american immigration
DESCRIPTION
American Immigration. Ellis Island’s Story . Power point created by Robert Martinez Primary source information: Ellis Island by Pamela Reeves. Ellis Island New York City, NY. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
American ImmigrationEllis Island’s Story
Power point created by Robert MartinezPrimary source information: Ellis Island by Pamela Reeves
Ellis Island New York City, NY
Four out of ten Americans trace their heritage via
Ellis Island. Like the Statue of Liberty, it
has been a powerfully evocative
symbol to generations of
immigrants.
Mr. Martinez’s Grandmother:Genevieve Menager Garza
My grandmother, third from the left,
immigrated to the United States from
France. My grandmother like
many others passed through Ellis Island.
The Menager Siblings from France
Class System
Ellis Island showcased some of the best aspects of the United States,
but also some of the worst. Its very existence was
testimony to a class system.
1st Class TicketImmigrants who could
afford a first- or second-class ticket
aboard the big ocean liners from
Europe were briefly inspected aboard
ship and allowed, to pass directly into the United States.
Describing the lower decks, “Some…had sold their clothes to raise the passage-money, and had hardly rags to cover them; others had no food and lived upon the charity of the rest; and one man…had had no sustenance but the bones and scraps of fat he took from the plates used in the after-cabin dinner, when they were put out to be washed.”
– Charles Dickens, 1842.
Steerage PassengersOnly the poor were
required to undergo an inspection at Ellis
Island, and the poor comprised, by far, the
majority of immigrants. These steerage
passengers-so called because they traveled in the lowest levels of
the ship – did not always receive a warm
welcome.
Treatment of the immigrants on Ellis Island varied over the years from tolerant to
scandalous, and even the most honest and well-meaning administrators had
trouble getting rid of the men of prey who tried to cheat the newcomers out their few
possessions or their often meager life savings.
Indeed, the immigrants were easy marks, having just completed an
uncomfortable or even wretched journey across the ocean, stepping onto shore in a country where they knew neither the language nor the
money exchange-rates.
The island also drew legions of kindhearted missionaries and ethnic-aid societies, whose members guided their countrymen through the entry process, past the lurking pitfalls,
and safely into the new land. The volunteers helped immigrants locate friends and get
jobs.
Some immigrants were forced to leave their homes because of war, famine, political ,
economic or religious persecution. Some left unhappy family situations and struck out on their own. Most were drawn by the promise of a better life, and a country where plentiful
and hard work led to prosperity.
In 1845, Ireland was hit with a famine stemming from crop failures of the
main peasant food- potatoes. Over the next decade, 1.5 million Irish citizens
set out for the United States.
Irish Laundry Girls
These Russian orphans lost their mothers due to political persecution in their homeland.
Ireland was not alone in suffering from lack of food- in 1847, a shortage of
bread and potatoes caused rioting in Germany.
Xenophobia: the fear of strangers or foreigners.
Between 1880 and 1900, nine million immigrants entered the country, the
largest number of new arrivals in any 20 year period. This alarmed many
Americans, in part because of a shift in the nationality of the immigrants.
The earliest settlers in the U.S. were from northern and western Europe, primarily
England, Ireland, Germany, and the Scandinavian countries. When people from
southern and eastern Europe began to predominate (Italy, Russia, Poland, Spain,
Greece, Eastern Europe, and Austria-Hungary), Americans began to protest. In
1924, a stiff immigration-restriction law was imposed.
A Jewish peddler on the streetsof New York City.
On the West Coast, there had been race riots against the Chinese, who had comprised 17
% of the population and worked for low wages for railroad builders. Feelings ran so
strong that Congress banned Chinese immigrants from entering the United States (Chinese Exclusion Act). The immigration
station in San Francisco is located on Angel Island.
Industrialization:Major Motive
Ellis island opened in 1892 in the midst of an industrialization in the United States that drew
eager workers from dozens of foreign
nations; at its height in 1907, more than one million people came through its doors.
At the turn of the 20th century, America was undergoing a major transformation from a rural
to an urban society. This change was accompanied by huge growth in iron, steel,
mining, and lumber industries and such major developments as the telephone, the automobile,
electric light, and the phonograph.
Thomas Edison and his phonograph.
Alexander Graham Belland his telephone.
Henry Ford and his Model T automobile.
The offshoots of industries required millions of laborers and provided the
economic draw for those in less prosperous European nations.
Despite some early mutual distrust, many of the immigrants joined the newly developed American labor unions,
eventually becoming a major force in the movement.
Their struggle for such rights for the 8 hour day led to bloody strikes and violent confrontations. In 1886
alone, there were nearly 1,600 strikes involving 600,000 workers, one them culminating in Chicago’s infamous Haymarket Riot, in which 8 policemen were
killed and more than sixty people wounded. Many Americans would blame the unions and their immigrant members for causing the troubles.
At the same time as the labor classes, there was an outcry against the abuses at New York City’s Castle Garden, which had opened in 1855 as the nation’s
first receiving-station for immigrants. During its 35 years of operation, Castle Garden handled 9 million
immigrants, including labor champion Samuel Gompers, the 1st president of the AFL-CIO.
Samuel Gompers, the 1st president of the American Federation of Labor.
Ellis Island opens it doors to immigrants on New Year’s Day, 1882. The federal
government opens the new station because of disrepair and corruption of the Castle Garden Immigration center. Prior to the
federal government, immigration in New York City was handled by state officials.
Ellis Island ferry
Ellis Island
The wharves were large enough to receive immigrants from 2 ships
simultaneously. Once ashore, they went straight into a giant hall and a
maze of aisles where they waited their turn to talk with a registry clerk, and a
medical inspection.
After passing the medical examination, immigrants waited anxiously inthe Registry room to be summoned to an inspector’s desk for the legal
inspection.
Primary Evidence: Inspection Card
The inspection card, dating from 1911, gives the name of the ship which the immigrant traveled
to America, plus the immigrant’s name, point of departure, and last residence.
Medical Inspections
A mother and her children wait formedical examination. At the far left of the photograph, a doctorcan be seen checking a child’s
eyes for signs of trachoma.
A doctor examines a woman who bearsa chalk mark on her dress, courtesy of
a sharp-eyed inspector.
Those who failed to pass the initial inspection were “placed in a wire-screened enclosure,”
due to improper papers, or failed health screenings. Sometimes paperwork could be
corrected. Sometimes immigrants were placed in quarantine. Many times, these immigrants were just sent back home. Sometimes family members would be
separated.
The Ellis Island hospital and contagiousWards contained beds for 700 patients.
Deportation:Expulsion of someone from a country.
Immigrants who failed inspection were often sent home. Pictured are immigrants who
are awaiting deportation in an
outdoor area of Ellis Island.
Having passed all inspections, immigrants were permitted to send
telegrams notifying relatives of their safe arrival to
America.
The rest were separated into groups, depending on whether they planned to
stay in New York or were taken to another destination.
Immigrants who were to travel to their final destinations by
railroad had their railway ticketspinned to their lapels.
At the Railroad ticket office, newcomers happy to have passedinspections bought tickets to travel on from Ellis Island.
Restrictions on ImmigrationAs ever growing numbers
of immigrants looked hopefully toward America and the
promise of a new life, Americans themselves were reluctant to allow
immigration to continue unrestricted. Congress
would implement numerous restrictions and quotas on future
immigration.
After World War I, immigration in the United States dwindles due to Congressional
Quotas. During World War II, Ellis Island will be used as a detention center for enemy
aliens (Germans, Italians, Japanese, Hungarians, Romanians, and Bulgarians.)
1951
The once packed Registry room was quiet, its vastspaces empty save for a few immigrant families.
Nativism:opposition to immigration.
Its decline began shortly after World War I, when
Congress imposed severe restrictions on immigration, reflecting
the attitudes of a society grown weary of foreigners. After 1924,
immigration slowed to a trickle and Ellis Island fell into disuse. It was
closed in 1954.
Ellis Island is now a restored National Park and Museum
Approximately 17 million immigrants passed through the gates of Ellis Island.
Immigration Today
Immigration: Still a Hot Topic
Protest in America
Border Security ?or Xenophobia ?