"A Little Fellow" Film Screening, an RIT Italian American Initiative
Film Screening “A Little Fellow” on A.P.Giannini founder of Bank of America. The city of San Francisco owes its most famous symbol, the Golden Gate Bridge, to the Italian-American Amedeo Peter Giannini. Born in San José in 1870 to Genoese immigrants and known for founding the Bank of America, Giannini supported and financed the project of engineer Joseph Strauss, who, before meeting him, had faced numerous objections and the challenges of the Great Depression. Both men shared the vision of fully serving the growth of California, a vision celebrated by the city of San Francisco with a plaque called Men of Vision. Now, Giannini’s other incredible achievements are recounted in a documentary, "A Little Fellow".
At the time, banks didn’t help ordinary people. You couldn’t open a bank account if you didn’t own property. If you were a fisherman, teacher, or policeman, not only could you not open an account, but you had no access to loans. This didn’t sit well with Giannini. After resigning and opening his own bank, Giannini went door-to-door explaining to people that his bank would help them, giving them a place to safely keep their savings instead of under their mattresses. Ironically, the 1906 San Francisco earthquake marked another great turning point for him. Giannini was the only banker willing to grant loans. Other banks hoarded their money to rebuild their buildings, while Giannini gave it to people so they could start rebuilding their lives.
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Event Snapshot
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Open to the Public
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