Ellis After Ellis Island: A Historical Analysis

Almost everyone who lives in America today is a descendant of an immigrant to the U.S. If an immigrant arrived between the years of 1892 and 1924, they went through the long and tedious task of being accepted through the large brick building at the notorious place of Ellis Island. There were many troubles involved with being accepted to and into America, but it was all worth it to them. Some of these problems were long and cramped boat rides, unbelievable wait time to get to the desk of the people who register the immigrants, getting started in the country was somewhat difficult if you arrived without much money.

Host to those who could not get into the U.S. These people included German sailors and suspected spies. The hospital on the island was in use by the Army. It was used by the army to treat wounded soldiers and people could not stay there.This was when Ellis island came as a place that would not go away. However there was yet another mass destruction on the island. This time it was bombs instead of a fire. What happened was, Railroad cars were exploding. This Almost blew the island out of existence. The cause of this was a terrorist attack. The Terrorists exploded the cargo in the cars and bomb shells exploded in the air for hours. Although there was no major injuries to the people, every window was was busted open and every door was jammed. This led to the end of the great

1630 – 1770 A mound of sand in the Hudson River Michael Paauw obtains the Island Known as Gibbet Island 1775 – 1865 The Island is purchased by Samuel Ellis New York State buys the Island from his family Used as a military fortification 1865 – 1892 The island is vacant after the Civil War Government starts to construct an immigration station on the Island Total cost of construction on the Island was $75,000 1892 First immigration station on Ellis Island opens January 1, 1892

Ellis Island was an immigration center located in New York Harbor. “At Ellis Island, some people were allowed to enter the united States right away, some were detained (held for a while), and some were deported (rejected and sent back)” (Levine). Some people called Ellis Island “Island of Tears”. Others called it “Island of Hope”. The United States ethnicity is so diverse because of the many different immigrants that came through Ellis Island to live in America. Ellis Island is a symbol of hope to many immigrants and their ancestors.

The article “History Still Matters” by Bill Moyers expresses some important concerns in our societies over the loss of interest in history. Throughout the article Moyers explains the loss of interest but also shows the reader the subject is crucial for societies to progress. He uses deeper meanings to further understand the importance of history as well as expressing the reasons he thinks cultures have lost interest past events. The author also mentions that although people find no relations to history in today’s world, there are conflicts that can resemble current problems. It is also imperative to realize history has assembled our concurrent world. For those reasons we can have our own outlook and interpretations of history to further understand the progression and stage we are currently in.

“I don’t understand why I have to take this class. All that old history stuff has no relevance to my life, and it is a waste of time to fool with it. My life today is more important than the lives of all those dead and boring people.” This remark is said more frequently than we realize. History is a combination of events that created our present and future today. The past it what simply gives our present it’s value. Another way to look at history is it can be compared to our ancestry line. Without our ancestors we wouldn’t have the make-up of genes that we do today. For example, the Columbian exchange is one of the events in history that has really impacted our world. Not only did one change come from the event but a variety including food, plants, animals, goods and knowledge. History also exposes knowledge to us. It is the resource that allows us to better our lives and expand our knowledge. Believe it or not, our life we peruse everyday consist of history. Including languages, we inherited, religions that weren’t just created on the spot, technologies that have been upgraded in the past years, and the clothing we decided to put on our backs everyday that has evolved from different materials to different fittings. The world has evolved in many ways in the past and it continues to evolve.

The essay “Historian as Citizen” by Howard Zinn presents a call to action for historians everywhere. To start, he analyzes the delicate need for balance that comes with studying history, how historians can use patterns of the past to judge contemporary events, but must not overlook the “universe of tricks” outside that realm. Next, he argues we must also transcend the present and act as if we are freer than logic may suggest. Finally, Zinn delves into the negative aspects of society’s long-established blame game and submits his proposed solution. Through this text, Zinn seeks a drastic shift in focus from antiquity to activism— for historians to stop merely scrutinizing old facts but instead use them as tools with which to examine human nature and build a better tomorrow.

The video, “Ellis Island Island Deconstructed”, communicates that even though immigration is a long and hard process, people are still willing to go through with it. In the video, it is said that about 1.2 million people were processed when they were still open for operations. 1.2 million people that were there for the average of three to four hours( some even more) being processed, questioned, and examined. Some might not even be granted admission into the United States even after being there for days. The conditions weren’t the best either. Because of the large amount of people, everything was cramped and space was tight. Pictures from the video indicated that a lot of people would be crammed into one room that wasn’t even that big. After

The Ellis Island website (http://www.libertyellisfoundation.org/passenger) has a searchable database that begins in 1892 and goes through 1957.

“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door”(Lazarus).This is what America stood for when immigrants were free to come to the U.S., before the wars broke out and we became afraid that immigrants could be terrorists.

Cousin, I am sure you are aware of my family’s travels to the great country America. We, as a family, decided to travel to America because of the fact that we were persecuted for our religious practices. Our journey first started out by us boarding a train and heading to sea. Once at sea, we then boarded a huge, crowded ship. Due to the fact that we had little money, our family stayed in the steerage. “Steerage was a large, open space at the bottom of the ship.” (“Welcome to Immigration”). Our journey in the crowded ship across the Atlantic Ocean took two long weeks. I had very few friends on the ship for the reason of the ship having a huge variety of people. It seemed as if everyone spoke a different language from one another. We then finally see the infamous Statue of Liberty. Many people on the ship began crying, hugging, and throwing their hats in the air. I asked father why they act such this way and he explained they did it because they were so excited to finally be in America.

Instead, we remain convinced that if the story of America’s past is told fairly, the result cannot be

One cannot truly comprehend or appreciate American life unless that person recognizes how it all came together. Past experiences and learning about history can certainly help improve life and decision making. But to fully benefit and grow personally from knowledge of history, one must be informed in all of its aspects, good and bad. Therefore, priorities, when writing and teaching history include doing so in an unbiased way, focused equally on both the accomplishments and failures and stressing how myths can be misleading in learning the truth. As time has elapsed, the historical events mentioned throughout have reshaped the American Nation from corner to corner. These happenings serve to compose the stories being heard by many and shaping society today. New history is being created at this moment. Therefore, it becomes imperative to attain an adept understanding of the influence of past events to appreciate completely the evolution and constant renovation of American

The issues that people had with old historiographies were that they weren’t complex enough and lacked comprehension of cultural aspects. They rarely strayed from the political or economic topics and never discussed important cultural avenues. Levine talks of synthesis in historical writing but deems this as a way to dismiss the introduction of new subject matter into history. He, on the contrary, wishes for the expansion of subjects in history and feels there has been too much neglect on cultural aspects and the importance that it offers to understanding the past as it really was. Levine believes historians need to increase their tolerance and acceptance of the complexities of the past as well as the historian profession in order to effectively and accurately write about the

Field work at Ellis Island 2015 Spent the day at the Ellis Island Monument, listening to the auditory evidence, saw some of the holding rooms where the immigrants were held, the medical examination room were immigrants were further inspected, the detention room and the main hall where all the immigrants would wait to be told if they could go onto the mainland. Because of a flood that had happened in previous years, some of the evidence had been destroyed and visitors weren’t allowed to see the other building on the island.