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On December 31, 1890 a transition in history occured. New York City would start a new era in the history of the United States starting with the opening of Ellis Island as an immigration depo. This attracted many immigrants to the United Stated because of more job opportunities and as means to start a new life. As more immigrants came to America, it began to be known as the "land of opportunities". Immigrants coming in filled work spaces in industries with the hopes of someday becoming successful. These immigrants helped prove to other future immigrants that if you moved to America then you could start a better life for yourself and your families. On the other hand with positives come negatives and there were many involving immigration. Immigration defined means the act of coming to a foreign country to live(Lowell, 2006). Ellis Island was responsible for millions of people entering the U.S. and during this time the immigration station was carrying the load being accountable for approxametly 90% of immigrants entering the United States(Fairchild, 1996). Before Ellis Island became an immigration depot, then an immigration station the individual states of America handled immigration. On the first day of Ellis Island becoming an immigration station 700 individuals, mostly from northwest Europe, passed through. The first official immigrant being Annie Moore, a young 14 year old girl traveling with her two younger brothers from County Cork, Ireland(Chabotte,2009). For being the first immigrant to pass through the gates she was given a ten dollar gold piece which would help her journey into a foreign country. Along with Annie Moore the lack of money would be a major problem for future immigrants taking the same journey. ... ... middle of paper ... ...ns until 1954. Today Ellis Island is a part of the statue of liberty monument, this occured in 1965. In 1990 an immigration museum was created. Today any person can travel to Ellis Island and take a look at many of the original immigrants belongings. Some people may even be able to connect their herritage together. At the museum images and signatures of original travelers can be seen. This country was created to escape persecution and allow a place to be formed where everyone is equal and free. Many immigrants may have come to escape, become rich, look for a job, be free to practice their own religion or just for a fresh start. This began when the first immigrants escaped Great Britain and continues even in the United States today. The United States was built by immigrants for immigrants and will continue to be the "land of opportunity"(Ellis,2003).
Immigrants came to American in search of freedom and opportunity. They mostly came by steamship. Examinations and vaccinations of the immigrants needed to be done. Both immigrants and their baggage had to be disinfected before they could leave Ellis Island.
Angel Island was an immigrant arrival station on the western coast of the United States. The station, which operated for thirty years, from 1910 to 1940, was the main entry point into the United States for people arriving from the Pacific routes. More than one million people were processed at the station; most were allowed to enter the United States but to do so they had to pass various medical examinations to meet the requirements for entry . There are many reasons that made people immigrate to the United States. One reason was the
Ellis Island and Angel Island were two places immigrants could enter the United States. Ellis Island helped transform America by giving people of other races and ethnicity an opportunity to restart their lives. With Ellis Island letting people enter the United States it brought more people, diversity and jobs. An estimated 17 million immigrants passed through Ellis Island from 1892-1924. Over one million Asians entered America through Angel Island (Lee, Erika and Judy Young). America was soon made up mostly of immigrants. Without immigrants, the United States wouldn’t be as large as it is today.
Ellis Island was used as a inspection center for immigrants for over 60 years. The process they used to get immigrants into the United States was asking basic questions like money on them, name and occupation. There was also a medical procedure to get by Ellis Island, Ellis Island closed its immigration process in 1954.
The spark in the number of immigrants entering the United States began in the late nineteen sixties to the early nineteen seventies. People came to the United States because the United Farm Workers movement got jobs to provided higher salaries, improved working conditions, health benefits, minimizing segregation within the work environment, retirement plans, and even formed a credit union specifically for farm workers and immigrants. These were all factors which contributed to the increase in immigrants in the United States. (As life began to improve for immigrants within the United States, others thought the same could happen to them). Many immigrants thought of this as an opportunity to form a new and improved lifestyle. To this day the number of immigrants continue to grow, and their lives increasingly improve.
Some were sent back to their countries, blatantly denied the right to a better life. Many more faced indescribable challenges in the new environment, struggling in the throes of poverty. Although over 12 million people came to Ellis Island seeking a new life away from oppressive circumstances, not all of them succeeded in living the American Dream because of deportation, exploitation, and discrimination. From countries all over the world, immigrants flocked to America in an attempt to make it their new adopted home. They arrived by steamships docked by the Verrazano Narrows.
“America means opportunity, freedom, power.” These powerfully true words, spoken by philosopher and poet Ralph Waldo Emerson, illustrate the symbolic meaning America had come to inhabit in the eyes of desperate immigrants. During the Industrial Revolution, a booming American economy as well as external foreign events helped direct immigrants to America, a fabled land of liberty and power. This large influx of immigrants was instrumental in shaping the very country we know today. A large part of immigration was directed through the famous Ellis Island, known as the Gate to America, or the Golden Door. The co-dependency of the Industrial Revolution and immigration through Ellis Island can be illustrated in a number of examples.
America is a country that runs on immigrants, molded by the many immigrants of the past. The Liberty Ellis Foundation is a website that provides a deep history of the immigrants of America’s past and information regarding the history of one of the most esteemed symbols of American independence. Millions of people passed through Ellis Island on their journey to reach the American dream and this website gives you a look at the island’s past and tells you some of these people’s stories. On the website, there is a section dedicated to reading and sharing family history surrounding Ellis Island. This is a valuable source of personal history you cannot find in a textbook. The website also has multiple sections dedicated to establishing a timeline
In the 1600's, Ellis Island was known as Gull Island by the Mohegan tribe and was simply two to three acres. During high tide, the island could barely have been seen above the rising waters. After being discovered for its rich oyster beds in 1628, Dutch settlers renamed it Oyster Island. And then in 1765, which was the hanging of Anderson the Pirate, the island was again renamed the Gibbet Island, after the instrument used to hang him. Finally on January 20, 1785, Samuel Ellis purchased the property and gave it his name, which is still the name of the island today, Ellis Island
Ellis Island has a long history, was needed, and was the "Gateway to America" from
New York is worlds one of the most significant, historic and precious city. It is often considered as the cultural and financial capital of the world. However, what makes New York so unique, popular and famous? It is New York’s immigrants. For my research I have used two texts, One Out of Three by Nancy Foner and New York by M.J. Howard. In the first text Foner gives an insight description about immigrant’s contribution in economic and cultural sector of New York. In the second text Howard writes about Immigration history and the way immigration has changed New Yorks lifestyle. New York is America’s most essential gateway city to immigrants. According to asanet.org “from the year 1850 to now massive amount of immigrants have moved and lived
An outburst in growth of America’s big city population, places of 100,000 people or more jumped from about 6 million to 14 million between 1880 and 1900, cities had become a world of newcomers (551). America evolved into a land of factories, corporate enterprise, and industrial worker and, the surge in immigration supplied their workers. In the latter half of the 19th century, continued industrialization and urbanization sparked an increasing demand for a larger and cheaper labor force. The country's transformation from a rural agricultural society into an urban industrial nation attracted immigrants worldwide. As free land and free labor disappeared and as capitalists dominated the economy, dramatic social, political, and economic tensions were created. Religion, labor, and race relations were questioned; populist and progressive thoughts were developed; social Darwinism and nativism movements were launched.
In his book “American Passage: The History of Ellis Island”, Vincent J. Cannato expressed the course that the late 1800s to 1900s immigrants went through. The main focus of Cannato’s book was the many changes in the immigration policy, and how it shaped the United States. Before Ellis Island opened, the restriction of immigrants was weak. Many Americans had their own beliefs on how immigration should be managed, however, restrictions towards immigration was not enforced until the early 1900s. When the immigration policy was finally imposed, the treatment of immigrants became harsh and unsympathetic. Vincent J. Cannato’s book “American Passage: The History of Ellis Island” explains the changes of procedures and laws, the attitudes of Americans,
Over the course of the 1900s, immigration from Europe to the United States was a huge step to take to become free. The idea of immigration was very appealing to many because the lifestyles were so rough, and the income to support a family was very low ( ). Although the anticipation of arriving in Ellis Island was beyond imaginable, the immigrants often came across many hardships, making the journey to freedom difficult. Immigration to the United States in the 1900s was a challenge due to unrealistic expectations of a better life, the hardships faced during migration, and the uncertainty of the inspection process once arriving to Ellis Island.
During the last 10-15 years of the Progressive Era, more than 15 million immigrants arrived in the United States— a number equal to the total number of immigrants that arrived in the previous 40 years. In 1910, three-fourths of New York City's population was made up of either immigrants or first generation Americans. Unlike earlier immigrants, the majority of the newcomers during this time came from non-English speaking European countries. Immigrants mostly traveled in from...