Italian immigrants from Sicilian coastal villages, including Isola delle Femmine, Porticello, and Terrasini, were crucial to the thriving fishing industries along the East and West coasts of the United States. Yet as readers of Beneath the Sicilian Stars know, everything changed after Italy was designated an enemy nation.
For fishermen, wartime restrictions were particularly crippling after President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8970 on December 11. So-called enemy aliens were prohibited from entering wharves, piers, or even boarding fishing vessels themselves. The next day, the president issued Executive Order 8976, empowering the government to bypass standard maritime regulations during wartime, so agencies could swiftly requisition Italian-American boats in the name of national security. With a few strokes of a pen, fishermen on both coasts lost their livelihoods.
Once the government imposed enemy-alien curfews and travel restrictions, it was even more difficult for families to find alternative employment, exacerbating their financial hardships. Earlier this year, I spoke with author Maria "Mia" Millefoglie, whose Sicilian grandfathers, both fishermen, were branded as "enemy aliens" after restrictions were imposed in Gloucester, Massachusetts. She described the deeply personal impact on her family.
"It was really tough," she said. "They had been barely surviving on fishermen's salaries, and now couldn't send money over to Sicily... exploring just how they survived made me realize their resilience."