![]() ![]() The successful candidates could buy a snack for one dollar, exchange their money, buy a train ticket for those who were not staying in New York (two thirds of the immigrants were going elsewhere). The stairs of separation On the threshold of a new world The immigrants had to go through the stairs of separation: the left stairs for those staying in NYC, the right stairs for those leaving NYC (heading to the ticket counter), and the stairs in the middle for those going to detention. At this stage, 80% of immigrants were accepted in the United States. If the answers were incoherent, they were asked to go to the hearing room. The questions were easy: what’s your name, where you from, where are you going, what’s your job… They had to have 20 dollars. The sick immigrants had a mark on their jacket written with a piece of chalk.Īfter the doctors inspection, the immigrants were questioned by agents (with the help of an interpreter for those who didn’t speak English). A trachoma (leading to blindness) meant having to go back where you come from. They were asked to sit on the benches of the registry room, and they were inspected by the doctors, especially the eyes. They had to climb stairs to get there, and the doctors were already inspecting the passengers: Do they struggle climbing the stairs? Are they coughing? Are they limping? Are they tired? The registry room ![]() Travelers of first and second class were inspected on board when arriving, those of third class had to leave their luggage in the baggage room, before going to the registry room. Many immigrants were coming from Europe, but also from other parts of the world Immigration process in Ellis Island America was a source of hope but there was also a certain apprehension when arriving. It was a big investment for the immigrants to make this trip. Most immigrants were Jews coming from Europe by boat, the trip lasted 10 to 14 days. I’m sharing all the info at the end of the article, but we go through the experience of the immigrants thanks to a free audio-guide. It’s the first American monument the immigrants spotted when arriving. Moreover arriving in Ellis Island hit its mark, the island being just next to Liberty Island, the island where the statue of liberty is. The good thing about the immigrants arriving on an island, is that it limited the escape attempts. It was named after Samuel Ellis, the former owner of the island, before the New York state bought it (before Ellis Island, it was called Little Oyster Island because of the vast oyster beds surrounding the island at the time). But the residents kept complaining so from 1892, the immigrants were arriving directly on an island, Ellis Island. Ellis Island has evolved into an iconic national monument with deep meaning for the descendants of the immigrants who arrived there, as well as a contested symbol to other Americans grappling with the realities of contemporary immigration.Before 1892, the immigrants were arriving at Castle Clinton (the current Battery Park) in the south of Manhattan. In 1990, the Main Building was reopened to the public as an immigration museum under the National Park Service. In the 1980s, large-scale fundraising for the restoration of the neighboring Statue of Liberty led to a similar effort to restore part of Ellis Island. With a revival of interest in ethnicity in the 1970s, Ellis Island attracted more attention, especially from the descendants of immigrants who entered the country through its doors. During a period of low immigration and a national emphasis on assimilation, the immigrant inspection station was forgotten by most Americans. For the next three decades, Ellis Island mostly served as a detention center for those ordered deported from the country.Īfter Ellis Island closed in 1954, the facility fell into disrepair. The quota laws of the 1920s slowed immigration considerably and the rise of the visa system meant that Ellis Island no longer served as the primary immigrant inspection facility. In 1907, Ellis Island processed more than one million immigrants. As the number of immigrants coming to America increased, so did the size of the inspection facility. Officials at Ellis Island were tasked with regulating the flow of immigration by enforcing a growing body of federal laws that barred various categories of “undesirable” immigrants. The station was run by the federal Immigration Service and represented a new era of federal control over immigration. Roughly 75 percent of all immigrants arriving in America during this period passed through Ellis Island. During peak years from the 1890s until the 1920s, the station processed an estimated twelve million immigrants. The Ellis Island Immigration Station, located in New York Harbor, opened in 1892 and closed in 1954. ![]()
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