first. I did not know her. I was a stranger to America , and America was a stranger to me." 1 The Immigration Station In mid-nineteenth-century America, although there were state laws regulating immigration, the procedure for admitting the newcomers arriving in port cities on the east coast consisted of little more than a head count.2 New York's processing center was known as the Barge Office. It was located on the Battery, at the tip of Manhattan, where an impressive circular building called Castle Garden (originally a cultural center and concert hall) had been converted for the purpose. In 1892, this office closed in favor of the federal facility at Ellis Island-until the wooden buildings there were destroyed by fire in 1897, and entering aliens were again received at Castle Garden while reconstruction was underway. Ellis Island reopened with new brick buildings and a much larger complex in 1900.3 CASTLE GARDEN, 1855- 1900 When the Barge Office opened in 1855, there were only about 300 Italians living in New York City, and during that decade only some 8,000 to 10,000 entered the United States (compared with more than 240,000 immigrants from other countries, especially Great Britain and Germany). Among the first of these was Antonio Arrighi, who arrived in July 1855. Arrighi was born in Florence, and in 1849 enlisted in Garibaldi's army as a drummer boy. Wounded and captured during the battle for Rome, he was taken prisoner by the Bourbons, jailed at Civitavecchia, and later escaped to Leghorn, where he went to sea on 38 LANDING IN NEW YORK a ship bound for America. From the Brooklyn pier where his ship had docked, Arrighi arranged for one of his shipmates to rent a small boat and row him over to Castle Garden. There, the procedure was so lax that no one took notice of his entrance, and he was completely ignored as he sat waiting on one of the wooden benches. That evening after dark, as Castle Garden was closing its doors, a sweeper chased Arrighi out into the street, where he found himself on his own-and in America.4 The system was still casual when Adolfo Rossi arrived, one of about 6,000 Italians who entered the United States in 1879. The cabin passengers were the first to disembark after the ship docked at a Manhattan pier, followed by those in third class, who were loaded on a steamboat for the short trip to Castle Garden. Entering the large rotunda , Rossi looked up at the ceiling 75 feet above him and around at the 2,000 or more immigrants milling about the floor. Rossi tried to identify the several nationalities by their picturesque native costumes and their "white, brown, yellow and copper colored faces." Individual workers and farmers outnumbered the family groups. In one part of the hall, clusters of German and Irish agricultural families were waiting to entrain for the Middle West that same evening. Rossi also noticed the booths where agents sold railroad tickets or offered hotel rooms, and a Labor Exchange office that listed available jobs. The immigrants were processed quickly and quietly, with few formalities. After Rossi gave his name to the official at the desk, he and his companion Giuseppi walked over to the Labor Exchange to glance at the job board. Rossi had left home carrying a reserve of funds, planning to see New York as a tourist for a few weeks before settling down to earn his living. But his money had been stolen during the crossing, so he was now compelled to seek work right away. The Exchange was divided into two sections, one for men and one for women, and a large chalkboard on the wall listed the daily requests for workers. Standing in front of the board, Rossi read: 29 August, 1879 Fifty miners wanted for the West, and 200 laborers for work on the Denver and Rio Grande R.R. Some good farmers needed in Pennsylvania. Some good domestics needed for city families. LANDING IN NEW YORK 39 Rossi turned to Giuseppi and remarked, "There is nothing for us today "-little imagining how wrong he would prove to be.5 When the two men left Castle Garden, they wandered aimlessly through the streets, not knowing what to do with themselves or where to...