Some 130 years ago Italians began to arrive in America in significant numbers. Perhaps because they came in surges and many were poor farmers or laborers with little education, desperate for work, many were stereotyped as less than intelligent, as buffoons or criminals.

Like immigrants from other places, they were marginalized. But their children have changed that. Census data shows that Italian-Americans now comprise 5 percent of the U.S. population, and the majority work in white-collar jobs, earning incomes in line with the national average.

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Source: http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/