Ellis+Island+-+19th+century

Ellis Island By Keon Hashemi


 * Historical Background **

Ellis Island was named after Samuel Ellis, a merchant that owned the island in the late 1700’s. In 1808, New York obtained the island, but then sold it to the government. The Federal Immigration Station opened on January 1, 1892, which allowed millions of immigrants to arrive in Ellis Island.


 * Important Facts **

**Time Period:** 1892-open doors for all emigrants to enter the US through Ellis Island

**Location:** Ellis Island is located in the upper bay just off the New Jersey coast

**Reason for arrival**: During the 1800’s, Immigrants came to America because in Europe there were restrictive religious laws, a broken down economy, and an unstable political government.


 * Countries that immigrants arrived from:** Most of the immigrants were European, but some immigrants that came from Asia, West Indies, and the Middle East.




 * Deffiniton of Ellis Island **

From 1880-1930, 12 million people came through Ellis Island, New York in need of a new life. Most of the immigrants came from Europe in order to leave the poor economy and governmental problems. First class passengers and second-class passengers passed through customs easily. The main struggle involved the third class passengers arriving to the ports of Ellis Island waiting hours for physical and written tests. At first, Americans mind set towards immigrants were positive because they believed immigrants exposed diversity to the U.S. citizens. Eventually, Americans attitude towards immigration started to change because of over population with certain races. In the 1920’s government passed laws to limit the amount of immigrants coming in the country. The laws required immigrants to take written and fitness test to enter the country. This is an example of survival of the fittest with America only allowing skilled people in their country.

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**How were the third class treated?** The treatment that the steerage(third class) received was poor. During their voyage, the third class were crowded in unsanitary conditions at the bottom of the boat. When they arrive to Ellis Island, everyone was required to take a medical and legal inspection.
 * Treatment of Immigrants **

**How to decide freedom for the steerage?** Every ship has a passenger list that contains all the immigrants information and answers to special questions. This document is the main bases that immigration inspectors refer to at Ellis Island during the immigrants legal inspection.



** Negative Effects **

**Reason for excluding entry to the immigrants:** The two reasons that an immigrant is excluded from entering America would be if they had a contagious disease that would harm the public health. The other reason is if the legal inspectors believe that an immigrant could be a hassle or threat to the public. Prostitution started to spread through the streets of major cities because poor immigrants were in need of money and in Europe prostitution was accepted.

**Politicians wanted immigration laws:** Politicians in America at that time preached for certain laws to cut down on the immense population coming from Europe. They advocated that the Chinese Exclusion Act and the Alien Contract Labor Law should be instituted with the arrivals of immigrants.


 * Positive Effects **

 They brought new languages, foods, and styles of arts with them from their homeland. It gave Americans the opportunity to learn a new style of culture from a foreign standpoint.
 * What advantages did the immigrants bring to America? **

After customs, immigrants had the opportunity to start a new life. They developed into American society by being involved different occupations such as theater. America and especially Ellis Island gave immigrants an escape from poor political injustice and a falling economy.
 * What advantages did America bring to the immigrants?**


 * Aftermath **

**Purpose of Ellis Island after 1924:** During World War II, Ellis Island was used as a detention center for alien enemies. 7000 German, Italian, and Japanese people were detained at Ellis Island, regardless if they were an alien or a citizen.

**Final years of Ellis Island**: Ellis Island was first opened to the public in 1976 in a limited basis. On September 10, 1990, the Main Building in Ellis Island was reopened to the public. In present day, the museum receives about 2 million visitors annually.

[|Primary Source Document]

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Frederic C. Howe was a commissioner of immigration at Ellis Island. He experienced the recklessness of the government’s power from the Espionage Act in 1917. He shares his recollection of the government’s anti-alien policy in Ellis Island. The War and Navy departments needed to detain aliens for suspicious circumstances, which would be called the Red Scare. Howe describes endless amount of Europeans being dumped into Ellis Island with poor living conditions. “The buildings were unsuited for permanent residence; the floors were of cement, the corridors were chill, the islands were storm swept, and soon the ordinary functions of the island became submerged in war activities.” Immigrants were held in Ellis Island for acts of prostitution. Americans assumed that prostitution was a European act and that immigrants should be detained for selling their bodies in the streets of New York and other big cities. Ellis Island became a prison to many immigrants because of white-slave traffic known to occur in foreign countries. Women were sold as merchandise and for a year white-slave traffic started threatening the foundation of this country. He fought for the rights of the immigrants not to be jailed by attacking the Department of Justice and Commissioner-General of Immigration to rethink the basis of detaining immigrants with no real evidence. The end result was immigrants taken to Ellis Island without a fair voice. Howe believed that the immigrants were free and went against the others and treated men and women in Ellis Island with respect. In all of his years working at Ellis Island, Howe was astonished by the American Government and treating these immigrants in a poor manner.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">[|Historical Article]

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"On the grey afternoon of November 28, 1911, four young men in their early 20s hoist their bags on their shoulders and step down the gangway from the dock onto the ferry Ellis Island, bound for Jersey City from the immigration center. They are all from a pair of tiny adjoining villages in the mountainous Abruzzo region of central Italy."