Coming to America

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Coming to America

• The Age of Immigration
• A Search for a Better Life
• By Carol Poole

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Imagine, if you can, that you live in the late
19th Century.

• Chances are, if you are not an American, your
  life is hard
• Your main occupation is getting enough food to
  feed your starving family
• You may suffer from religious, social, or
  political persecution
• You probably dont own your land and someone else
  controls it and your life and you never feel safe
  or secure
• You would do anything to give your family a
  better life
• Can you even imagine what it must have been like?

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Now, imagine what would happen if you suddenly
found yourself with an opportunity to travel to
America and begin to make a better life for your
family. What would you be willing to sacrifice?
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EVERYTHING!!!!!People who left their old lands
to come to a new land had to leave everything and
everyone behind never knowing if they would see
them again in this world. Was it worth the
sacrifice? Ask the 17 million people who came
through Ellis Island from 1892-1954.
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You could also ask the millions of people from
China and Japan who came through Angel Island in
California. Or you could ask the millions of
Irish who fled from the potato famine in 1848 to
come to America, among others.
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Or, you could ask the ones who still try to come
today. Is it worth it? Very few people ever
return to their former homes. Many thousands of
illegal aliens who are turned back, try again.
They are following the same dream that brought
millions to these shores in the 19th Century.
Lets take a closer look at what that immigrant
experience was like in the late 1800s and why it
is such an important chapter in American History.
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Immigrants from Europe were taken to Ellis Island
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Coming from the Far East, the Immigrants first
site was Angel Island in the bay near San
Francisco, California.
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Their initial experience was the same wait for
your turn to be examined, surrounded by people
who ask you questions in a language you do not
know, wondering if they will let you in.
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Waiting at Ellis Island.
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America needed workers but they did not need sick
immigrants. The first concern was that the
newcomer should be healthy. Doctors examined the
people for diseases that might be spread to
others. If they were healthy, they could
continue the process.
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The disease most feared by the inspectors was
trachoma, a contagious eye disease that would
lead to blindness. A buttonhook man would
examine the eyes to see if there were signs of
the disease. If the disease appeared, the
immigrant was marked with an E and returned to
the ship immediately.
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These were typical chalk markings used in
quarantine
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Even after the medical exam there were more
questions What do you do? Where are you
going? Who do you know that will sponsor you?
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How many in your family? How much money do you
have? Where will you live?
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What is your name? How do you spell that?
Many people had their name changed at Ellis
Island to a name that was easier to spell and
pronounce, or to remove the fear of further
persecution for race or religion. America was a
place for a new start.
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At Angel Island, many young women came to be
Picture Brides chosen because of their
picture.
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A new group of Picture Brides arrives to join the
men who were already here working to pay for
their passage to America.
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Some were Paper sons and daughters claiming to
have relatives here the law said that the
children of citizens were also citizens this
was hard to prove.
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The sea crossing was often dangerous and
difficult, but people risked and endured it all
to get to come to America and then send for their
family members who had been left behind.
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Newcomers wore labels or carried documents on
their clothes to prevent getting lost.
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One immigrant said of the experience later that
they all looked like marked-down items in the
basement of Macys Department Store because they
had so many tags and labels hanging off them.
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Immigrants brought with them only what they could
carry in one or two small cases. The rest had to
be left behind.
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Waiting was the hardest part of the experience
Would they pass through?
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Being passed through meant that families could be
reunited and have a meal before going on their
way to their new home.
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Food in America was a new experience.

• The newcomers could not imagine someone giving
  them a meal for nothing
• Many fell on the food, choking it down, for fear
  someone else would take it from them
• Most foods were strange and new to the immigrants
  and there was such abundance
• One man said that he had never seen a banana
  before. Once he learned how to eat it he thought
  it was the most delicious thing he had ever eaten

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Those who were not passed through were returned
to the steamship that brought them, to be
returned home to try again. The steamships and
railroads combined efforts in many cases to get
the immigrants to places where they could work in
booming American industries. Each party received
part of the fee for getting the new worker to
this country, so no one wanted to lose their
investment. Most immigrants passed!
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Being passed through meant that the fortunate
immigrants were free to move on from either Ellis
Island or Angel Island to begin their new lives
in America. Some had family already already here
to sponsor them, but others were on their own to
find their way in a strange new land.
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Can you imagine how frightening it must have been?
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Beginning a New Life

• When the immigrant stepped off the island they
  knew few, if any words in the new language.
• Many had to find houses and jobs.
• Most people migrated eventually to areas in the
  cities where people were like themselves. This
  was the beginning of ethnic neighborhoods in
  America.
• There were charity organizations to help the new
  immigrants get settled into their new life.
• Few immigrants ever considered returning to their
  old land. They became Americans!

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Think About It!

• Would you have been brave enough to move to a
  new land?
• What circumstances caused people to move?
• Do some more research to find our more about
  immigration.
• Write about what the immigrant experience was
  like.
• Label places on a map where immigrants lived once
  they came to America.

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Read more about the immigrant experience in books
on the subject, and check out the following
websiteswww.angelisland.orgwww.angel-island.com
www.ellisisland.orgwww.ellisisland.com