Figure 1.-- Giuseppe Bruno's photiographs on Suicily provide valuable insights on immigration to America. Most American photgraphy begins with the immigrants arrival in Americn ports. Bruno's photographs depict what life was like in Europe, in his case Sicily, before they immigrated. This of course is avital part of the immigration story. .

Bruno's focus on the common working people makes his work of special interest to Americans as Italians were one of the most imprtant immigrant groups. And many came from Bruno's Sicily. Euopeans flooded into America after the Civil War (1861-65). American history text books address this important part of American history. The text books make a major point of the difficult conditions immigrants faced in the late-19th and early-20th century. Never do they address the obvious question, if life was so difficult in America, why did they come? A primary reason of course, is that life was so much more difficult for working-class Europans, especially Italiasns. Southerrn Italy including Sicily was almost feudal. Bruno created images that should also be in the text books. They show whast life was like in the communities that the immigrants were coming from. This provides badly needed insights that American history textbooks fail to provide. The immigrant plight may seem difficult compared to 21st century standadrds, but the appropriate assessment is comparing life in America to that where they came from at the time. How compeent historians preparing these text books could make such obviously flawed assessments is difficult to understabnd. The immigrants of course themselves not only came to Ametica, but most chose to stay and make their new life as Americans.

Created: 1:53 AM 5/1/2023
Last updated: 1:53 AM 5/1/2023