New Americans The Ellis Island Experience

1. New Americans The Ellis Island Experience

2. Immigrants came to America for different reasons • To escape poverty and hunger • Lack of jobs in their old country

3. Immigrants came to America for different reasons • Other immigrants were escaping violence, war, and injustice

4. Immigrants came to America for different reasons • Escape mistreatment because of their religion

5. Immigrants came to America for different reasons • Many hoped to find some adventure! • Some thought that America had “streets paved with gold”

6. Coming to America • There were three classes on immigrant ships: first class, second class and steerage. • Immigrants who were poor could only afford a steerage class boat ticket • Passengers were packed into crowded rooms beneath the deck of the ship

7. Steerage • Even though the average cost of a ticket was only $30, larger ships could hold from 1,500 to 2,000 immigrants, • Make a profit of $45,000 to $60,000 for a single, one-way voyage.

8. Steerage Conditions • For most immigrants, the experience of steerage was a nightmare • At one time, the average passenger mortality rate was 10 percent per voyage. • The conditions were crowded, dark, unsanitary and foul-smelling

9. Steerage Conditions • "The ventilation is almost always inadequate, and the air soon becomes foul. The unattended vomit of the seasick, the odors of not too clean bodies, the reek of food and the awful stench of the nearby toilet rooms make the atmosphere of the steerage such that it is a marvel that human flesh can endure it... Most immigrants lie in their beds for most of the voyage, in a stupor caused by the foul air. The food often repels them... It is almost impossible to keep personally clean. All of these conditions are naturally aggravated by the crowding.“ • William H. Taft, the United States Immigration Commission    

10. Ellis Island

11. Ellis Island • Ellis Island served as the portal for a majority of new immigrants from 1892 until it closed in 1954. • More than 12 million immigrants were processed here.

12. Statue of Liberty • The famous symbol of the United States • Symbolized freedom and a new life

13. Arriving at Ellis Island • First and second class passengers who arrived in New York Harbor were not required to undergo an inspection process at Ellis Island. • They were simply “inspected” onboard the ship and allowed to go into New York • The theory was that if a person could afford to purchase a first or second class ticket, they would probably not cause any trouble in America

15. Steerage Passengers • Steerage passengers poured across the pier to a waiting area. • Each wore a name tag with the individual's manifest number written in large figures. • The immigrants were then assembled into groups of 30

16. Baggage Room

17. Stairs of Separation • Although they did not realize it, the immigrants were already taking their first test: • a doctor stood at the top of the stairs watching for signs • lameness • heavy breathing (heart condition) • "bewildered gazes" (mental illness) 

18. The Great Hall

20. The Great Hall – Registry Room • The Ellis Island inspection process would last approximately three to five hours

21. Medical Exam • A doctor would examine the immigrant's face, hair, neck and hands. • The doctor held a piece of chalk. • On about two out of every 10 or 11 immigrants who passed, he would scrawl a large white letter • That letter indicated whether or not that immigrant was to be detained for further medical inspection.

23. Medical Exam • The next group of doctors were the dreaded "eye men." • They were looking for symptoms of trachoma, an eye disease that caused blindness and even death. • This disease was the reason for more than half of the medical detentions and its discovery meant certain deportation.

24. Legal Examination • The ship's manifest log (that had been filled out back at the port of embarkation) contained the immigrant's name and his/her answers to twenty-nine questions. • This document was used by the legal inspectors at Ellis Island to cross examine the immigrant during the legal inspection. • Only spent about 2 minutes with each immigrant

26. Legal Examination • Some questions: • name, age, marital status, occupation, nationality, ability to read or write, race, physical and -mental health, last residence, and the name and address of the nearest relative or friend in the immigrant's country of origin • Immigrants were also asked whether they had at least $30 and whether they had ever been in prison

27. Dormitories • Immigrants that were detained for medical or other reasons stayed in these rooms, tightly packed with rows of bunk beds.

28. Deportation • The two main reasons why an immigrant would be deported: • had a contagious disease or not healthy enough to work • Were likely to become a criminal or would work illegally.

30. Deportation • Sick children age 12 or older were sent back to Europe alone • Children younger than 12 had to be accompanied by a parent. • The “Isle of Tears” • 2 percent of immigrants were deported

31. Deportation When 6-year-old German immigrant Johannes first arrived in America, he was quarantined for two weeks at the Ellis Island hospital.  He had no access to his parents, and he spoke no English. 

32. Angel Island • Immigrants who came from Asian countries like China and Japan came through Angel Island in San Francisco, California

33. Angel Island • In the early 1900’s, a quota law existed that limited the number of Chinese immigrants who could come into the United States

34. Angel Island • Most Chinese immigrants had to prove that they had family members already living in the United States • Many Chinese spent weeks and months at Angel Island

35. Entering America

36. Entering America • First sights: skyscrapers, electric streetcars, automobiles, crowds of people

37. Entering America • Immigrants now had to find jobs and homes • Often relied on friends and relatives for help

38. A New America • Many immigrants moved to neighborhoods with common nationalities • Italy Town, Greek Town, Polish Town, Chinatown

39. Tenements • Many immigrants lived in tenements – small, run-down, overcrowded apartments

43. New Life in America • New jobs: railroads, factories, mines • Others started small businesses or sold from pushcarts

44. New Life in America • Many immigrants faced prejudice: an unfair negative opinion about a group of people

45. New Life in America • Worked 12 hours a day and some would go to school at night

46. A Melting Pot • From 1880-1920, more immigrants arrived in America than any other time in history • More than half of the people in big cities were immigrants!

47. A Melting Pot • America became very diverse – a variety of people lived here • In 1924, the US government placed quota limits on how many immigrants could come in each year

49. Ellis Island Today

50. Angel Island Today