Ellis Island New York, by Maeve A.

Today we are traveling to Ellis island. Ellis island is located in the upper bay of New York,  just off the New Jersey coast, near the Statue of Liberty. More than 12 million immigrants made their first stop in America at the Ellis Island station between 1892 and 1954. Some of them can even  trace their family  history back to Ellis island, using searches. . Many immigrants travelled hundreds of miles from their home countries by foot, horseback, or train to get to the coast to board the steamship which would take them to America from Europe and other places. .The ship was very crowded with people from different countries. Some of them spoke different languages and belonged to different religions. The trip was difficult but they finally made it. 

Here is a typical immigrant experience at Ellis Island in the late 19th/early 20th century:

Everyone was tired when they arrived in New York harbor.  The first thing they saw was the Statue of Liberty (which was a gift to the United States, from France). . They were happy when they got to see the Statue of Liberty. They had to go through a process that required 10 steps to allow entry into America. The first thing was they were split up into groups based on wealth and class. The second thing they did was health officers would check the health of first and second passengers to make sure they didn’t have any diseases. If they didn’t they were able to leave the ship quickly. But the third class had to wait hours or days  to be checked which was unfair in my opinion. The third thing was to go to the baggage room to collect their things. It was very overwhelming because there were so many people trying to get their things. The fourth thing was going up to the registry room, it was the biggest room immigrants had ever seen. They would wait in long lines for a medical and legal inspection. The fifth thing was if they were sick they would have to have a medical exam. They developed a new thing called six second physical. The sixth thing was the legal inspection they had to do which was to talk to someone in a uniform. They would ask the immigrants 29 questions. The seventh thing was detainees if you didn’t pass the health and legal inspection you would be detained until they had a hearing to review their case to decide if they could stay or have to be sent back. The eighth thing was the stairs of separation. All the immigrants went somewhere different. There were three aisels. So immigrants who were detained went down the central aisle and people who were traveling west or south went walked down the right side of the staircase.those going to new city or north walked down the left side. The last thing was the kissing post. The kissing post is where family and friends wait for their loved ones, after their long journey they were finally in America.!