Pasquale D'Angelo (1894 – 1932)

Pasquale D'Angelo was born in Introdacqua, in the province of L'Aquila, on January 20, 1894, into a very poor family. He worked in the fields from an early age. He was able to attend school very little, yet he showed a remarkably lively intelligence.

In 1910 his father decided to emigrate to America and took his son Pasquale with him. It was the first time he saw a train and the sea. In America, extremely hard and dangerous work awaited them. In 1915 his father decided to return to Italy, but Pasquale chose to stay.

These were years of heavy labor; he was badly injured, the company went bankrupt, and he finally found a job in a freight yard. With no resources, he made do with living in a cold, abandoned freight car. But it was precisely during that period that he began to read and to buy a second-hand English dictionary, writing the words on the railroad ties because he had no paper.

In 1924 he completed and published his most important work: Son of Italy the autobiography of Pascal D'Angelo. It is his own story, with his childhood in Italy, the journey and the drama of emigration. In 1932, worn down by a life of sacrifice, Pascal D'Angelo fell ill and died at only 38. He was buried in Brooklyn.