ThestoryofEllisIsland

1、The story of Ellis IslandThe small island in New York Harbor which, for millions of would-be immigrants, wastheir first experience of the Promised Land.Theyearis1906,thedateNovember16th.Schumacher and their three children have justdisembarked fromHamburg-AmerikalinesteamshipthathascarriedstormyNorth

2、AtlanticOceanLikethethousandsofotherpeoplemillingtotallybewildered, caught up in a mixture of hope andapprehension,as theycrowdintoavastwaitingroom.TheroomTower of Babel, for few of those in it speak a word of English. Theyspeak German, Polish, Dutch, Hungarian, or Russian maybe, yet theyhave come,s

3、eekinga new life in a new world;and now they are onAmerican soil for the first time. This is America! America! Or at leastitisEllisAfterinterminablehours of waiting, theSchumacher family is finallycalledtoadesk;immigrationofficialsstudythemwheretheyintendto go.Theydontaskplanning to stay, however, s

4、ince theyknowthe answer already. AllthosewhopassthroughEllisIsland-and11,000 people per day - arewould-beimmigrants.TheyarelookingtostartanewlifeFor many, passing through Ellis Island was not so much a matter ofsteppingintoanewworld;itwas steppinginto acharacter.Andsoit was that the man whofinallyle

5、dhisthroughthedoor andontotheferrypacked withnewAmericanswasnotFranzSchumacheranyShoemaker, even if he still didnt understand more than a couple ofwords of English.* * *Ever since the Declaration of Independence in 1776, the United States has beena nation of immigrants. While today the pattern of im

6、migration is not what it usedto be (most immigrants coming from Latin America or Asia) and immigrationpolicies are now designed to restrict entrance to the USA, things were verydifferent in the early part of the twentieth century.EllisIsland,almost inthe shadowoftheStatueofLiberty attheentrance to N

7、ew York Harbor, was the first stop on American soil forsometwelvemillion immigrantsbetweenthe years1892For most, it was a portal of hope and freedom; for just a few, it wasthe Islandof Tears,when theywere turnedaway formeetthevariousimmigrationandrequirements.Duringits yearsofoperation,EllisIslandwa

8、s the principalimmigration into the United States,processingapproximately75%ofall the immigrants into America over the period.The original three acre island got its name from a previous owner, Samuel Ellis.At the end of the eighteenth century, the State of NewYork secured the island in order to buil

9、d fortifications as part ofits harbor defense system.Itwasin1890thatthatimprovementsontheisland,could be built to replace the lowerManhattan.Congresssetasidefundstobeginso thata federalimmigrationstationexistingfacilitiesat CastleGarden,inTheoriginalisland wasexpanded toseveraltimesitssize,andthenew

10、immigrationstationopenedonJanuary1st,1892. Five yearslater,it wasdestroyedbyfire;butitwassoonrebuilt,withanimpressiveFrenchRenaissancestyle brickbuilding,whichopenedforbusinessonDecember17th1900andprocessed2,251immigrants that very same day. The part of the building whose imageremained most clearly

11、marked in the memories of those who passedthrough,wasthevastregistryroomoccupyingthewholecentralsection of the second floor; it was here that most of theprocessing of would-be immigrants took place.During the next half century, the small island grew to its present size,asitwasjoinedbylandfilltothree

12、adjacentislands.Themainbuilding was supplemented with a power house , kitchens, a hospital andcontagious diseases wards, a dormitory building, a bakery and several otherstructures.In theearly1920s,though,imdeclinedsharply,migrationrestrictiveimmigrationlawswerepassed. Theseceiling on immigration, an

13、d established quotas for each foreign nation.Theyalsomade itcompulsoryfor would-beimmigrantspapers at the US consulate in their country of origin, rather than onarrival.Thereafter,onlythosewhosepapers werenotinorder,whoneededmedicaltreatment,weresenttoEllisThefacilitieswereincreasinglyusedfortheassemblydeportationofalienswhohadenteredtheUSAillegally,immigrantswhohadviolatedthetermsoftheiradmittance.finally, on November 12th 1954, the E