Ellis Island
A major area that has great historical significance and ties with immigration is Ellis Island. Ellis Island opened on January 1st 1892 as a federal immigration station (“History channel presents:," 2012,). For many, the voyage by steam ship would last from one week to about one month. Ellis Island was referred to as the Island of Hope or the Island of Tears and for good reason. Ellis Island was the first stop if not the last stop to the new world that these immigrants would see. Permission had to be granted in order for the immigrants to be allowed to step foot onto the new land. It was on this island where series of tests were conducted to see if the immigrants were healthy enough (fit), or hygienically clean enough (no diseases or lice), to become useful citizens; mainly to work. Due to the sheer number of immigrants pouring in, President Theodore Roosevelt had two new islands created using landfills. With the addition of space and two more towers, more tests would be conducted. The new tests would evaluate if the immigrant had any serious psychological issues and the other test was a literacy test in which the immigrants over sixteen years of age had to be able to read anywhere from thirty to forty test words in their native language or be turned away. Some would be cleared in a day, others in a week or longer. Immigrants who were riding first or second class aboard the steam ships were considered in the eyes of the government to be affluent passengers who would not cause any trouble, spread diseases, or end up institutionalized.
Immigration into The United States of America was decreasing during World War I. Many German Immigrants were deported almost immediately upon arrival. Immigration also took another fall in the 1930’s during the Great Depression; more immigrants were leaving the United States then coming in (“History channel presents:," 2012). By 1954, all thirty three structures on Ellis Island are closed (this includes the Federal Immigration Station). In 1965, President Johnson a proclamation in which Ellis Island falls under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service as part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument (“History channel presents:," 2012). In 2001, The American Immigration History Center opens on Ellis Island. Visitors are allowed to see immigrant arrival papers for information on individual people who passed through Ellis Island on their way to the United States. It is this museum that shows how significant immigration is and how important it is to remember the lives of those who journeyed thousands of miles for an opportunity, for a chance, for a new beginning. From the opening of the Immigration Station on Ellis Island on January 1st 1892 to the closing of the station in 1954, over twelve million immigrants entered through the portal of Ellis Island.