Ellis Island and Immigration

Ellis Island is a small island in New York Harbor. From 1892 to 1954, it served as the main entry point for immigrants coming to the United States. About 12 million people passed through Ellis Island during those years. They arrived from Italy, Ireland, Poland, Russia, Germany, and dozens of other countries. Most were looking for jobs, safety, or a better life.

An immigrant is a person who moves from one country to live in another. The United States has been built by immigrants since its earliest days. In the late 1800s, the number of people arriving grew quickly. American factories needed workers, and steamships made the trip across the Atlantic faster and cheaper than before. Many people in Europe were also fleeing hunger, war, or unfair treatment because of their religion.

The trip across the ocean was hard. Most immigrants traveled in the cheapest part of the ship, called steerage. Steerage was crowded, dark, and often smelled bad. The voyage usually took one to two weeks. When ships finally reached New York Harbor, passengers crowded the deck to see the Statue of Liberty. For many, the statue was the first sign that they had made it.

At Ellis Island, immigrants were checked by doctors and inspectors. The doctors looked for sickness. The inspectors asked questions: What is your name? Where will you live? Do you have a job waiting? Most people passed through in three to five hours. About 2 percent were sent back home, often because they were too sick or too poor. Families sometimes called Ellis Island "the Island of Tears" when a relative was turned away.

Many immigrants had their names changed or shortened, though historians now think this happened less often than the famous stories suggest. Most name changes were made by the immigrants themselves later on, to fit in better in their new country.

Ellis Island closed in 1954 and sat empty for years. In 1990, it reopened as a museum. Today visitors can search records and find the names of relatives who passed through. The wall outside the museum lists more than 700,000 names of immigrants honored by their families.

Immigration to the United States did not stop when Ellis Island closed. People still come from all over the world, though now they arrive mostly by airplane and through different entry points. Americans still argue about who should be allowed in, how many, and under what rules. The debate is older than the country itself, and Ellis Island sits in the middle of that long story.