This digital exhibition examines Italian migration to the Birmingham District, Alabama, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, situating it within the area's rapid industrial growth and complex racial landscape. Drawn by the expansion of iron ore mining and steel production, Italian migrants occupied a confusing position within Southern racial hierarchies and were often restricted to marginal areas near mining sites, where they faced tough labor conditions, unstable housing, and social hostility. Over time, many Italians transitioned from industrial work to small businesses, establishing family-run shops that promoted economic mobility and changed localbusiness relations, especially through interactions with African American communities. The exhibition also explores these historical dynamics through the life and work of Italian sculptor Giuseppe Moretti (1857–1935), whose career in Alabama intersects art, industry, and religious expression.
From marble sculptures carved in local stone to the creation of Vulcan, the largest cast-iron statue in the world, Moretti’s work reflects the blending of Italian artistic traditions and Southern industrial modernity. By combining archival photographs, historical documents, and sculptural pieces, this exhibition shows how Italian migrants and cultural creators contributed to, and were shaped by, the material, social, and symbolic landscapes of the New South.
