American Immigration

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American Immigration

• Ellis Islands Story

Power point created by Robert Martinez Primary
source information Ellis Island by Pamela Reeves
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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.

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Mr. Martinezs GrandmotherGenevieve 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
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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.

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1st Class Ticket

• Immigrants 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.

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• Describing the lower decks, Somehad 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
  manhad 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.

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Steerage Passengers

• Only 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.

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• 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.

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• 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.

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• 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.

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• 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.

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• 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
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• These Russian orphans lost their mothers due to
  political persecution in their homeland.

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• Ireland was not alone in suffering from lack of
  food- in 1847, a shortage of bread and potatoes
  caused rioting in Germany.

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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.

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• 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 streets of New York City.
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• 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.

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IndustrializationMajor 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.

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• 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 Bell and his telephone.
Henry Ford and his Model T automobile.
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• The offshoots of industries required millions of
  laborers and provided the economic draw for those
  in less prosperous European nations.

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• Despite some early mutual distrust, many of the
  immigrants joined the newly developed American
  labor unions, eventually becoming a major force
  in the movement.

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• 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 Chicagos 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.

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• At the same time as the labor classes, there was
  an outcry against the abuses at New York Citys
  Castle Garden, which had opened in 1855 as the
  nations 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.
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• Ellis Island opens it doors to immigrants on New
  Years 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
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Ellis Island
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• 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.

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After passing the medical examination, immigrants
waited anxiously in the Registry room to be
summoned to an inspectors desk for the
legal inspection.
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Primary Evidence Inspection Card

• The inspection card, dating from 1911, gives the
  name of the ship which the immigrant traveled to
  America, plus the immigrants name, point of
  departure, and last residence.

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Medical Inspections
A mother and her children wait for medical
examination. At the far left of the photograph,
a doctor can be seen checking a childs eyes for
signs of trachoma.
A doctor examines a woman who bears a chalk mark
on her dress, courtesy of a sharp-eyed inspector.
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• 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 contagious Wards
contained beds for 700 patients.
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DeportationExpulsion 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.

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• Having passed all inspections, immigrants were
  permitted to send telegrams notifying relatives
  of their safe arrival to America.

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• 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
tickets pinned to their lapels.
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At the Railroad ticket office, newcomers happy to
have passed inspections bought tickets to travel
on from Ellis Island.
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Restrictions on Immigration

• As 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.

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• 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.)

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1951
The once packed Registry room was quiet, its
vast spaces empty save for a few immigrant
families.
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Nativismopposition 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.

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Ellis Island is now a restored National Park and
Museum
Approximately 17 million immigrants passed
through the gates of Ellis Island.
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Immigration Today
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Immigration Still a Hot Topic
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Protest in America
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Border Security ?or Xenophobia ?
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What are your opinions on today's immigration
debate ?