Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Spring 2012 Immigrant Stories Post
Write a 300-word summary of some of the interesting things you learned about Ellis Island and the immigrant experiences there. In your summary, include at least 5 unique or interesting stories or facts about the immigrant experience and/or Ellis Island. Save your summary to a Word document and copy and paste it HERE. Then respond to ONE classmate too.
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Thousands people have come through Ellis Island, from almost every country. Many have come to start a new life, others have come for riches, and like many before them they have come as an escape. Many people today can trace at least one ancestor who came through Ellis Island. Today many people are from different countries, religions and ethnicities. There aren’t many people today who can say that they live in America and are full blooded German or English etc.
Many immigrants faced hardships while on their journey to America. For example the Irish, many of the passengers on the ships were sick. So when they came through the gates of Ellis island they had to pass a medical exam. If they were healthy enough they were allowed in. If they did not, an X of white chalk was put on the back of their coat, or shirt to let them know that they were to be reexamined or to be deported. Which scared many of the immigrants, Since they had risked so much to get here and they were just beyond the gate of freedom.
Documents of immigrants show that they were happy to see Ellis island. For others they were heartbroken to be leaving friends and loved ones in their home country, but many others came to start a new life fulfill their hopes and dreams and “hit the big time”. Almost all of the immigrants packed everything that they owned into a few bags, not suitcases to make a new life in an entirely new country.
During the 1800’s there were minimal numbers of citizens from other countries, but by the year 1900 most populations from other countries were into close to half a million.
I learned that the immigrants coming to America faced many hardships, disesase, poverty, and death. They risked a lot to come here including leaving loved ones in their home country.
Ellis Island holds a very interesting history behind it through the immigrants that passed through there. Before its use for immigration, Ellis Island was used in various ways: an oyster bed, military fort, pirate hanging site, and personal property of the Ellis Family. Immigrants would come to Ellis Island in the hopes of reaching America for many different reasons. One particular case was surprising and awful. A woman had come in hopes of marriage but her husband to be back out when he saw her. I also found it interesting that the questions were not equal from immigrant to immigrant. They asked a woman how she washed stairs, from the top or the bottom, though they had asked the woman before her mathematical questions. It was also surprising that families were separated as the father and son in one story were, though the son would not have been a scholar without the support of his aging father. This was not the only case. In another story, a woman almost had her baby deported because she delivered it on a ship on the way back from a short visit to Poland. Immigrants relied on family to get them on their feet, but those without family were left to their own demise and their hopes for new opportunities would be lost. Another shortcoming of Ellis Island, as described by George Voskovec, was that the place was like a prison where you could stare at Lady Liberty day in and day out; yet the workers were very compassionate and treated immigrants well. There was another cute story I had found in the reading where a little boy whispered words to her mother so she would pass the reading test. Though there were many disappointments in immigrating to America, it did help protect immigrants from other broken governments or starvation. In one story, a Hungarian lied about having family then confessed to the woman. At this point, he had realized that he wouldn’t be punished as he would have been where he came from. Immigration spared those who had no place else to go. Despite the fear of deportation, they journeyed to America because the risk was better than the old life they hoped to escape from.
The United States has a long history of immigration, and is one of the most culturally diverse countries today as a result. Countless millions have reached its shores (or borders) for a new life and hope for the future. The Chinese immigrants of the mid-1800s came in masses upon hearing of the California Gold Rush, while Germans came to escape harsh conditions back in their homeland. Some, like the single Japanese men who came to Hawaii, planned to work on American soil for several years and then return back home to support their families. Whatever the motivations and reasoning behind the flow of foreigners to American land, the resulting “melting pot” of cultures and social identities has helped shape the US to become the place it is today. The immigration process was not an easy one for most. Many families were torn apart because “quotas” for people arriving from certain countries had already been met. Others were turned away after their physical exams, if they were sickly or carried a disease. There were many reasons that could prevent someone from becoming a US citizen, but millions survived the grueling ordeal and continued on to take jobs often for lesser wages than American-born citizens. People were desperate for the opportunities lying in wait for them on American soil. Workers in the Ellis Island immigration station sometimes helped immigrants through the process because they knew just how much this meant to them. A young girl who who had an X drawn on the back of her coat because the doctor who examined her had seen red splotches on her hand turned it inside out at the suggestion of a kind man who wanted to help. Another man fought for the right of a baby to immigrate and not be separated from its mother through logical argumentation. Not everyone was heartless and cruel to the newly arrived Americans, and this kindness was a lifeline that people clung to as they were reborn into a world of hope and opportunity.
Before the island had the nam of Ellis Island, it was actually known by the name of Gull Island. The Mohegan tribe took authority naming it and only had around two to three acres of land. But eventually, the name was changed to Oyster Island due to rich oyster beds found in 1628.. It surely was not done being named, so right before ellis Island, they chose to call it Gibbet Island for the hanging of a pirate.Ellis island, currently located in New York, but owned by the federal government, is where Europeans came into America and turned into a kind of checkpoint system to bring people into the country, but still make them legal. The first "customer" was a young girl and she received a ten dollar piece of gold because she was the first to make history.It was supposed to be this magical place that immigrants could inhabit, somewhere to get away from all the political problems, the horrible economy, and the diseases spreading vastly, but it actually came to be a nightmare for quite a number of people. Though it's original plan was to be a storage facility for powder. New Jersey wasn't pleased with that, so they chose to make it a screening center for the immigrants. Ellis island wasn't a place of luxury, it was a time to sit and wait, sit and wait. Unfortunatley for ellis island, it was shut down because of harsh legislation and numbers decreasing. Once people were being deported so much, people didn't want to come back or have their family go because they knew they wouldn't be accepted in America. Ellis island was shut down, and any activities previously taking place was sent back to manhattan. Today, we have a museum created in 1990, and it truly meets the needs of previous immigrants or workers on the island. People are still either very damaged and disturbed by their experience on the island, or the ship, but others are pleased with the wonderful experience. It's a matter of where your from and what you can do for the country you want to live in.
FACTS
1. Columbus sails from Spain to a landfall somewhere in the Caribbean and "stumbles" onto present-day America
2. Founded in 1776
3. Originally for powder
4. Statue of liberty symbolizes ellis island
5. There were around 10-20 acts passed just for opening of ellis island
Ellis Island was founded in 1776 to handle immigrants arriving to the United States from Europe. People came from all different countries, such as Germany, Ireland, and Italy. People also travelled the Pacific Ocean from China, but they passed through Angel Island in San Francisco, California. On arrival, the first thing European immigrants would be greeted by was the Statue of Liberty. This promoted the idea of freedom and opportunity, giving the newcomers even more hope for their new lives. When Immigrants first arrived at Ellis Island, they were astounded by the extravagant architecture. They felt this represented their upcoming fortunes in America. There were many nationalities. Everyone’s first mean was fish, white bread with butter, and a big pitcher of milk. They were cared for by affable nurses, who were especially well disposed towards the children. Once the immigrants fully embraced the enjoyable excitement of new land, the interrogations and inspections. A Russian Jewish immigrant once stated that the uniforms of the interrogators reminded her of the Russians she was running away from. These doctors would separate the healthy from the potentially diseased by marking a chalk ‘X’ on the back of those who needed further inspection. If those with an ‘X’ were too sick to live in America, they would be deported off Ellis Island. Immigrants often had nothing to entertain themselves. They weren’t allowed to leave the enclosed buildings. An eighteen-year-old English girl stated that the most exercise she got was from walking up and down among the crowds of people. A Polish Jewish immigrant spoke of the questions they were asked while going through Ellis Island—simple ones, like “how much is two and one? How much is two and two?” Ellis Island was certainly a new experience for every European immigrant who passed through it.
Ashley Lee
I learned many interesting things about Ellis Island. Ellis Island was the gateway for millions of immigrants to the United States. It was founded in 1776 and is currently a museum made part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument. For the immigrants who passed this island, they nicknamed it the Island of Hope and unfortunately for those who were declined, these immigrants called it the Island of Tears because they had to return to their homelands. In 1898, Ellis Island was expanded to 17 acres and two more islands were actually added to it. At the Ellis Island screening station, immigrants went through a long and extensive process of many tests, questionnaires, examinations, and interviews to see if they were able to be a part of the United States. The immigrants that came to Ellis Island were from many different places around the world. They varied anywhere from China, Germany, Japan, Ireland, and Africa. As this immigration station continued, Congress passed many acts to regulate the immigrants who came thru. For example, there had to be an examination of the immigrants and an exclusion of convicts, polygamists, prostitutes, and people with bad diseases were deployed. Also in 1882, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act which restricted all Chinese entry into the Unites States. In addition to these interesting facts, I also think it is interesting that between 1876 and 1976 that the U.S. was the largest single recipient of Italian immigrants in the entire world. Also there were many interesting stories from some of the immigrants. Some of these stories include: when the boats left, the people on land held one end of a ball of yarn as the boat passengers held the other end;stories of how kind the nurses were; how good the food was at Ellis Island-fish, milk, white bread, and butter; how there was absolutely nothing to do at Ellis Island but sit and wait, and how families were reunited.
to : Sam Coe
I like how you put the original name of the island before it was called Ellis Island. That is very interesting how mnay different names it had before the last name of Ellis Island! I also liked how you said it wasn't a place for luxury but rather a place of sitting and waiting and more sitting. I personally think that would be terrible to just sit there for hours and days. Although the end result is amazing, going into the United States, it would be really hard for me to be there on that island.
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