He had held it so tight that the writing was almost illegible. Here he was on the American shores, grasping onto a small sheet of paper which held the address of a cousin in Jersey City. Giovanni was able to arrive in New York without any interruption – he was an American citizen, and he was now able to fulfill that claim. Virtually all the other Italians and Europeans on the ship were required to debark to Ellis Island to be processed. In early June of 1929, he stepped into a train, leaving his hometown and beginning a great odyssey that would last some 60 years. Week by week, year after year, Giovanni performed odd jobs around his little town, collecting a few lire here and there, spending virtually none for himself but saving it to book passage for his great adventure to the land of his birth. His family would not hear of it, and in any case, could not provide any financial support for his ambition. He had to reach the shores of America by July 1929. He knew that if he were to preserve his claim to citizenship, he would have to register for the American draft shortly after his 19th birthday. At around the age of 10, Giovanni began to formulate a daring plan to return to America to claim his citizenship. The 1920s were a period a great advancement in America, both economically and politically. As he grew up, he came to understand that he was a natural-born citizen of the United States of America. He carried with him the restless spirit of his father. Giovanni LaCorte was creative and precocious. And so he, along with many other Italian immigrants, decided that living in Italy would provide his son with a better life. Additionally, the severe prejudices toward Italian immigrants made him yearn for the dignity and respect that he received back home. Life proved to be far more difficult in America than he anticipated. By that time, though, Giuseppe was seriously considering returning to his beloved hometown that he deeply missed. On July 5, 1910, a few years after their arrival, their son Giovanni Nazareno LaCorte – named after Gesu Nazareno, the patron of San Giovanni Gemini – was born. They made their way to Jersey City, New Jersey, and settled into a difficult existence. He was able to gather passage and he and Giuseppina left Italy in pursuit of their dreams of greater opportunities – a place where they could have children and provide them with a life that would be impossible to achieve in their homeland. Giuseppe, often serving as a judge in local disputes and well respected in the town, decided to make the voyage. America promised the opportunity for a much better life. From the very rocky soil, Giuseppe and Giuseppina were able to extract some pistachios, tomatoes, and olives – hardly enough to sustain themselves. Tucked into the Sicilian hills located about midway between Palermo and Agrigento, the family farm, called Puzilo, barely provided sustenance. In the late 1800s, Giuseppe and Giuseppina LaCorte eked out a marginal existence in their little town of San Giovanni Gemini.
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