By T.N. Mutt

Several years ago I asked my mother, who was born of Sicilian immigrants, why she had not taught my brother, my sister, and myself to speak Italian.

Her response:  Your grandparents would not let us speak Italian at home.  We learned to speak English at school.  They made us speak English at home to learn it from us.  They wanted us to be Americans. (emphasis added)

Her answer surprised me.

I never viewed my mother and her siblings as being anything other than American.  Their surname was obviously Italian, and yet they never referred to themselves as Italian-American.  Although they could speak Italian, I rarely heard my mother, my aunts, or my uncles use it.  My mother, her sisters and brothers, did not assimilate the culture of their immigrant parents.

My grandparents immigrated from Sicily to our United States via Ellis Island in the early years of the 20th Century.  To gain his immigration status my grandfather was sponsored by a coal mining company in West Virginia.  

My grandfather essentially indentured himself to a coal company so his family could have the opportunity for a better life.

My mother and her siblings grew up impoverished.  They had no car(s), television(s), electronic devices, cable access, computers, internet access, or any of the household appliances we today view as necessities.  

During this era there were no free school meals, bilingual classes, free health clinics, welfare checks, EBT cards, or social services, etc!

There were nine children, four girls and five boys, born to this family between the years of 1909 and 1933.  Eight survived to reach adulthood.

All eight graduated from high school and afterwards worked supporting themselves and advanced their educations in pursuit of careers. One sister earned a Baccalaureate degree (she taught at the University of Cincinnati and later ran a successful small business), two brothers became dentists, one brother became an obstetrician/gynecologist, one brother worked in federal law enforcement, and three sisters were housewives. Three of the brothers and one sister served tours in the armed forces.

Not one of them was ever arrested, committed a crime, belonged to a criminal organization, or had a drug or an alcohol problem.  All but one of them married and raised families.

They accomplished all of this while speaking their native language---English!