Millions of people entered the US in the late 1800’s, but how? Ellis Island was the one and only provider for immigration in the late 1800’s. At first, the Battery in lower Manhattan was the immigration station. Eventually, the Battery could not handle the flow of immigrants. This caused the federal government to buy Ellis Island from Samuel Ellis, a merchant of New York City, and that’s how the Islands name was given.
Ellis Island was opened on January 1, 1892 and closed in November 1954. It was the first stop for most immigrants from Europe. On this Island, they were given the permission to enter the country. Each immigrant had to pass a physical examination. If they had a serious problem or disease, they were sent home. If they passed the physical examination, they went on to questions such as: Name, Occupation, and the money they had. The amount of time an immigrant would spend at the island ranged from a couple of hours to a day.
Some immigrants had their names changed on Ellis Island. For example, if the name was “Helena Polonowycz” It would be changed to “Ellen Pollock”. The names were changed into a name which was shorter and/or simpler. Name changing was especially common for new immigrants who could not speak English. Even though most of the time the immigrants had a person from their country to translate, the officers sometimes could not pronounce the names, and a name change was required.
The Island was originally a very small place. It needed to be expanded so more immigrants could come and so that it would be less crowded. The federal government began to landfill around the island to make it bigger. Today, nine-tenths or the current island is artificial and was not formed naturally. The original island was New York’s property, but since most of the island is now landfill, New Jersey wanted to gain ownership of the island. The Supreme Court granted ownership of the land filled area to New Jersey, but the original area remain New York’s property. Since some of the buildings were on both parts of the island, New York and New Jersey decided to have joined custody of the island.
The Essay on Immigrants Ellis Island
The first glimpse of the Statue of Liberty was an emotional experience remembered for life for the immigrants approaching New York Harbor. Engraved on the base of the Statue of Liberty are the words from Emma Lazarus's poem, 'Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.' The French sculptor, Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi, designed the statue. It was intended as a ...
Incoming immigrants were marked with inspection symbols. These symbols were chalked on the clothing of sick or “defective” immigrants. Some immigrants entered the country by wiping the chalk off their clothes. Here are some of the markings:
C Conjunctivitis
“B” Black
CT Trachoma
E Eyes
F Face
FT Feet
G Goiter
H Heat
K Hernia
L Lameness
N Neck
P Physical and Lungs
PG Pregnancy
SC Scalp (fungus)
SI Special Inquiry
X Suspected Mental Defect
(X) (Circled) Definite Mental Defect
Nowadays, Ellis Island serves as a museum for people to see how their ancestors got to America. In this museums, you can see names, images, and clips of the immigration though Ellis Island.
