Media/Speaking

This is the speech I gave about my family history and my book, Searching for Concezio, at my New Jersey hometown’s 2022 Columbus Day celebration. When I was growing up in Scotch Plains, New Jersey, nearly half of the population there could trace their roots back to Italy. I didn’t pay much attention to that fact until recently, when I discovered that my grandfather was a migrant worker, one in a flock of more than two million other young men known as “birds of passage”  who flew to America desperate for opportunity from 1880 to 1920. To learn more about my grandfather’s story—and the struggles and successes of countless “birds of passage” never given credit for their role in building modern America—read my blog, Searching for Concezio, and leave me a comment or question.