COMMUNICATION FROM THE REGION OF MOLISE

On September 19, 2017, Michele Petraroia, Regional Counselor for Molise, sent a letter to the Italian Ambassador, Armando Varricchio; the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs; the Cultural President of the Molise Region in New York; the St. Ann Club in Norwalk, CT; and the Abruzzo and Molise Heritage Society regarding the 110th anniversary of the Monongah, WV mine disaster; the 1908 Statute of mutual aid by the emigrants from Jelsi; and Arturo Giovannitti, an ItalianAmerican union leader, socialist political activist, and poet best remembers as one of the principal organizers of the 1912 Lawrence, MA textile strike (Giovannitti was born in Ripabottoni in what is now the province of Campobasso).

The letter, in Italian, has been translated, below, by Romeo Sabatini; the Italian language version follows the English translation.

The harsh events happening in the world make us concentrate to the present, and may sway our attention from past events. But it should not prevent us from considering the history of a people that left Italy dreaming of a better life in the United States, where through sufferings, sacrifices, and successes, have contributed to the economic, social, and cultural growth of the greatest democracy of the world. Molise, although small, since 1870 has had thousands of emigrants going to all parts of the US: from Boston to San Francisco, and with settlements in the most remote unimaginable places. As examples of the emigration from Molise in the period at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, I shall mention three events:

1) On December 6, 1907 the mine disaster in Monongah, West Virginia is the greatest ever work-related disaster in the US with 361 dead, including 171 Italians, 87 of which immigrants from Molise;

2) On October 12, 1908 a Statute of Mutual Support among immigrants from Jelsi (Campobasso) was signed in New York; and

3) On November 12, 1912, the poet labor leader from Molise, Arturo Giovannitti, makes his famous self-defense speech in the Salem court where he and other labor leaders had been condemned to death.

To the history of the Monongah tragedy, Joseph D'Andrea, the Italian Consul in Pittsburgh and uncle to AMHS President Maria D'Andrea, dedicated 30 years of his life, and has written a memorable book with biographical sketches of each disaster victim, and was able to involve in the 100th anniversary celebration of the mine disaster, the Italian President and the then- president of the American Congress Nancy Pelosi. The details of the second event, the Statute of Mutual Support by the immigrants from Jelsi, were made available to us by Michele Vena, a Yale professor of Molise origins, who edited and commented the reprint of the Statute in cooperation with the Jelsi Society of Norwalk, CT, who in 2014 celebrated the 100th anniversary of their St. Ann Club.

The third event belongs to the world-wide history of workers’ unions, and preceded by 15 years the 1927 Sacco and Vanzetti trial and execution, but with opposite favorable results. These three events are justly remembered by the Molise associations of New York, Norwalk, and Washington, and could represent an opportunity to further emphasize the role of Italian immigration in North America. It would be beautiful to remember with a message, an event or a flower, the 110th anniversary of the death of 171 Italian miners at Monongah on December 6, 1907, or to help us find the grave of Arturo Giovannitti in New York, and to express appreciation of the stubborn immigrants from Jelsi, well represented by the recently deceased president of the St. Ann Club of Norwalk, Joe Valente, who kept alive a society founded in 1914.

In this dark period of American history when statues of Christopher Columbus are being defaced, I am aware of the incongruence of my letter already made difficult by the present fragility of the Molise institutions, but especially in difficult times it is appropriate to remind all that today's American progress and well-being is also the fruit of thousands of workers and poor peasants from Italy and from Molise.

Distinti Saluti

Michele Petraroia