Ellis Island

1. Your manifest number (from your ship) 2. What is your full name? 3. How old are you? 4. Are you male or female? 5. Are you married, single, widowed, or divorced? 6. What is your occupation? 7. Are you able to read and write? (yes or no) 8. What country are you from? 9. What is your race? 10. What was your last permanent place of residence? (city and country) 11. What is the name and US address of a relative from your native country? 12. What is your final destination in America? (city and state) 13. Your number on the immigration list? 14. Do you have a ticket to your final destination? (yes or no) 15. Who paid for your passage? 16. How much money do you have? 17. Have you been to America before? If so when, where and how long? 18. Are you meeting a relative here in America? If so, who and their address? 19. Have you been in a prison? 20. Are you a polygamist? (Yes or No) 21. Are you an anarchist? 22. Are you coming to America for a job? What and where will you work? 23. What is the condition of your health? 24. Are you deformed or crippled? 25. How tall are you? 26. What is your skin color? 27. What color are your eyes and hair? 28. Do you have any identifying marks? (scars, birthmarks, or tattoos) 29. Where were you born? (city and country)

29 questions... What about?

Ellis Island (1)

Watch the video and write on your notebook the words you understand

Ellis Island (2)

ELLIS ISLAND is located in Upper New York Bay, about 1.6 km south-west of Manhattan. An immigration centre was opened here in 1892. It is estimated that between then and 1954 more than 12 million immigrants arrived in search of a new life. At Ellis Island they were examined by doctors and questioned by government officers. In most cases, people received permission to enter the United States, but if they were very ill or seemed too poor to support themselves, they were sent back to their country. On the other hand, at that time visas, passports or any other documentation were not required. In 1924 a new law severely restricted immigration to the United States. As a result, Ellis Island started to decline, until it was closed in 1954. Eventually, in 1990 the Ellis Island Immigration Museum opened. It's amazing to think that the descendants of the people who arrived at Ellis Island are about 100 million, which is about 40% of the US population. Between around 1880 and 1924, more than four million Italians immigrated to the United States, half of them between 1900 and 1910 alone. For almost all Italian-Americans, Ellis Island is the first chapter of their family's story in the United States.

Read the text and answer the followig questions on your notebook

1) Where is Ellis Island? 2) What did doctors do? 3) Were there visas and passorts at that time? 4) What happened in 1924? 5) What can you find now on Ellis Island?

A virtual journey to Ellis Island

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Do a webquest to answer the questions on your worksheet clicking on the numbers on the map.

1st STOP: The passage

Most people who came to America through Ellis Island were from eastern and southern Europe. They came to escape poverty and religious problems in small towns in countries like Italy, Poland, and Russia. They started their journey on foot, horseback, or train. Many walked hundreds of miles across Europe to get to a port. When they got there, they got on a steamship. The trip across the Atlantic Ocean took one to two weeks. The ships separated passengers by how much money they had and what class they were in. First- and second-class passengers stayed in nice rooms. But most people were in third class, called "steerage." Steerage was a big open space at the bottom of the ship. Up to 3,000 people filled the ships. They often came from different countries, spoke different languages, and were different religions.

2nd STOP: The arrival and the Statue of Liberty

The trip across the Atlantic Ocean was hard. The ships were full and dirty. So most passengers were very tired when they arrived in New York Harbor. One of the first things they saw was the Statue of Liberty, which has been on its own island in the harbor since 1886. People would cheer when they saw this famous symbol of America. Some would cry with joy as the ship went by it. Health officers would get on the ship in the harbor and look for signs of illnesses. If the ship passed their check, doctors then would check the health of first- and second-class passengers on the ship. These lucky few were done quickly and could leave the ship when it stopped at New York City. But third-class passengers often would wait for a long time until a smaller boat took them to Ellis Island for immigration work.

3rd STOP: The baggage room

People got off the boat. They were given a number. They went into a big red building. They left their things in a room. Then they went upstairs for a check-up.

4th STOP: The stairs to the registry room

The immigration process began on the winding stairs that led to the Registry Room. Doctors stood on the second floor and watched each person. They looked for people who had trouble walking or breathing or showed signs of other health problems.

5th STOP: The registry room

The registry room was nicknamed "the great hall" bacause it was so big. The noise in this room could be intense. The sounds of thousands of voices bounced off the vaulted ceilings. Officials in the Great Hall decided whether each person could enter the country right away or whether that person's case required further review.

6th STOP: The medical exam

The doctors at Ellis Island developed a system to identify immigrants who needed medical attention. If someone was considered a risk to the public health, his or her clothes were marked by a piece of chalk with an identifying letter. Immigrants who were marked were taken out of the line and kept for further examination. Immigrants who passed the medical exam continued through the maze of metal rails toward the far end of the hall for the legal inspection.

7th STOP: The legal inspection

Each arriving steamship's crew gave officials at Ellis Island a list of names of the passengers onboard. The manifest, as this list was called, had the name and a description of each passenger. One by one, the passengers were called forward to speak with a uniformed inspector seated on a tall stool behind a high desk. Interpreters helped the immigrants communicate.

8th STOP: Deteineers

For most people, Ellis Island was the "Isle of Hope." But for the unfortunate few who failed the health or legal inspections, it was the "Isle of Tears." Legal detainees lived in a dormitory room on the third floor. They could wait a few days or even a month. Then their case would be reviewed in the Hearing Room. People who were detained for medical reasons were cared for at the island's hospital or kept in quarantine. Some were treated for weeks, or even months. Eventually, a Board of Special Inquiry would review an individual's medical report and decide whether to allow him into the United States or to send him back.

9th STOP: The stairs of separation

After the medical and legal inspections, the immigrants arrived at the top of another staircase at the other end of the Great Hall. This staircase had three aisles. Immigrants who were being detained were often brought down the center aisle. People who were traveling west or south walked down the right side of the staircase. Those going to New York City or to the north walked down the left side. At the bottom of the stairs was a post office, a ticketing office for the railways, and social workers to help the immigrants who needed assistance. There was also an office to exchange money from their home country for U.S. dollars.

10th STOP: The kissing post

An area on the first floor of the building became known as "the kissing post." It got that nickname because it is where family and friends waited for their loved ones. After months or years apart, they kissed and hugged and shouted with joy and relief. For the immigrants, the long journey was finally over. They were in America.

Did anyone of your family pass through Ellis Island?

Find it out looking for their names on this website

The Statue of Liberty

In 1865, a French political intellectual and anti-slavery activist named Edouard de Laboulaye proposed to build a statue representing liberty for the United States. This monument would honor the United States' centennial of independence and the friendship with France. French sculptor Auguste Bartholdi supported de Laboulaye's idea and in 1870 began designing the statue of "Liberty Enlightening the World." While Bartholdi was designing the Statue, he also took a trip to the United States in 1871. During the trip, Bartholdi selected Bedloe's Island (later known as "Liberty Island") as the site for the Statue. Although the island was small, it was visible to every ship entering New York Harbor, which Bartholdi viewed as the "gateway to America."