The massive immigration of European settlers to the United States in the late 18th century included a large number of Italians who settled in southeast Kansas to take jobs as deep-shaft coal miners. Two of these families who followed the dream, the Battitori family and the Iager family, merged a generation later.

Dr. John Battitori, who addressed an audience at Corley auditorium Wednesday, Oct. 30 is a product of this merger. He is one of the featured themed semester speakers arranged by the Institute of International Studies for the Italian semester. Battitori is a second generation Italian-American and one of the first of his generation not working as a coal miner.

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Source: http://www.thechartonline.com