Passage #3
by Bill Walter
or such an important place, Ellis Island did not start out as much. Named after Samuel Ellis, the 27-acre knot
of an island barely stuck out of the water at high tide.
Ellis Island became important to millions of immigrants in 1892, however, when the U.S. government converted it to an
immigration station. Between 1892 and 1954, the island became—for more than 17 million souls—the doorway to America.
As you will see in their own words below, America offered immigrants more than just opportunity. You also will see that the
“the land of the free” was not so free to everyone, after all.
Escaping to America
The closing years of the 19th century were an oppressive time in many eastern and southern European nations. In such
countries as Russia, Poland, and Armenia, millions of families were suffering. Wars, famines, and pogroms (organized massacres
of Jews and other minorities) caused millions of people to flee.
Ida Mouradjian fled to America from Armenia to escape annihilation by the Turkish government:
They [the Turks] would displace every Armenian out of their own homes, out of their own towns and drive them into the Syrian
Desert. The idea was to get every Armenian there and by the time they got there they would either die of hunger or exposure or
pestilence.
But not all were running from the horrors of violence or poverty. Some, like Theodore Lubik from the Ukraine, wanted to avoid
the military draft and simply saw the U.S. as a great opportunity:
A friend of mine, he had gone to America. He came to Europe once on a visit...He looked just like a governor—horses, wagon,
dressed fine, giving his pocket change to us. He gave me ten cents or a quarter—that was big money.
Hard Time Traveling
In these times of turmoil, one could not easily move to the U.S. The trials of getting to Ellis Island were often life-threatening
in themselves.
Along the way, many immigrants had to contend with border guards, thieves, and crooked immigration agents. But it was the
trip across the Atlantic that immigrants tended to remember most.
Crammed into poorly ventilated sleeping areas or cabins below deck, immigrants—many of whom had never seen the sea
before—often suffered rough crossings. Vera Gauditsa, pregnant during her crossing from Czechoslovakia, remembered the
torture of seasickness:
I was pretty tough, but on the boat I was very sick. I thought the child wanted to be born right then.
I had a cabin, but in the cabin was nothing. You had to go through the whole boat to get to the showers and a toilet. So
imagine when you are sick and you have to go to the bathroom and walk!
But upon seeing their destination, most immigrants—like Sarah Asher from Russia—forgot about sickness and thought only of
a bright future:
About four or five o’clock in the morning we all got up. The sunshine started and what do we see? The Statue of Liberty!
Well, she was beautiful with the early-morning light. Everybody was crying. Beautiful colors, the greenish-like water— and so
big. We could see New York already, with the big buildings and everything. . . There was a house where the boat stopped but
only the Americans were able to go out, but we foreigners remained. Our boat moved further, and that was when we realized we
were going to Ellis Island.
Stuck at the Door
Having to wait while first-and second-class passengers got off the boat, many immigrants began to realize that their troubles
were not over.
After docking at Manhattan Island, immigrants in steerage were shipped by barge to Ellis Island, to go through examinations.
On the island, the immigrants were guided into holding pens in the Great Hall. Irene Zambelli, from Greece, recalled the routine:
There were little gates, the same as you go [through] to the subways. . . The first gate we [Irene and her cousin] passed they
asked what we were to one another. Then we came to the next gate and they asked us how much was two and two, and four
and four. We answered and went to the next gate.
Cutting Back the Flow
The number of immigrants increased over the years, peaking at 1,285,349 in 1907. U.S. officials grew concerned. They saw
the growing numbers as a threat to American workers. The officials were afraid the foreigners would take away wages and jobs.
As a result, the entrance examinations were made tougher. They included a medical exam and a literacy test. An immigrant who
failed one of these tests faced deportation (being sent back) to his or her native country.
Of all the examinations, the medical exam seemed to cause immigrants the most concern, recalled Catherine Bolinski, who
came from Poland:
They turned your eye[lid] over—I had to blink a couple of times that way. I’ll never forget it. They looked at your throat and to
see if you had any rashes on your body. They found things wrong with some people. They sent them back, after they [had] sold
everything to come here, so they were crying, they felt very bad.
The thought of being deported was terrifying. Fannie Kligerman, who escaped from Russia with her family, remembered the
fear:
One of my brothers had something wrong with him. It was a sty. It left a funny thing and they put him aside. And they told us
that if there was anything wrong with him, he’d have to go back to Europe. Oh, it was frightening. My father said, “I’m not going
on without the children. We will all go back.”
Charting America’s Course
Only three percent of those who arrived at Ellis Island between 1892 and 1954 were turned away. By 1924, however, the
government changed its policy. It slammed shut the “open door” that had allowed so many millions to flock to the U.S. The
Immigration Act of 1924 set a quota of 164,000 immigrants per year. By 1954, Ellis Island had been shut down.
But for those who had passed through, America was truly a land of opportunity—despite often-severe hardships. Settling
throughout the U.S., immigrants such as composer Irving Berlin, football coach Knute Rockne, and Supreme Court Justice Felix
Frankfurter added to America’s strength.
Having escaped from Russia, Arnold Weiss voiced the determination and hope of the immigrants who passed through Ellis
Island:
From the whole story of what I went through in all my years—and some of it wasn’t very pleasant—I still love this country. I
love this country in spite of everything.
From "Ellis Island: Doorway to America" by Bill Walter. Published in JUNIOR SCHOLASTIC, April 6, 1990.
Copyright (c) 1990 Scholastic Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
1. Ellis Island was called "the doorway to America" because it
A) was the place most immigrants had to pass through before entering the United States
B) had a large and famous entranceway that immigrants walked through
C) was the only port in the United States where foreign ships could dock safely
D) was actually a large ship that carried the immigrants to the United States
2. What did the immigrants dislike most about their trip to America?
A) Seeing Ellis Island for the first time
B) Leaving their native countries
C) Living conditions aboard the boat
D) Letting the Americans off the boat first
3. The statement that immigrants had to "contend with border guards, thieves, and crooked
immigration agents" means that the immigrants
A) were being introduced to America's legal system
B) learned that America had many people
C) learned to adapt to America's freedoms
D) faced obstacles that might discourage some people
4. Why does this passage contain the actual words of some of the immigrants?
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5. The United States eventually reduced the number of immigrants allowed to enter the country
because
A) the United States already had too many people
B) the immigrants were taking jobs away from American workers
C) the immigrants had too many hardships to face in America
D) the country that the immigrants came from was angry about them leaving
6. Why does the author say " 'the land of the free' was not so free to everyone, after all"?
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7. If you had lived in Armenia in 1892, would you have immigrated to America? Use information
from the passage to explain why or why not.
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Passage #4
THANK YOU, M'AM by Langston Hughes
She was a large woman with a large purse that had everything in it but a hammer and nails. It
had a long strap, and she carried it slung across her shoulder. It was about eleven o'clock at
night, dark, and she was walking alone, when a boy ran up behind her and tried to snatch her
purse. The strap broke with a sudden single tug the boy gave it from behind. But the boy's
weight and the weight of the purse combined caused him to lose his balance. Instead of taking
off full blast as he had hoped, the boy fell on his back on the sidewalk and his legs flew up. The
large woman simply turned around and kicked him right square in his blue-jeaned sitter. Then
she reached down, picked the boy up by his shirtfront, and shook him until his teeth rattled.
After that the woman said, "Pick up my pocketbook, boy, and give it here."
She still held him tightly. But she bent down enough to permit him to stoop and pick up her
purse. Then she said, "Now ain't you ashamed of yourself?"
Firmly gripped by his shirtfront, the boy said, "Yes'm."
The woman said, "What did you want to do it for?"
The boy said, "I didn't aim to."
She said, "You a lie!"
By that time two or three people passed, stopped, turned to look, and some stood watching.
"If I turn you loose, will you run?" asked the woman.
"Yes'm," said the boy.
"Then I won't turn you loose," said the woman. She did not release him.
"Lady, I'm sorry," whispered the boy.
"Um-hum! Your face is dirty. I got a great mind to wash your face for you. Ain't you got nobody
home to tell you to wash your face?"
"No'm," said the boy.
"Then it will get washed this evening," said the large woman, starting up the street, dragging the
frightened boy behind her.
He looked as if he were fourteen or fifteen, frail and willow-wild, in tennis shoes and blue jeans.
The woman said, "You ought to be my son. I would teach you right from wrong. Least I can do
right now is to wash your face. Are you hungry?"
"No'm," said the being-dragged boy. "I just want you to turn me loose."
"Was I bothering you when I turned that corner?" asked the woman.
"No'm."
"But you put yourself in contact with me," said the woman. "If you think that contact is not going
to last awhile, you got another thought coming. When I get through with you, sir, you are going
to remember Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones."
Sweat popped out on the boy's face and he began to struggle. Mrs. Jones stopped, jerked him
around in front of her, put a half nelson about his neck, and continued to drag him up the street.
When she got to her door, she dragged the boy inside, down a hall, and into a large kitchenettefurnished room at the rear of the house. She switched on the light and left the door open. The
boy could hear other roomers laughing and talking in the large house. Some of their doors were
open, too, so he knew he and the woman were not alone. The woman still had him by the neck
in the middle of her room.
She said, "What is your name?"
"Roger," answered the boy.
"Then, Roger, you go to that sink and wash your face," said the woman, whereupon she turned
him loose—at last. Roger looked at the door—looked at the woman—looked at the door—and
went to the sink.
"Let the water run until it gets warm," she said. "Here's a clean towel."
"You gonna take me to jail?" asked the boy, bending over the sink.
"Not with that face, I would not take you nowhere," said the woman. "Here I am trying to get
home to cook me a bite to eat, and you snatch my pocketbook! Maybe you ain't been to your
supper either, late as it be. Have you?"
"There's nobody home at my house," said the boy.
"Then we'll eat," said the woman. "I believe you're hungry—or been hungry—to try to snatch my
pocketbook!"
"I want a pair of blue suede shoes," said the boy.
"Well, you didn't have to snatch my pocketbook to get some suede shoes," said Mrs. Luella
Bates Washington Jones. "You could've asked me."
"M'am?"
The water dripping from his face, the boy looked at her. There was a long pause. A very long
pause. After he had dried his face and not knowing what else to do, dried it again, the boy
turned around, wondering what next. The door was open. He could make a dash for it down the
hall. He could run, run, run, run!
The woman was sitting on the daybed. After a while she said, "I were young once and I wanted
things I could not get."
There was another long pause. The boy's mouth opened. Then he frowned, not knowing he
frowned.
The woman said, "Um-hum! You thought I was going to say but didn't you? You thought I was
going to say, but I didn't snatch people's pocketbooks. Well, I wasn't going to say that." Pause.
Silence. "I have done things, too, which I would not tell you, son. Everybody's got something in
common. So you set down while I fix us something to eat. You might run that comb through your
hair so you will look presentable."
In another corner of the room behind a screen was a gas plate and an icebox. Mrs. Jones got
up and went behind the screen. The woman did not watch the boy to see if he was going to run
now, nor did she watch her purse, which she left behind her on the daybed. But the boy took
care to sit on the far side of the room, away from the purse, where he thought she could easily
see him out of the corner of her eye if she wanted to. He did not trust the woman not to trust
him. And he did not want to be mistrusted now.
"Do you need somebody to go to the store," asked the boy, "maybe to get some milk or
something?"
"Don't believe I do," said the woman, "unless you just want sweet milk yourself. I was going to
make cocoa out of this canned milk I got here."
When they were finished eating, she got up and said, "Now here, take this ten dollars and buy
yourself some blue suede shoes. And next time, do not make the mistake of latching onto my
pocketbook nor nobody else's. I got to get my rest now. But from here on in, son, I hope you will
behave yourself."
She led him down the hall to the front door and opened it. "Good night! Behave yourself, boy!"
she said, looking out into the street as he went down the steps.
The boy wanted to say something other than, "Thank you, m'am," to Mrs. Luella Bates
Washington Jones, but although his lips moved, he couldn't even say that as he turned at the
foot of the barren stoop and looked up at the large woman in the door. Then she shut the door.
"Thank You M'am" from SHORT STORIES by Langston Hughes. Copyright © 1996 by Ramona
Bass and Arnold Rampersad. Reprinted by permission of Hill and Wang, a division of Farrar,
Straus and Giroux, LLC.
CAUTION: Users are warned that this work is protected under copyright laws and downloading is strictly
prohibited. The right to reproduce or transfer the work via any medium must be secured with Farrar,
Straus and Giroux, LLC.
1. When they arrived at the woman's house, what did the boy do?
A) He felt immediately at home.
B) He tried to steal her purse again.
C) He thought about running away.
D) He apologized for what he had done.
2. Why did the boy sit on the far side of the room while Mrs. Jones was making their dinner?
A) He wanted to sit close to Mrs. Jones.
B) He wanted to show Mrs. Jones he could be trusted.
C) He wanted to help Mrs. Jones prepare the food.
D) He wanted to keep an eye on Mrs. Jones.
3. Choose one thing Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones said or did in the story and explain
what it tells about her.
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4. Which of the following best describes the boy's feelings in the story?
A) Frightened then trusting
B) Angry then hungry
C) Greedy then generous
D) Curious then nervous
5. The author puts the phrase "and went to the sink" in italics mainly to
A) emphasize the boy's decision
B) describe the boy's location
C) indicate the boy's motivation
D) explain the boy's viewpoint
6. Why did the boy offer to go to the store? Support your opinion with information from the story.
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7. What do you think Mrs. Jones hopes the boy will learn? Support your answer with evidence
from the story.
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