A Sicilian in East Harlem By Salvatore Mondello

school with no knowledge of English or Italian. She spoke only the San Fratellese dialect. When a teacher punished Rosalie by hitting her on the hands with a ruler, Marianna went to the school and shook the teacher violently until she swore never to hit her granddaughter again. Rosalie finished her public schooling at the age of fourteen. She spent the next four years studying dress designing at a private school on Twenty-eighth Street and Fifth Avenue run by Antoinette Zingali Grandi. One of the students was Edith Head who became a famous Hollywood dress designer. Rosalie remembered Edith as “quick in learning and bright.” Each student made her own gown for graduation. Madame Grandi told Rosalie to open her own dress shop. However, Rosalie worked only one day in a nearby shirt factory. She complained that her fingers hurt her and Alfio told her to stay at home. He bought her a piano but she stopped playing it after several lessons. Piano rolls came with the piano and these were enjoyed by the entire family. She took mandolin lessons and enjoyed playing that instrument.

Alfio Cassara read Il Progresso Italo-Americano, the largest and oldest Italian-language daily newspaper in the United States, bought for more than two million dollars by Generoso Pope. On April 1, 1891 Generoso Pope was born in Pasquarielli, Italy, a town near Benevento. He emigrated to New York City in May 1906. At first he worked as an unskilled laborer. Jobs were plentiful for immigrants in New York City. Subway construction began in 1900. The Manhattan and Queensborough bridges were completed by 1909. Steel made possible the building of skyscrapers, including the Flatiron Building in 1902. By 1914 he was superintendent