Object Record
Images
Metadata
Catalog Number |
555-669-1 |
Object Name |
Ribbon |
Date |
1921 |
Description |
In black text with a white background is the word "Membro" meaning "Member". Beneath it, inscribed in gold are the words; Societa di Mutuo Soccorso Giorgio Kastriota. Fondato Primo Giugno, 1921 Los Angeles, Calif. Translated it means; (Georgio Kastriota Mutual Aid Society Founded June 1, 1921 Los Angeles, CA). Bronze-colored fringed membership ribbon for Giorgio Kastriota Mutual Aid Society, Los Angeles, California. The ribbon is reversible, the red-white-and green side was used for festive events while the black side, which contains the same text as above along with the words "in memoriam" was worn at funerals. Dimensions 2.125 in. x 8.875 in. In the early 1900s, approximately 25% of the city’s Italian population could be found just south of downtown, between 9th and 14th Street, bound by the Los Angeles River on the east, and Alameda Street on the west. This community, referred to as "the Eastside," was primarily comprised of impoverished Italian, predominantly Sicilian, as well as Mexican and native-born American laborers, some of whom worked for the railroad or at the adjacent wholesale produce market. The enclave of the Sixth and Seventh wards represents one of Southern California’s Italian chain-migration movements. Immigrants from the villages of Piana degli Albanesi (originally named Piana dei Greci), Contessa Entellina, and Santa Cristina Gela, Sicily created a settlement on Violet, Mateo, Hunter, Enterprise, Lemon, and Wilson Streets. Many of the residents were Arbëreshë, or Italo-Albanians, an ethnolinguistic group in Southern Italy who are the descendants of mostly Tosk Albanian refugees, who fled from Albania between the fourteenth and eighteenth centuries in consequence of the Ottoman invasion of the Balkans. Their dialect is Gheg, and the community often referred to themselves as Gheg-Gheg. As the neighborhood became more industrial, and the immigrants achieved upward mobility, many residents moved to Lincoln Heights, one of Los Angeles’ oldest neighborhoods and its first suburb. While Lincoln Heights’ population had previously consisted primarily of native-born whites from the Midwest, by 1940, over 50 percent of the neighborhood was Italian, and it had become the largest Italian enclave in the city. Many of Lincoln Heights’ 8,000 Italian residents were Sicilians who had previously lived in Pennsylvania and Louisiana; one quarter had relocated from Colorado, namely the southern Colorado mining towns of Pueblo and Trinidad. One of the organizations that the Sicilian Arbëreshë community founded was the Giorgio Kastriota Mutual Aid Society. The group, which was named after the hero of Albanian independence, was established in 1921, later built a meeting hall on North Broadway near Daly Street in Lincoln Heights, where they gathered for social events. The group continued well into the 1950s. Among the members were the Cuccia, Matranga, Ficarotta, Mandala, and Schiro families. |
People |
Kastriota, Giorgio Cuccia Family Matranga, Pietro Ficarotta Family Mandala Family Schiro Family |
Search Terms |
Ribbon Membership |