Angel Island

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Angel Island

• Immigration Station

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Angel Island Immigration Station

• What is Angel Island?
• A processing and detainment center for thousands
  of immigrants between 1910-1940
• Most immigrants arrived from Asia

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• Detainees experienced overcrowded facilities,
  humiliating medical examinations, interrogations,
  and waiting for approval or deportation
• Over 30 years about 1 million people (entering
  and leaving) were processed

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• About 175,000 Chinese immigrants and 150,000
  Japanese immigrants were processed
• Some immigrants stayed overnight, while others
  stayed for months
• The longest recorded stay was about 2 years

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                                           Panoram
ic photo of the Angel Island Immigration Station
c. 1915, including the dock, the arrival point
for detainees brought from San Francisco.  Photo
source Library of Congress.
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                            On route to America.
Photo source National Archives
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                                               Gr
oup of Japanese women standing in a line on an
immigration ship circa 1925.
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                                             Immi
grants leaving ship in harbor to go to Angel
Island Immigration Station circa 1925
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Poetry

• Living conditions became a frustration for
  immigrants
• Immigrants became prisoners under lock and key 24
  hours a day,
• The most visible and durable testimony to their
  suffering are the famous poems, some written,
  some carved with a classical Cantonese technique
  into the wooden walls of the barracks.

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• The most visible testimony to their suffering are
  the famous poems, some written, some carved into
  the wooden walls of the barracks.

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From the walls of Angel Island Immigration
Station, author unknown, Poem 32 from Island, p.
68.

• Imprisoned in the wooden building day after
  day,My freedom is withheld how can I bear to
  talk about it?I look to see who is happy but
  they only sit quietly.I am anxious and depressed
  and cannot fall asleep.The days are long and
  bottle constantly empty

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• My sad mood even so is not dispelled.Nights are
  long and the pillow cold who can pity my
  loneliness?After experiencing such loneliness
  and sorrow,Why not just return home and learn to
  plow the fields?

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                                           Physica
l exams at Angel Island. After being assigned a
barrack and bunk, new arrivals underwent a
medical examination shortly after reaching the
island. Unfamiliar with the language, customs,
and Western medical procedures, the examination
was often characterized by newcomers as
humiliating and barbaric. Photo Sources (above)
National Archives
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                                Angel Island
Interrogation Sessions. Interrogations were
conducted by two immigration inspectors and a
stenographer. A government interpreter translated
the questions and responses, which were typed
into an applicant's file during the sessions.
Photo Source (above) National Archives
 
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Interrogations

• Personal history was asked to establish that
  entry claims were legitimate
• Some typical questions were How many windows
  did your house have? How many steps to your
  house?
• Many questions were answered incorrectly, so
  there was ample reason to deport them

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                                           Two
immigration officers processing papers for one
Asian man and several Asian women, circa 1925.
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                    Waiting on the hospital steps
at Angel Island. Photo Source National
Archives.
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               Three Chinese women in
traditional clothing at Angel Island
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                                                 A
ngel Island State Park today - beyond the Golden
Gate Bridge in San Francisco Bay. Photo Source
The Angel Island Home Page at the University of
California at Berkeley.
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