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From Dago To White: The Story Of Sicilian Ethnic Evolution In New Orleans Amidst The Yellow Fever Epidemic Of 1905, H. Denise Lopresto Saucier

Master's Theses

The story of the Sicilian immigrants’ experiences in Louisiana is a tale of racial and ethnic evolution in the face of physical threats. With the end of the Civil War, many emancipated slaves migrated to other parts of the country, which left Louisiana planters in need of laborers. Planters turned to European labor to fill that need, bringing thousands of Sicilian peasants to work on their plantations. Extreme poverty and oppression made the opportunity to emigrate highly attractive, but Sicilians found problems in Louisiana as well. In addition to low wages, crowded living conditions, discrimination, and violence, the immigrants faced …