Moore’s great-grandfather, through which he’s eligible for Italian citizenship. On the right, pictured with Moore’s maternal grandparents on a beach in either California or Florida.
A view of Ellis Island and Manhattan, where Moore’s ancestors first landed in The United States.
A 1906 poster from Italy advertising the Norddeutscher Lloyd fleet resides in record group 89 of the National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, DC. The Königin Luise was the ship that brought Moore’s great-grandfather to The United States.
A microfilm reader at The National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, DC displays a ship manifest that includes Nicolo Cottonaro, Moore’s great-great-grandfather, and the first to come to The United States.
721 Maple St. Murphysboro, IL, the house where Vincenzo Cottonaro, Moore’s great-grandfather settled after arriving in The United States.
Cottonaro’s Miners’ Examining Board certificate, dated September 12th, 1928.
The approximate location of the coal mine where Moore’s great-grandfather worked in Murphysboro, IL. Since its closing, the area has been filled with water.
The remains of Brown’s Shoe Factory in Murphysboro, IL, where both of Moore’s great-grandparents, and much of the rest of the town, worked through the mid 1900s.
Though rebuilt in 2009 after a devastating fire, The Old Rome of Murphysboro, IL was once the neighborhood watering hole for Moore’s ancestors and many other Italians like them.
The columns of The Pantheon look out at the actual Old Rome in Italy.
A Sunday afternoon in the town center of Palazzo Adriano, Sicily, Moore’s ancestral village.
The original birth record for Vincenzo Cuttonaro, Moore’s great grandfather, in Palazzo Adriano, Sicily.
Via Fanno, the alleyway on which Moore’s great-grandfather was born, in Palazzo Adriano, Sicily.
The southern hillsides of Palazzo Adriano, Sicily, where Moore’s ancestors tended to the land.
The view from above Palermo, Siciliy and the waters of the Tyrrhenian Sea.
Vincenzo Cottonaro’s certificate of naturalization, dated June 24th, 1941.
A largely ignored report citing the oppressions afflicted on Italians in America during WWII was published two months after Sept 11, 2001. It details everything from curfews to property seizures, and an “enemy alien registration” list, which included Moore’s ancestors.
Menacing signs, which include the ISIS flag and text that translates to “Fear the Alien Invasion” are posted all throughout Palermo, Sicily and other parts of Italy.
African migrants are escorted in police custody off the ferry that travels between Lampedusa and Porto Empedocle, Sicily. Each migrant requires 2 police officers aboard the ship. From here, it’s likely that they will continue onto another detention center in Central Sicily.
The ferry’s crew estimates that they carry approximately 60 migrants per week in the summer, and an entire section has been set aside for their transport.
A carabinieri (Italian police) boat circles the ferry as it approaches landfall in Lampedusa.
Conigli Beach, and many other coves like it, draw tourists to Lampedusa from all around Europe. Tourism, one of the island’s primary money makers, often finds itself at odds with the migration crisis.
Multiple boat “graveyards” litter the island of Lampedusa. According to locals, any valuable or usable parts of the boats disappear, so to speak, and the remains are sent to Sicily to be destroyed.
Lampedusa’s locals have set up a small museum of objects and artifacts that have either washed up or been left behind by migrants.
La Porta D’Europa (The Gateway to Europe) stands at the south edge of Lampedusa. The monument was erected in 2008 in memory of those who had lost their lives at sea trying to reach Europe.
Trenton Moore would like to recognize the Luminous Endowment for Photographers for making a significant financial contribution in support of this project. Without which, it would not have been possible.