Dear Readers,
As September and Labor Day approach, I thought I would mention that America’s first Labor Day parade was held on September 5, 1882 in New York City and that 10,000 working people marched in it.
I cannot mention Labor Day without writing a few words about Angela Bambace, union organizer for the Ladies Garment Workers. Angela’s father had worked as a fisherman with a fleet in Brazil, but hill health forced him back to Italy and to New York, where Angela’s mother had to support the family trimming plumes for ladies hats at a small factory in East Harlem. At 18 Angela married a man her father had picked out for her, and then began to work in a shirtwaist factory.
Angela was soon busy organizing the women workers for the International Ladies Garment Workers Union. Her mother, Giuseppina, not only allowed Angela to do this hazardous work (manufacturers routinely hired toughs to harass union organizers), she often accompanied her daughter on her rounds, brandishing that ancient weapon – the rolling pin. Angela’s sister, Maria, also an organizer and wife of Industrial Worker of the World activist, Antonio Capraro, recalled one such occasion.
It involved an enforcer called Gagliano. “When our mother heard that a young Jewish woman had been beaten up, she went to Gagliano and said, ‘Do you know what happened today in the shop?’ Mr. Gagliano replied ‘What happened? Your daughters weren’t hurt, were they?’ He had respect for her, and had given orders her daughters were not to be harmed. ‘Not my daughters,’ Giuseppina said, ‘but another mother’s daughter was. So what difference does that make?’ Gagliano called off his boys. Even though he was considered a racketeer, he behaved in a considerate manner.”
In the 1919 Garment Worker’s strike in Harlem, Angela was full of courage, successfully competing in an area previously reserved almost exclusively to men. In the bitter strikes in New York and New Jersey of 1932 and 1933, she was pushed down an entire flight of stairs by an irate employer. Angela’s attitude and tactics did not remain static.
She was by turn a Communist, an anarchist supporter of Sacco and Vanzetti, a housewife, the companion of Italian anarchist and writer Luigi Quintilliano, an organizer in Baltimore, Maryland of the first Garment Workers’ local composed entirely of women, a New Deal supporter, and vice president of the ILGWU’s executive board. In 1962, she was named by President Kennedy to his Commission on the Status of Women.
Her best days, perhaps, were spent in Maryland: Angela continued to organize in Baltimore first, then in the small towns of Maryland where unions were virtually unheard of. In Maryland, Angela organized a group of women cloak-makers into Local 227, composed entirely of women. In 1936, the local won its first victory after a walkout, winning recognition from a large non-union firm.
Further victories came in long bitter strikes against the American Raincoat Company and then the Roberts Dress Company of Baltimore, where Bambace introduced the “big city” tactic of the “sit-down” strike. Angela Bambace became the first Italian woman to penetrate the male-dominated leadership of her union. In 1942, she was named manager of the Maryland-Virginia District, and helped establish an outpatient clinical service for union members. In 1956, she was elected vice president of the ILGWU’s General Executive Board, the first non-Jewish woman to be elected to that post. In 1972, Angela Bambace retired from the ILGWU to devote herself to more general social causes. Three years later, she succumbed to cancer.
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This Labor Day I thought it appropriate to remember those in the U.S. Armed Services who have labored the military and to let you know about the Italian American Veterans Museum and Library that is dedicated to honoring Italian American bravery from the American Revolutionary War to the present. The Italian American Veterans Museum and Library is housed on the third floor of the Office Center at Casa Italia, and Italian American community center nestled on 16 landscaped acres two blocks east of Mannheim Road, between North Avenue and Lake Street in Stone Park, Illinois.
The museum is open from 1 to 4 p.m. on Sundays and tours are available by appointment if you plan ahead to visit with your family (Tel. 312-829-2460). The Italian American Veterans Museum is dedicated to honoring the proud history of our Italian American Veterans. Italian Americans made up the largest ethnic fighting force during World War II; furthermore our Italian American sons were early enlisting to serve their country while certain putative patriotic ethnic groups were sending their sons to Canada or greasing a draft dodging deferment.
As those of you familiar with “Una Storia Segreta” (evacuation of “Italian enemy aliens”) will recall, many an Italian American son was serving their country while parents as “enemy aliens” were being evacuated. For example: in Monterey, California, Rosina Trovato learned one day that both her son and her nephew had gone down with the “Arizona” at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii and the next day she had to leave her home. The evacuated family, relieved to have found a rental al last, was thrown into new despair when the landlord learned they were Italian, and chased them away.
In Pittsburg, California, Catherine Buccellato’s son Nick, serving in the U.S. Navy, came home on leave to find his home empty. While he had been serving his country, his mother had to evacuate her home. The Italian American Veterans Museum and Library is a permanent, high quality, aesthetic, scholarly and educational collection that explores our unique contributions to the security of the United States, and shares those contributions with the public at large. The museum gathers, catalogs, restores, archives and displays military artifacts and wartime memorabilia.
Exhibits explore the American Revolution, Civil War, Balbo’s Flight, World War II, Vietnam and Korea, Hometown Heroes, Patches and Insignias, Souvenirs of War, and more. Future projects include interactive and other electronic exhibits, a database of videotaped oral histories, traveling exhibits, a documentary, and other educational initiatives. Americans of Italian descent have established a legacy of bravery that extends from the birth of our nation to modern times.
More than 1 million Italian Americans have fought for Old Glory over the decades, and tens of thousands have made the supreme sacrifice. They have served with distinction in every major conflict and have attained the upper echelons of military leadership. Hundreds have earned Distinguished Service Crosses and Medals, Bronze and Silver Stars, Navy Crosses, and Congressional Medals of Honor, and tens of thousands have earned the Purple Heart. The achievements of these brave men and women are preserved and celebrated in the Italian American Veterans Museum and Library.
The Italian American Veterans Museum and Library was created to: - Honor the contributions of Italian Americans in the defense of our nation from the Revolutionary War to the present. - Pay tribute to the Italian American men and women who have served on the frontline and on the home front, at war and in peace. - Encourage future generations of Italian Americans to commemorate the bravery of their ancestors. If you have military memorabilia or wish to make a donation write: Italian American Veterans Museum and Library, Casa Italia Office Center, Third Floor, 3800 Division St., Stone Park, IL 60165, 312-829-2460.
10631 Vinedale Street, Sun Valley, CA 91352 - Phone (818) 767-3413 - Fax: (818) 767-1410
