Where's the Italian "pride" in Birmingham? (Auburn, Eva: neighborhoods, bankrupt)

[cslayton]

The Greeks took such a huge chunk of the food market here (they also own and run "Italian" restaurants) that my guess would be: most Italians being RC, the RC churches here do not seem to want to sponsor Italian Festivals, whereas the Lebanese (Maronite Catholics) and Greek Orthodox and even Russian Orthodox (Brookside) all have churches that have excellent festivals, centered around their SINGLE large churches My observation from doing cemetery surveys is tha Bham has lots of small RC churches but no bi central church that seem interested in doing this.

Of more concern to me is the seriously endangered condition of the FRATERNAL CEMETERY in Pratt City. The number of Italian names of great prominence, as well as the craftsman who came here to build the city, are about to be destryed through sheer neglect. I tried to walk it from end to end, and these families undoubtedly paid for the joke that is known as PERPETUAL CARE in the cemetery business. Beautiful stones, probably carved by Italina craftmen, are still extant, but will be covered up in time, if nothing is done about the encroaching vegetation.

There is no comparison to Elmwood, but Oakland near Fairfield contains an "Italian" section, and someone could learn a lot just by studying these stones, but Oakwood now requires "permission" to explore the grounds, although it is unfenced and has NO POSTED WARNINGS about this.

Oakland is okay for now, but the Fraternal Cemetery is a disgrace, and if there was an Italian community spirit in Bham, Fraternal would be the place to start doing some community action. .

[Tourian]

Originally Posted by soccerphysio

My question is why are there not more outward displays of the Italian heritage that helped this city become what it is? There aren't any Italian festivals or clubs that I've been able to find, and Italian isn't even offered in the schools as a language choice.

I know times change, and people become assimilated to their surroundings, but I would have expected more Italian influence to be noticeable throughout the city after reading of the Italian history here.

Any thoughts?

I have no basis in fact, this is just my opinion but I think it is part of the overall "chill, low-key" factor that the people with money and power in Birmingham want. I'm not trying to say anything about any stereotypes about people or any kind of organized crime, but I think there's no big outpouring of pride or celebrations is because the community here would just rather live and do business without any sort of national attention or sudden influx of "new" people.

[Mawoods]

Another observation FWIW - When I moved out of the South, I was surprised at the emphasis on ethnicity. For example, Chicago - the summer is full of pride weeks of everything. I am not saying that is bad, jut different from anything I experienced growing up in the South. I think that we all identified ourselves as Southerners and then Americans as opposed to Italian or Swedish, etc community. We knew our background - Scot/Irish/English , whatever. It is just we were SOUTHERNERS. Not sure I make sense but I think that has always been our first pride/priority.And in addition people didn't move into an area that was defined by your ethnic group as much as happened in other areas of the country. Down here, back in the 50s, etc color was the barrier. that congregated people in an area. Thank God that is going going gone. I prefer that we think of ourselves first as Americans and we are free to live and work wherever we desire.
Saying all that, I do think it is important for all of us to know our history and backgrounds and as a lover of all things history, I think we should preserve our heritage - even the ugly.

[Southlander]

I have a good friend whose parents emigrated from Italy. Although the parents and relatives spoke Italian, they refused to let their children learn the language and insisted they speak English. They did everything they could to become Americans.
I think this is the reason...the strong desire of the first generation to truly be American. My friend regrets that she cannot talk with her relatives in Italy, but at the time her parents thought they were doing what was best.
Sounds like perhaps the time is ripe for a new pride in national origin. You just need a person, or group, to start organizing and promoting it.
I'd love to attend an Italian festival in Birmingham!

[bhamguy]

I realize that this doesn't really go with the topic, but I just had to throw this in since it is an Italian company.

Fiat dealership set to open in April | Birmingham Business Journal

[Southlander]

Originally Posted by bhamguy

I realize that this doesn't really go with the topic, but I just had to throw this in since it is an Italian company.

Fiat dealership set to open in April | Birmingham Business Journal

We had a Fiat, once.
We were thrilled to sell it.

[Made_it_To_the_Metroplex]

Originally Posted by bhamguy

I realize that this doesn't really go with the topic, but I just had to throw this in since it is an Italian company.

Fiat dealership set to open in April | Birmingham Business Journal

I thought FIATs were going to be sold via existing Chrysler dealerships this go-round...(?)

[Tourian]

Originally Posted by UpstateBooster

I thought FIATs were going to be sold via existing Chrysler dealerships this go-round...(?)

They are, but not just any and certainly not every Chrysler dealer. They have handpicked a few dealers from select markets to sell them and Benchmark will be the only one in Alabama for the time being.

[arosato]

my grandfathers and great grandmothers family immigrated here from bisaquino sicily. i visited it with my slovak husband (arranged marriage by sicilian grandfather) and the running joke is that there are more of the townsfolk here than back in sicily.

the south is all about fitting in and conformity. my father with olive skin and oily black hair was made fun of on a daily basis even at the catholic high school in town-this is the 50's mind you. why just 3 years ago...i was called a ***** by a man at the farmers market. my grandfather lost his language..his parents who owned a grocery store in Ensley wanted him to assimilate. i remember being at my great grandmothers house listening to all the older women bake bread and speak only in italian.i remember going to weddings at the Roma club and not knowing any non italians until i left ST. josephs in sixth grade. Now you only see people at funerals or weddings (not the big italian kind anymore)

as ensley neighborhood went down...many italian americans headed to Our Lady of the Valley and Prince of PEace. OLV still has a St.Joseph's altar...to this day. I agree because there is no new influx of immigrants............the language and culture have subsided....it is a shame...i would love to have learned italian in school - as a romance language, it makes it also easy to speak french and spanish.

there are no columbus parades or celebrations like in NYC...it is a shame with so many italians in such a small place no notice is given here....i too have asked myself "WHERE DID ALL THE ITALIAN GO?"

[Hank Jr]

Wasn't Joe Rumore an Italian, he was a big radio personality in the old days....the 50s!