Italians of Northeastern Pennsylvania (PA) (Images of America) [Paperback]

Stephanie Longo (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 22, 2004

Every Labor Day weekend, hundreds of thousands of people flock to Courthouse Square in Scranton for the largest ethnic festival in northeastern Pennsylvania: La Festa Italiana. The Italians of this region have been proudly celebrating their heritage since their arrival in this country with traditional festivals, including La Corsa dei Ceri in Jessup and Dunmore's procession in honor of St. Rocco. Using vintage and recent photographs, Italians of Northeastern Pennsylvania shows how the Italian immigrants to this area, some of whom arrived with little more than the clothes on their back, became well-respected community leaders. Through hard work and dedication, they have made northeastern Pennsylvania into an area that defines the term "ethnic pride."

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Stephanie Longo, a native of northeastern Pennsylvania, has a degree in Italian and French from the University of Scranton, where she enrolled in graduate school to study history with a focus on Italian American and Italian studies. She is a member of the National Italian American Foundation, the American Italian Historical Association, and the Enrico Caruso Lodge No. 2770 of the Order of the Sons of Italy in America in Dunmore.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing (November 22, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0738536393
• ISBN-13: 978-0738536392
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.4 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #217,149 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful and thorough presentation, October 23, 2006

By 

Donna Di Giacomo (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Italians of Northeastern Pennsylvania (PA) (Images of America) (Paperback)

To paraphrase what Ms. Longo wrote in her introduction: When people think of Italians in Pennsylvania, they don't think of Northeastern Pennsylvania - the areas of Jessup, Dunmore, Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, etc. - but Stephanie Longo has done a beyond excellent job of not only documenting the strong Italian presence in upstate Pennsylvania, but in accentuating the fact that that presence is felt in that area today as much as it was almost one hundred years ago.

Ms. Longo's contribution to the Images of America series starts off with the wedding picture of her grandparents, to whom she dedicated the book. This is a taste of how much Italians valued their families, a value that continues to the second and third generation Italian-American, and beyond, whether the person grew up in that environment or not.

Her picture selection was one of the better ones that I have seen emerge from the I.O.A. series. She chose images that showed everyday life and, more importantly, she took advantage of archives direct from Italy. She put her Italian degree to good use there!

I have to be honest when I say that I didn't think the Italians who immigrated to upstate Pennsylvania were many and I certainly didn't think their presence was instrumental in shaping the various communities up there, but Ms. Longo cleared up that misconception awful quick.

I have heard many stories of the awful discrimination Italian immigrants faced while working in the coal mines and railroads, and while Ms. Longo addressed what needed to be addressed, she made sure to stress the fact that those immigrants, many of whom didn't speak a word of English upon their arrival, persevered under horrible conditions and not only made something of themselves but their families as well. I have heard about people who initially settled in upstate Pennsylvania when they immigrated from Italy, but who resettled in Philadelphia, and they stressed the fact that the Italian community was very active in those parts (quite a few folks who lived in the Germantown neighborhood of Philly came from Wilkes-Barre and Scranton, among other towns in upstate PA, and they were Calabrese).

I was very pleased to finally (!) know the town where the majority of those immigrants came from in Italy. Never would I have guessed they came from Umbria! I was also shocked to see the settlement goes back quite a while, with the first Columbus Day Parade held in 1892!

I was especially touched by the part in her introduction when she stated that many Italian immigrants' descendants are, perhaps, unaware of their ancestors' sacrifices. I'd like to expound upon that and say those people probably don't even know they're Italian at all (or, incredulously, are ashamed of their heritage, so they change their names, among other things. Or, better yet, if they're mixed in with another nationality - most predominately Irish or German - they will, majority of the time, deny their Italian heritage and claim they're 100% German or 100% Irish. They'll know to the enth degree where their ancestors came from in Germany or Ireland, and the very day their ancestor arrived in the U.S., yet ask them what region their Italian ancestors came from and you'll be greeted with a blank stare for an answer).

One of the saddest things I've ever seen are the graves of so many Italians (who, I can tell by their date of birth, were immigrants) who died either very young and/or many years ago whose markers and stones lay vacant in many cemeteries year after year after lonely year.

Ms. Longo's volume qualifies as a book-lover's pleasure. Even if your Italian ancestors didn't settle in upstate Pennsylvania (like mine), this is a must-have book in order to get a fuller story of Italian immigration to the U.S.

Great job, Stephanie! - Donna Di Giacomo