Mutual Aid Societies played a key role in the social and economic history of the United States. During the great waves of migration in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, they served as a social lifeline, often the only response to the basic needs of survival and inclusion for newcomers struggling to find their footing in a linguistic, social, economic, urban, and cultural context very different from the one they had left behind.
Once they landed in the New World, only their paesani – fellow townspeople – the family safety net, and the Mutual Aid Societies would “lend a hand.” These organizations not only guided people through the challenges of city life, from accompanying those who arrived without a word of English to helping them find a decent home or a dignified job, but also provided financial assistance in cases of illness, accident, or death.
