Sicilian-American

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Sicilian Americans are a subset of Italian Americans from Sicily. They are sometimes treated as a separate group due to cultural and historical differences between Sicily and the mainland. See History of Sicily, Sicilian language, and Music of Sicily for more information on aspects distinctive to Sicily.

The first Sicilians came to what is now the United States in the seventeenth century as explorers and missionaries. Sicilian immigration to the US then grew substantially in the period starting in the 1880s and in 1906 as many as a 100,000 Sicilians came to the US. By 1924, immigration restrictions had caused this to plummet. This period saw political and economic shifts in Sicily that made emigration desirable. A great portion of the Sicilian immigrants would settle in New York City, Chicago, Boston, New Orleans , San Diego and San Francisco.

Elements of Sicilian culture came with them such as theatre and music. Giovanni De Rosalia was a noted Sicilian American playwright in the early period and farce was popular in several Sicilian dominated theatres. In music Sicilian Americans would be linked, to some extent, to jazz. Many of the more popular cities for Sicilian immigrants, like New Orleans or Chicago, are pivotal in the history of jazz. In Chicago the predominately Sicilian neighborhood was called "Little Sicily" and in New Orleans it was "Little Palermo." One of the earliest, and among the most controversial, figures in jazz was Nick LaRocca who is of Sicilian heritage. For more on Sicilians in jazz see Category:Sicilian-American jazz musicians and the list mentioned at the bottom of the page.

Sicilian-Americans immigrants faced stereotypes and discimination, sometimes even from other Italians. Tensions between Italian regions had not been entirely resolved with unification and so Northern Italians had sayings that indicated Sicilians were untrustworthy and ethnically different. With northern Italians having blonde hair, and blue eyes, a vast majority of Sicilians tend to have a dark complexion and brown/black hair. A more persistent stereotype linked them to the mafia. As the mafia are of Sicilian origin Sicilian Americans were stereotyped as mafia-linked to an even greater degree than Italian Americans in general. Even if unfair the rationalization for it was that the Mafia itself is traditionally stronger in Sicily than it is in the rest of Italy.

There are approximately 12 million people of Sicilian heritage in the United States.

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