AMERICA’S GOLDEN DOOR: GOTHAM FELLOWS VISIT ELLIS ISLAND
In October 2007 twenty-five Gotham Fellows travelled via the Circle Line to New York’s
historic Ellis Island. Led by Save Ellis Island, a publicly supported non-profit foundation
committed to rescuing the abandoned buildings of Ellis Island, the group visited the Island’s
museum and oral history collection, explored unrestored buildings on the South Side, and viewed
a new exhibition in the Ferry Building.
Opened in 1892, the Ellis Island Immigration Station processed more than 12 million immigrants
to the United States between 1890 and 1954. Though there was entry at other points like Boston,
New Orleans, and Miami, the majority of new immigrants arrived through New York, and the
Island has become synonymous with the immigrant experience. Ellis Island was constructed by
the federal government in the late 19th century as changing political and economic conditions,
particularly those in Europe, swamped the then New York State-run Castle Clinton Emigrant
Landing Depot with new arrivals. Within a few years, thousands of people passed through the
station each week. Even Angel Island in San Francisco processed less than a tenth of the number
that passed through Ellis Island.
The first stop for the Gotham tour was a visit to the room where most new immigrants first
arrived: the Great Hall. Also known as the Registry Room, this was the site where the initial
inspection process would take place. While first and second class passengers were inspected on
board ship, those in the steerage class underwent rigorous medical examinations. Immigrants sat
on benches or stood in line, each waiting three to five hours to be processed. After medical
The Great Hall, c. 1913 (courtesy of Save Ellis Island)
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examinations, new arrivals met with a legal inspector who reviewed the ship’s manifest log with
the immigrant’s name and the responses to 29 questions he had answered regarding his contacts
in the United States, previous history, and work prospects. First and second class passengers with
legal problems in all cases were also sent to Ellis Island. Gotham Fellows sampled the stories of
these immigrants in the Oral History Collection, recordings of nearly 2,000 interviews with
Americans from countries such as Italy, the Ukraine, Palestine, and Scotland. Of her visit
Charisse Isip said, " I enjoyed the listening center, hearing the experiences of one woman from
Poland, one from Russia… People have gone through a lot to come to this country."
New immigrants undergo inspection (courtesy Save Ellis Island)
After the museum tour, the Gotham Fellows were taken to the New Jersey--or South Side--of
Ellis Island, the recently restored Ferry Building, and the 22 building hospital complex. Those
immigrants who failed their medical examination were marked with chalk symbols and subject
to additional examinations, some even admitted to the hospital here. Beginning at the Ferry
Building, the teachers viewed the recently opened exhibition: Future in the Balance:
Immigration, Public Health and the Ellis Island Hospitals. Composed of personal stories of
immigrants who were detained due to contagious disease, artifacts such as a monaural
stethoscope, and period documents and photographs, the exhibition explores the story of the
hospital and the role of public health in the screening of immigrants and prepared the teachers for
the hard hat portion of the tour.
Though previously cited by the National Trust for Historic Preservation as one of America’s
most endangered places, renovation of Ellis Island’s medical facilities has begun. The exterior
of the Laundry/Hospital Outbuilding was refurbished in 2006. In addition to the work already
completed on the Ferry Building and the corridor leading to the Laundry/Hospital Outbuilding,
plans are underway for work on the interior of the Laundry Building and later an operating room,
a representative ward, and the morgue. Gotham Fellows explored these spaces. Geoff Hayden
was fascinated by the walk through the buildings for renovation, especially the tuberculosis ward
and stories of those quarantined. “The place is one huge primary source,” he noted.
Teachers returned to the Ferry Building Customs Room for content integration and to process all
they had seen. Outside were the remains of the dock where immigrants had boarded ferries to
New York City. While many people think of Ellis Island as a port of entry, its history is more
complex. The health of the immigrant workforce, the country’s growth can be linked to what
happened at Ellis Island. Of the new immigrants that entered the United States in New York,
98% passed inspection. 250,000 patients were treated in the Ellis Island hospitals for
approximately 54 years and it was the largest United States Public Health hospital in the country.
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The influx and migration of the last century were so significant that today 40% of Americans can
trace their ancestry to a family member who came through the station.
View of the restored Ferry Building and some of the hospital buildings on Ellis Island.
Photograph by Kevin Daley, National Park Service (courtesy Save Ellis Island)
Taking a Field Trip with Save Ellis Island
Seeing Ellis Island and its newly restored buildings first hand can be a rewarding experience for
students. Gotham Fellows offered the following tips for preparing for a field trip:
_ Visit the site first. Decide what you want your students to see. Fellows recommend objectbased learning and the oral history recordings.
_ Be prepared to walk and for a security screening.
_ Create detailed permission slips, include important details such as the ferry ride to the site.
In addition, Save Ellis Island and the National Park Service ask that the following rules and
regulations be adhered to during school group visits:
_ There must be one teacher or adult chaperone for every ten students.
_ Chaperones must remain with their students at all times while in transit and visiting the islands.
Failure to comply may result in the group being escorted from the islands.
_ Food and drink may not be consumed anywhere within the Statue of Liberty and only in
designated areas in the Ellis Island Immigration Museum. No food or drink is permitted in any
exhibition space on the islands. Chewing gum is not permitted on Liberty or Ellis Islands. Please
deposit gum and all other trash in trash cans.
_ Smoking is not permitted anywhere inside the Ellis Island Immigration Museum.
The following resources can be used to prepare students for a field trip:
Books:
Ellis Island: Ghosts of Freedom, Stephen Wilkes (W. W. Norton, 2006).
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Forgotten Ellis Island: The Extraordinary Story of America's Immigrant Hospital, Lorie Conway
(Collins, 2007)
Island of Hope, Island of Tears: The Story of Those Who Entered the New World through Ellis
Island-In Their Own Words, David M. Brownstone, Irene M. Franck, and Douglass Brownstone
(MetroBooks, 2003).
Video:
Ellis Island, produced by Greystone Communications for the History Channel, 1997.
Host/narrator Mandy Patinkin. [Color, 3 videos, approx. 50 mins each, VHS/DVD]
Island of Hope, Island of Tears. [Check your local library or NetFlix.]
Web:
http://www.ellisislandinstitute.org/ [for “Take a Journey,” sample an immigrant’s journey; view
oral histories and photographs]
http://www.nps.gov/elis/forteachers/planafieldtrip.htm [Plan a Field Trip to Ellis Island]
http://www.nps.gov/stli/forteachers/upload/Previsitbooklet.pdf [Ellis Island Pre-Visit Booklet]
http://memory.loc.gov/learn/lessons/97/oh1/ammem.html [Learning About Immigration
Through Oral History]
http://www.turnerlearning.com/efts/ellis/detained/detoral.html [Detained at Ellis Island]
SAVE ELLIS ISLAND
Save Ellis Island conducts many programs for both teachers and their students including a
summer professional development program, professional development workshops on Ellis
Island around the theme of immigration, and Future in the Balance, a new hands-on
program for school groups in the restored Ferry Building on Ellis Island.
For more information please contact:
Claudia Ocello
Associate Director of Education and Public Programs
Save Ellis Island
973-347-8400
[email protected]
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FEATURE LESSON FROM NEW YORK CITY AND THE NATION
My Journey to America
This 5th - 8th grade lesson is based on an original lesson plan created by Beth Brislin, Rhonda
Einhorn, Marita Fritzinger, Tara Horutz, and Barbara Noonan, who participated in the July
2006 Workshop for Language Arts Educators sponsored by The Ellis Island Institute, a program
of Save Ellis Island, Inc. Copies and other lesson plans can be found online at
http://ellisislandinstitute.org.
Objective: Students will explore immigration through fiction and non-fiction, as well as nontextual materials to better understand the role of memory in history. In creating a scrapbook of a
fictional immigrant's experience, students will begin to understand how we can learn about the
past through these written and non-written sources.
Introduction: Background Information for Educators: Immigration, Ellis Island, and Public
Health
(http://www.ellisislandinstitute.org/LessonPlans/MyJourneyToAmerica/Background.html)
Essential Questions: What constitutes a memory? How do memories contribute to our
understanding of the past?
Materials
_ Reading: The Smell of Fatigue
(http://ellisislandinstitute.org/LessonPlans/MyJourneyToAmerica/index.html)
_ Pictures of immigrants at Ellis Island (http://ellisislandinstitute.org/gallery)
Assessments
_ Scrapbook rubric
(http://ellisislandinstitute.org/LessonPlans/MyJourneyToAmerica/index.html)
_ Writing activities: memoir; postcard to family; two page story; poem about "brown"
_ Responses to class discussions
Content Vocabulary
_ refugee
_ immigrant
_ customs
_ emigrant
_ naturalization
_ ethnic
_ memoir
_ heritage
_ legacy
_ alien
_ visa
_ passport
_ quota
_ asylum
_ posterity
_ ancestors
_ deport
_ assimilation
_ memorabilia
_ keepsake
_ tenement
_ reminisce
_ journey
_ sacrifice
_ steerage
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Lessons / Activities
1. Write the following quote on board - "Most dear to me are the shoes my mother wore when
she first set foot on the soil of America. You must see them to appreciate the courage my parents
had and the sacrifices they made. My mother's shoes tell the whole story." Birgitta Fichter,
Swedish immigrant (from Ellis Island Immigration Museum)
_ Have students choose a moving line or word from this quote, and explain why they
chose it.
_ Introduce concept of memories - kids define.
_ Discuss importance of objects in preserving memories.
2. Students bring pictures of something important to them - a person, an object, an event, a
place - they work in small groups to share details- discuss as a class what makes these important
- How could we write about these? Give out "The Smell of Fatigue" by Melida Rodas- read
aloud- ask students what questions they have- discuss them in small groups and as a class What
do we learn about the writer? How do we learn this? Underline strong descriptive words and
words which convey the writers' feelings about her subject- share.
3. Read aloud Grandfather's Journey by Allen Say. Students take a quote (list these for them to
see) and they write a story or a poem about it.
4. Write a memoir: write for 5 minutes about one of the pictures you brought; number
sentences; have person next to you choose a number without looking at the sentences; begin
writing again for 5 minutes, with that sentence as your first sentence. Repeat this activity twice.
Working on editing process with peers/teacher, students create short memoir.
5. Reading an image lesson: Print copies of photographs of immigrants, have students discuss
in small groups what they see in the pictures; follow Reading an Image lesson plan for grades 5 8 and have students write a postcard as if they were someone in the photograph.
(http://ellisislandinstitute.org/LessonPlans/MyJourneyToAmerica/ReadingAnImage.html)
6. Visit Ellis Island, if possible. Ask students to look at artifacts/ articles saved by immigrants or
museum staff as important in preparation for scrapbook.
7. Ask students to write what the word BROWN makes them think of / associations/ write
definition of brown on board - color, combination of red, white, black, yellow when there is
racial ambiguity we characterize as brown. Write a poem about "brown."
8. Create an "archive": Bring in a suitcase of objects (or an empty suitcase and they have to fill
it after visit to Ellis Island) with ideas about what should go in. Ask the students to examine it in
small groups. Follow the lesson plan for Reading an Object grades 5 - 8.
(http://ellisislandinstitute.org/LessonPlans/MyJourneyToAmerica/ReadingAnObject.html)
9. Write a minimum two-page typed story about a country of your family's heritage. Include a
biographical sketch of a character from that country you have chosen to portray, your reasons for
coming to America, and your new life in America.
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Final Project
1. Students will view Island of Hope, Island of Tears (check also your local library for copies
of this video) and respond to movie.
2. Discuss ways in which people preserve memories: photographs, journals, scrapbooks,
memoirs. How do these compare? Create a Venn Diagram to explore similarities and differences
between these media.
3. Introduce the My Journey to America Project for homework. Brainstorm ideas for scrapbook
pages: home country, travel on boat, Ellis Island, family heritage, life in America, etc.
4. Brainstorm ideas for items on pages: steamship ticket, item from ship, recipe, flag, postcard,
map photographs, letters, song lyrics, quotes, etc.
5. After completing their projects, students will present final project to the class.
Wrap-up
Ask students to reflect on the following questions in their journals, and then later for class
discussion:
_ Why do you think we need to learn about immigration?
_ How does learning from the "memory" of immigration (oral histories, memoirs) compare
to learning from the objects people brought with them?
Extensions
Students can review article from Time magazine "Should They Stay or Should They Go" (April
10. 2006) or other current articles from newspapers/magazines about immigration today.
Complete a Venn diagram with students to compare/contrast immigration in the past and today.
Cross-Content Connections
1. Find out about the country of one's ancestors; create a map or travel brochure of that
country.
2. Compare and contrast the country of origin with the United States
3. Compare and contrast reasons for immigration today with those of past centuries.
Technology Infusion / Web Links, Bibliography
Additional Teacher Resources
(http://www.ellisislandinstitute.org/LessonPlans/ImmigrantsInTheWorkforce/Resources.html)
Video: Island of Hope, Island of Tears (sometimes available through your local public library)
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NEW YORK CITY & THE NATION PARTNERS
The New York City & the Nation e-newsletter and the Gotham Fellows Program are part of
American Citizen, a Teaching American History grant awarded to New York City Community
School District 28 from the U.S. Department of Education
Brooklyn Historical Society (www.brooklynhistory.org) is a museum, library, and educational
center dedicated to encouraging the exploration and appreciation of Brooklyn’s rich heritage.
Using Brooklyn as a backdrop, BHS curriculum materials and programs explore the building of
America from Revolution to modern day by studying the people, places, and events that shaped
its growth. Contact: Amy DeSalvo, Education Coordinator, 718-222-4111, x237,
[email protected].
City Lore (www.citylore.org) is a cultural organization located on Manhattan’s Lower East Side
whose mission is to document, preserve, and present the living cultural heritage of New York
City. Education is central to our mission and informs all of our programs, both school and
community-based. Contact: Anika Selhorst, Schools Program Director, 212-529-1955, x303,
[email protected].
Gotham Center for New York City History (www.gothamcenter.org) sponsors programs to
make the city’s rich history more accessible to a broad public, and Gotham’s educational
programs take that mission to the city’s public schools. The Center’s educational website
GothamED (www.gothamed.org) pools the talent and energy of teachers and scholars, as well as
educators from the city’s cultural institutions, to promote and support quality history instruction.
Contact: Julie Maurer, Director of Education, 212-817-8467, [email protected].
Henry Street Settlement (www.henrystreet.org), one of the nation’s oldest settlement houses, is
an important social and educational service provider to residents of the Lower East Side and the
city at large. The Abrons Arts Center’s Arts-in- Education Program provides students with
hands-on experiences in the creation and appreciation of the visual, performing, literary, and
media arts. The program’s team of educators and teaching artists collaborate with the New York
City Department of Education to integrate the arts into the school curriculum. Contact: Nellie
Perera, Director of Arts in Education, [email protected].
Historic House Trust (www.historichousetrust.org) operates in tandem with the City of New
York/Parks & Recreation to support houses of architectural and cultural significance spanning
350 years of NYC history. Education programs at Trust houses are designed to reinforce inschool instruction in a variety of curriculum areas for a wide range of grades and are directly
linked with NYS Learning Standards. Contact: David Mandel, Director of Education,
[email protected].
Community School District 28’s Teaching American History project staff includes Dr. Gus
Hatrimiditriou, American Citizen’s Project Director, and Coordinators, John Rooney and Bob
Dytell. For more information, contact [email protected] or [email protected] .
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