THE DELTA ITALIANS: Their Pursuit of "The Better Life" and Their Struggle Against Mosquitoes, Floods, and Prejudice
by Paul CanoniciItalian immigrants and their descendants have enriched the Arkansas and Mississippi Deltas for more than one hundred years. Now, Shaw native Paul Canonici has chronicled the lives, culture and events of the remarkable people so many Deltans call family. The Delta Italians: Their Pursuit of "The Better Life" and Their Struggle Against Mosquitoes, Floods, and Prejudice is quite a title, but Canonici does it justice within the book’s 240 pages. His extensive research of both Italian and American sources and his eloquent words make the people and their times come alive. Generous use of maps and family pictures further enhance The Delta Italians, making it a personal treasury for descendants to cherish. For the rest of us, here is an intimate study of a rich culture deserving appreciation. Canonici has gleaned historical documents, oral histories and his own family life to present common experiences of Italian Deltans, as illustrated through individuals’ stories. There’s young Giuseppe "Peppe" Roncconi’s 1906 journey from Italy’s Marche region to Sunnyside Plantation in Arkansas; the struggles of Lisa Sandroni Olmi, widowed in 1937 with nine children; the Pentecostal Italian families of Crittenden County, Arkansas; the founding of Greenville’s "Little Italy"; Lena Mascagni Fiorinelli, "the Princess of Boyle"; the Sicilian businesses; the Catholic Missions in the Delta; and so many more stories with familiar family names, told with sensitivity, respect and good humor. The Delta Italians opens with Sunnyside Plantation in Chico County east of Lake Village in 1895. The overview of where and what Italian immigrants came from, how they got to the Delta and what early life was like for them in the "land of opportunity" carries the imagination through years of bitter hardship, discrimination, bare subsistence and exploitation. The Italians spread into plantations and towns beyond Chico County, as well as settlements throughout the Mississippi Delta. A first generation American, Canonici treasures his own Italian heritage, spending several weeks each year in Italy. His concluding chapter recounts memorable experiences in his parents’ homeland in the Marche region. Delta Italians have now thoroughly assimilated into American culture, often marrying outside their heritage, and have scattered across the country. Is the Italian culture fading from the Delta? Perhaps The Delta Italians will be instrumental in further protecting the precious living heritage of the resilient, industrious pioneering families sharing the core of Delta history. Paul V. Canonici holds a Doctorate in sociology from Mississippi State. Ordained to the priesthood in 1957 for the Catholic Diocese of Jackson, his career included service as Superintendent of the Mississippi Catholic Schools. He retired from active ministry in 1998 and resides in Madison where he was founding pastor of St. Francis Parish.  McCormick Book Inn, Inc. 2006
|