In Memory of my Italian immigrant grandparents, Antonio Lopetrone (a coal miner and barber), Costanza Lopetrone (matriarch extraordinaire), Angelo Paparelli (an auto worker) and Lucia Paparelli (a wedding banquet hall owner, entrepreneur and cavaliera d’Italia [a knight of the Republic of Italy] ).

—Angelo A. Paparelli

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I came to America because I heard the streets were paved with gold. When I got here, I found out three things:

First, the streets were not paved with gold.

Second, they weren’t paved at all.

Third, I was expected to pave them.

—An Italian Immigrant whose words are posted at the Ellis Island Museum

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There is no gold in the streets. The gold is in your head. When you are educated, you obtain the gold.

—Thoughts of a Wise Immigrant Mother