Media/Speaking
This is the speech I gave about my family history and my book, Searching for Concezio, at my New Jersey hometown’s 2022 Columbus Day celebration. When I was growing up in Scotch Plains, New Jersey, nearly half of the population there could trace their roots back to Italy. I didn’t pay much attention to that fact until recently, when I discovered that my grandfather was a migrant worker, one in a flock of more than two million other young men known as “birds of passage” who flew to America desperate for opportunity from 1880 to 1920. To learn more about my grandfather’s story—and the struggles and successes of countless “birds of passage” never given credit for their role in building modern America—read my blog, Searching for Concezio, and leave me a comment or question.
Email Me
Click HERE to email me!
Follow Me
Latest Posts
How I wish Henry Louis Gates Jr., the host of “Finding Your Roots” on PBS, had invited me to be on his show when I began researching my family history. That would have helped me prepare for my trip to Montazzoli, Italy in the summer of 1974, but Dr. Gates didn’t launch his show until…
My sister Rachelle does not impress easily, but I could hear a genuine note of admiration in her voice. “I didn’t know that,” she said. “That is interesting—I never knew that about our grandfather. ‘Bird of passage,’” she repeated. She had just read my blog “Bird of Passage”—Where is Your Home?” Rachelle and I and…
Every year on October 23rd, I think about my grandmother Rachel. I knew that she arrived on Ellis Island on October 23, 1920, but I never wondered why she took a ship from Le Havre, France instead of Naples, Italy. My grandfather Concezio had to walk or share a ride in a donkey cart for…