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"Italian Vagrants" article from the Greenfield Gazette and Franklin Herald newspaper

(c) Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield MA. All rights reserved.
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Most ethnic groups were not welcomed when they first migrated to America. Whole groups were categorized by unsavory "national characteristics." This report on two Italian vagrants contains numerous references to laziness and calls indolence a prominent trait of Italians. It states that the majority of Italians who come away from the coast have barrel organs and monkeys - implying that they would rather beg than work for an honest day's pay. The Greenfield Gazette and Franklin Herald was the newspaper in Greenfield, Massachusetts, from June 26, 1827 to June 27, 1837. It changed its name to the Gazette & Mercury.

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