If your name was changed

at Ellis Island

Facts fromEllen Levine

Compliments of T. Atkins

What was Ellis Island?

It was an immigration center located in New York Harbor.

Millions of newcomers passed through its

gates and were examined by

doctors and legal inspectors.

Before Ellis Island opened, immigrants were examined at

Castle Garden at the tip of Manhattan

Island.

When was Ellis Island opened?

1892

At least 12 million people passed

through Ellis Island.

Did all immigrants

come through Ellis Island?

Some immigrantsentered through other east coast

ports•Boston

•Philidelphia

•Baltimore

Other Ports• New Orleans

• Galveston

• San Francisco

In 1907 there were

70immigration

stations.

If you had the most expensive tickets, 1st or 2nd class, you were examined aboard the ship. If you passed you were free to enter the country.

Immigrants aboard a ship, waiting to unload.

America: “The Golden Land”

Free School

Decent jobs

People ate well

Why was it called that?

Would everyone in yourfamily come together?

Usually a father or anolder sibling would come first. That personwould find work then send money back for you.

It could take manyyears before you were

reunited with your family

What did people bring with them?

People brought whatever they couldcarry. Some had suitcases and trunks. Most had bundles tied

together with string. People carriedbaskets, cardboard boxes, tins, and

leather sacks.

Many immigrants brought theirfeather quilts, mattresses, andpillows, for the steamships justprovided thin blankets

Some people packed fancy clothes, specially embroidered

and crotched. Sometimes peoplewore layers of all their clothing so they wouldn’t have to pack

them

Often they brought food for the long trip over the

ocean, like smoked sausages or hams.

How did people travel to the

ships that brought them to America?

If you lived out in the country,you often had to go to a big townto catch a train to the port.

Other people from Russia or Poland left in the dead of the night to escape mobs that werebeating and murdering people.

If you had to cross into anothercountry before you reached yourport, you needed a special permit.

If you reached a border and did not have a permit,you might have to bribe the borderguard to let you pass.

The trip overland sometimestook weeks. Finally when you arrived at a port city, you mighthave to wait a week or two, sometimes even longer, until the ship was readyto depart.

Were you examined before you left for

America?

According to a U.S. law, shipcompanies had to pay the returnfare for anyone who had to be sent back from America. So, before leaving, ship doctors

examined all passengers to see if they had any illnesses that wouldprevent them from being allowed

to enter the U.S.

Doctors vaccinated and disinfected all passengers. Men

and boys often had their hair veryshort, and women and girls had theirs combed very carefully tolook for lice, which carried the

deadly disease typhus.

The ship companies also had toprepare a manifest- a list of

information about everybody onboard the ship. Each immigrantwas assigned a number, and theship’s captain listed everyone’s

nationality, age, sex, destination,and occupation.

They were askedif they could read and write, whether they were married,

and how many pieces of baggage they had. The list

wasgiven to the immigration

inspectors when the ship landed in America.

How long would the trip last?

If there were no bad stormsor other problems, the trip usually took about six to thirty-two days.

Where would you sleep and eaton the ship?

1st and 2nd class had a private cabin to sleep in, and food wouldbe served in a dining room.

Most immigrants were steerage.This area was below the deck onthe lowest level of the ship.

Several hundred passengerswere crammed into steeragewith no fresh air. They slept innarrow bunk-beds, sometimes3 high.

There was 1 bath area for all ofsteerage, with sink faucets thatfrequently didn’t work.

The food was not very good. They ate lukewarm soup, boiledpotatoes, and stringy beef.

Some immigrants reported allthey ate was herring, bread andpotatoes. The one good thingabout the herring is it cured seasickness.

“ How can a steerage passengerremember he was a human beingwhen he must first pick worms from his food…and eat in his

stuffy, stinking bunk, or in the hot… atmosphere of a

compartment where 150 men sleep?”

Would you go straight to EllisIsland when you arrived in

New York Harbor?

All the ships were stopped in lower NY bay, where doctors

boarded. They checked passengers for contagious

diseases.

There were 2 small islands in the lower bay. If you were sick,you’d be put in a hospital on oneof them. If the doctors thought

you had been exposed to a disease,they’d place you on the other

island for observation.

Further up the bay, immigrationofficers would examine all 1st and 2nd class passengers. The boat would then dock at the tip of Manhattan and those that passedwere allowed to enter the country.

All steerage passengers went to Ellis Island, no matter what.

Even after arriving, frequentlythey stayed on board ship forone or more nights until bargescould take them to Ellis Islandfor further examinations.

One passenger said,” Isn’t it strange that here we are coming

to America where there is complete equality, but not quite

so for the newly arrived immigrants.”

Ellis Island was like a miniaturecity. There were waiting rooms,dormitories for over a thousandpeople, restaurants, a hospital, baggage room, post office, banksto exchange foreign money, arailroad ticket office, medicaland legal examination rooms, baths,laundries, office areas for charities, and courtrooms.

When the barge pulled up tothe dock at Ellis Island the first place you went was

The Great Hall to be inspectedby doctors.

Who examined you once you gotto Ellis Island?

As soon as you arrived you were examined. They did not know it was happening. When you walked they watched to see if you limped, or had difficulty breathing.

Children older than 2 had to walk on their own. All immigrants were asked their names to seeif they could hear and speak.

Doctors used a fingeror a buttonhook to rollback your eyelids to see if you had a contagious disease called trachoma.

The walk up the stairs was calledthe “six-second medical”, and

then the doctors at the topusually took two to three minutes

to examine you. All examinestogether took less than 5

minutes.

What if they found something wrong with you?

XPossible Mental Case

BBackProblems

EProblemwith eyes.

PPhysicalProblem

orLungs

ScScalpProblems

LLameness

CTTrachoma

If you were found sick, but Curable you were taken to thehospital until you were better.

If your disease was contagiousand incurable, you were put in a special hospital until a ship couldtake you home.

If you were marked with an “X”the doctors were uncertain that

you would be able to work. They gave you some intelligence tests

that included math problems,they would ask you to count

backwards, and do some puzzles.

Who were the inspectors?

Inspectors asked you betweentwenty and thirty questions.

They had to decide whether youwere “clearly and beyond a doubtentitled to land.”

Did you have to have moneywhen you arrived?

At first all you had tohave was ten dollarsand money for a railroad ticket.

Later the amount raised to $25.The rule was later dropped, butinspectors continued to use it.

Did you have to have a job waiting for you?

You could not have a job waitingfor you. In 1885 US Congress

passed a law that said employerscould not make contracts withimmigrants to bring them to

America. Congress was afraidthat immigrants would accept lower wages than American workers, and take jobs form those that already lived here.

You could be deported if the inspectors

thought:

-had committed crimes in your old country.

•had a job when you arrived in America

•wouldn’t be able to support yourself

•had certain mental or physical problems that would keep you from working

How long did you stay at Ellis

Island?

Most people were questioned, examined, and ready to leave theisland after three to five hours.

If you were detained, or arrived at night, you were served mealsin the Ellis Island restaurant.

There were 2kitchens, 1 forreligious Jews,and one regular.

If you stayed overnight you’d sleep either in a hospital bed orin a dormitory. During the yearsof the greatest migration to the US, both were overcrowded.

Why did some immigrants changetheir names?

Some were afraid their nameswere too long.

Sometimes the inspectors got confused and wrote down the wrong thing.

What was the Staircase ofSeparation?

Whether you passed all the examinations or were detained,you went down the staircase.

A turn to left left led to the

ferry to Manhattan.

StraightStraight ahead led to the

much-feared detention rooms

A turn to the rightright at the bottom led you to the railroad ticket office.

Angel Island

Angel Island

• In 1905, construction of an Immigration Station began in the area known as China Cove.

• The station was finally put into operation in 1910.

• Known as "Ellis Island of the West”

• Within the Immigration Service it was known as "The Guardian of the Western Gate"

• Designed to control the flow of Chinese into the country, who were officially not welcome with the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.

Angel Island

• Some detainees expressed their feelings in poetry that they brushed or carved onto the wooden walls of the detention center.

• Others simply waited, hoping for a favorable response to their appeals, but fearing deportation.

• Many of the poems that were carved into the walls of the center are still legible today.

Detention Center

• This facility was primarily a detention center. 

• Beginning with the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, a series of restrictive laws had prohibited the immigration of certain nationalities and social classes of Asians.

• Although all Asians were affected, the greatest impact was on the Chinese. 

Processed Picture Brides

• By 1920, an estimated 6,000 to 19,000 Japanese "picture brides" were processed through Angel Island.

• Immigrants from other Pacific Rim countries, including Russia, Korea, the Philippines, and Japan, were detained here.

• During World War I, "enemy aliens" (most of them German citizens who had been arrested on board ships in West Coast harbors) were held at the Immigration Station. These men were later transferred to permanent detention quarters in North Carolina.

Japanese Picture Brides Arriving at Ellis Island

Katherine Mauer with Asian Immigrants in Waiting Room

Closing Angel IslandClosing Angel Island

• In 1940, the government decided to abandon the Immigration Station on Angel Island.

• Their decision was hastened by a fire that destroyed the administration building in August of that year.

• On November 5, the last group of about 200 aliens (including about 150 Chinese) was transferred from Angel Island to temporary quarters in San Francisco.

• The so-called "Chinese Exclusion Acts", which were adopted in the early 1880s, were repealed by federal action in 1943, because by that time, China was an ally of the U.S. in World War II

Prisoner Processing Center

• In 1941, following the departure of the Immigration Service from the island, the station property was turned back to the Army, and it became the North Garrison of Fort McDowell. 

• When World War II began, the old detention barracks became a Prisoner of War Processing Center, and German and Japanese prisoners were processed there before being sent to permanent camps in the interior. 

Compare/Contrast Angel Island and Ellis Island

What to do: What to do:

Use a Venn Diagram to compare Angel Island to

Ellis Island