My object is the passport of my great-grandfather, Giuseppe Cutropia, who immigrated from Sicily to New York. The passport is from 1923 and it is written in Italian, it represents my Italien culture. He traveled from Sicily to New York. He arrived in New York on July 10th. My great-grandfather left Italy because he didn’t want to be under his father’s control; he could not make his own choices for what he could do in his life. His father told him who he had to marry and where to live and where to work. He could not be his own man because the customs were very different in Italy back then. He wanted him to work in the family business which was to make fruit extracts. Although not poor, he came here for freedom of choice. I am proud of my great-grandfather for this because it shows how bold he was and how much he wanted a better life and wanted freedom of choice. When he got here he established his own business which was importing Italian food products and he had another business which was delivering heating oil. It signifies freedom and opportunity. It shows how my great-grandfather came to America for a better life for himself and the next generation of my family. To me, this signifies how courageous he was to leave behind a wealthy life in Italy just for freedom of choice and independence and not to be told what to do. This is important to me as freedom and independence of choice is a right that everyone should have and no one should be denied. 

– MC

Relationship:  Great-grandchild of im/migrant or more Great-grandchild of im/migrant or more