We the Italians December 28, 2014 - 50 | Page 8

TH

TH

# 50 • DECEMBER 28 , 2014

# 50 • DECEMBER 28 , 2014

on May 16, 2015. The festa
will begin with a procession of the blessed Mother
carried through the street
of our city and brought to
the park for the crowning
of the blessed Mother. This
will be the first year to organize and hold an event
of this caliber and we will
be keeping this for now to
a one-day event.

I walked into the exhibit
on the opening night I
truly felt the presence of
my bisnonna, nonno, nonna, uncles and of course
my father standing beside
me with tears streaming
down their faces. For me,
it was a heart-warming
experience, a moment of
triumph not just for me
but for each Italian immig rant who made their
home in Alabama. I felt
honored to have been
appointed a Chair of this
exhibition La Storia.
The exhibition opened
on September 19, 2014,
and is having a big success. Are you and the
Italian American Heritage
Society of Birmingham
planning to go on with
other initiatives about this
topic?
Yes, the exhibit is opened
at Vulcan Park and Museum until Sept 18, 2015.
During this time, the IAHS
has hosted and will be
hosting monthly educational events at VPM and
other venues location in
Birmingham. To name a
few: a seminar on obtaining dual citizenship; a
book talk with one of our
members who has published several books, one
being an award winning
bio of his father in World
War II; a cooking demonstration, a charity bike
ride ending in front of our
Cathedral for the blessing
of the bikes.
8 | WE THE ITALIANS
www.wetheitalians.com

A particular mention, among these
activities, is deserved by a bus tour
of the original mining towns where
our immigrants worked and some
perished in the mines; of the early
Italian cemeteries, where one can
view crude grave markers of unknown Italian immigrants; and of the
first Catholic Churches for the Italian Immigrants. The guide of this
tour is Carlo Roppa, from Carrera,
Italy, who worked as a sculptor
in Birmingham. Carlo sculpted a
beautiful bust and base honoring a
priest by the name of Giovanni Canepa born in Genoa, Italy who was
sent to Birmingham by the Pope
to administer to our ancestors and
was very instrumental in establish
three Catholic churches in Birmingham.
The Italian American Heritage Society of Birmingham will also host
“The Magic City of Birmingham’s
Italian Heritage Festa” in a very large city park located in the center of
Birmingham’s municipal buildings,

The IAHS mission statement is to encourage,
promote and preserve
Italian culture and heritage
with its activities centered
upon Italian traditions,
foods, language, history,
religion, folklore, customs,
celebrations, music and
family genealogy. In order
for the IAHS to carry out
this mission statement to
its fullest we must strive to
raise the money to build
an Italian American Cultural museum in the city of
Birmingham.
What's the story of the Italian emigration to Alabama and the South Eastern
States?
In the years from 1870 to
mid1920’s, I would venture to say that 90% of the
Italian immigrants came to
Alabama from Sicily and
southern Italy. What brought them to America was
the inability to own land by
the oppression of various
countries controlling Sicily,
drought, hunger, and lack
of jobs; but also the American opportunity to work,

to be able to earn money to buy food to feed their
families and the belief of a better future. Italians
are hard workers who believe in ownership.
How about the actual presence of Italians in your
area, either Italian Americans or Italians born in
Italy and now working or studying there? Are there many of them, and who are they?
There are no official censuses for the numbers of
the Italian Americans in Alabama. I feel that there
are possibly hundreds of thousands living in Alabama. In Birmingham and its surrounding areas
there are close to forty, maybe fifty thousand persons of Italian American heritage, which includes
those who emigrated from Italy over the previous
fifty years. There are those who moved into Alabama from other states for various reasons; employment, corporate move, family, education, and our
world renowned medical centers in Birmingham
such as the University of Alabama Hospital, the
Kirkland Clinic, the Children’s Hospital of Alabama
and the University of Alabama School of medicine.
Which are the most important “Italian” places in Alabama? A neighborhood, a museum, a park,
a monument?
In Alabama there were neighborhood where Italian immigrants came and build their community: they were farmers. Then their land was bought out to build the Air Museum and then the
Birmingham airport. Now there is no more an Italian neighborhood in my town. There are few
couples of churches that are still standing, built by the Italian immigrants.
And then, as mentioned before, we have Vulcan: that is our Italian monument in Alabama. It is
the second tallest statue in the world, behind the statue of Liberty; the largest iron figure ever
cast in the world, the biggest statue created in the United States. It was sculpted by an Italian
immigrant, and placed upon a stone base built by Italian immigrants.
That’s the only land mark and that’s why I fight so hard to open this museum, because we need
a place! The mayor of the city of Birmingham, William A. Bell, is behind us 100%.
For one year, we can also boast that we have the exhibit “La Storia”. In September 2015, we will
have to dismantle it, but I must remain passionate to bring our dream of having an Italian American Heritage Cultural Museum
in the Magic City of Birmingham,
BY UMBERTO MUCCI
Alabama.
IMAGES © 1: Mary Jo Gagliano
2: http://visitvulcan.com/uploads/2014/08/VULCANlogo300dpi.jpg
3: https://www.flickr.com/photos/deepfriedkudzu/15272551708/sizes/l
4: https://www.flickr.com/photos/deepfriedkudzu/11935773073/sizes/l
5: http://www.thecomebacktown.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Vulcan-Park.jpg

WE THE ITALIANS | 9
www.wetheitalians.com