{"id":7315,"date":"2016-05-13T16:14:40","date_gmt":"2016-05-13T21:14:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maxwellhalsted.publish.uic.edu\/?page_id=7315"},"modified":"2018-03-28T08:42:58","modified_gmt":"2018-03-28T13:42:58","slug":"italian-american-taylor-st","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/maxwellhalsted.uic.edu\/home\/alien-colonies\/italian-american-taylor-st\/","title":{"rendered":"ITALIANS: TAYLOR STREET"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dominant among the immigrant groups streaming on near west side streets at the turn of the twentieth century were Italians, Greeks, and Jews. Enclaves of Italians–Neapolitans, Sicilians, and Calibreans\u2013settled in the Taylor Street area, Jane Addams estimated about ten thousand in the several blocks between Halsted St. and the River alone<\/p>\n

Before the Italians arrived, Taylor street had been named for the pre-Civil War general, Zachary Taylor, elected to the presidency in 1848 and who died in office in 1850 from gastroenteritis, supposedly from eating too much ice cream and cherries on a hot day. In volatile political times with slavery at the top of the agenda, Taylor’s political “murder” became an item of popular speculation. Food and crime\u2013a fitting legacy for the \u201cforeign colony\u201d later settling on Taylor Street.<\/p>\n

The Taylor Street neighborhood was known as \u201cLittle Italy.\u201d Though other Italian settlements were located in the Chicago area, none emerged with the size, prominence, and persistence of Taylor Street. The Jews, for instance, after the initial years of settlement moved further west. The Italians remained and prospered in food businesses and cuisine. Taylor Street became a primary location of groceries, meat markets, bakeries, restaurants, and vendors in food services, a number of them persisting for generations.<\/p>\n

The Federal construction of the I94 Interstate highway in the 1950s and the fruition of Richard J. Daley\u2019s urban renewal plans in the early 1960s with the campus of the University of Illinois at Chicago as a centerpiece ultimately redrew the street and residential map of the area.<\/p>\n

Southern Italians as an \u201calien\u201d group in the U.S., commonly traveled back and forth to the old country. They appeared to resist the nationalist push of the “Americanization\u201d agenda, and unsurprisingly received a hostile welcome. In low-brow caricature and denigrating jokes about their stupidity, Italians were mocked for their \u201cswarthy\u201d appearance, \u201cCatholic\u201d superstitions, \u201cpadrone\u201d labor evils, exploitative streets trades, patriarchy and gender discriminatory family relations, lack of a work ethic, and profound ignorance of the role of technologies in modern urban life. Local crime and crime families (\u201cThe Black Hand\u201d) identified with Taylor Street attracted both academic and broader public scrutiny.<\/p>\n

Case in point, the perspective on neighborhood Italians from Hull-House residents who presumed a mantle as the anchor of civilization in the West Side\u00a0district. Jane Addams characterized the South Italians as a \u201cprimitive people\u201d and simple \u201cpeasants,\u201d naive patronage supporters of the Nineteenth Ward Boss. For children coming from a former peasant\u2019s life picking olives and oranges, it was but a step to criminality by thieving coal, vegetables, and fire wood from local vendors.<\/p>\n

Dr. Alice Hamilton at the Hull-House clinic concluded that Italian mothers, abysmally ignorant of progressive American dietary practices, were incompetent. Florence Kelley further condemned them as lazy and \u201cunfit for motherhood.\u201d Kelley concluded that listless Italians with little capacity for energy or persistence were a\u00a0\u201cburden,” neither suited “for life in the northern cities\u201d nor \u201cto participate in a self-governing community.\u201d \u00a0 bjb<\/p>\n

INTRODUCTION<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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