Angel Island, in San Francisco Bay in California, was
the official entry point to the United States for numerous Chinese, Japanese
and Korean people as well as those from other nations, for thirty years during the
early part of the twentieth century. Sometimes referred to as “The Ellis
Island of the West,” the immigration center presented a formidable hurdle for many
immigrants who, in addition to undergoing the standard health and welfare assessments,
were detained unduly for extensive questioning about relatives in the States
and their own ability to provide for themselves. Chinese in particular had a
difficult time entering: they were affected by the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1892 that
limited immigration to members of exempt classes, native-born citizens, or
wives and foreign-born children of citizens. Overall, it was an unwelcoming
situation, particularly frustrating when so many Chinese in earlier decades had been indispensable workers in the construction of western railroads and
other endeavors in the States. Always, they came to our western shores
specifically to make a better life in the country known as Gold Mountain. Angel Island: Gateway to Gold Mountain begins
as author Russell Freedman recounts how a California state park ranger noticed
Chinese characters inscribed on the walls of an abandoned building on Angel
Island in 1970. Feeling sure these writings were a significant record of prior
times when immigrants inhabited the building, he advocated for their
preservation. Years later with the support of Asian American groups and
others, reclamation efforts moved forward until finally, in 2009, Angel Island
Immigration Station opened to the public as a National Historic Landmark.
Freedman draws extensively on memoirs, diaries, letters and photos to bring the
Angel Island experience into sharp focus. Ages 10-14.
The immigration facility on the east coast of our
continent, Ellis Island in New York Harbor, may be well known to many
Americans; its walls saw thousands upon thousands of deeply personal stories
unfold as newcomers arrived on our shores in the years between 1892 and 1954.
Gwenyth Swain’s Hope and Tears: Ellis
Island Voices is a superb introduction to the varied fabric of this place –
capturing the perspectives of immigrants and detainees, nurses and doctors,
officials and volunteers in short poetic essays and
monologues, supplemented by revealing archival photographs. On both sides of
the continent, newcomers were subject to changing laws and regulations, biases,
and unpredictable circumstances even as our nation strove to welcome them.
Reading about the history of immigration can only shed more light on present-day issues, which remain complicated at best. Ages 10 to adult.
Their Great Gift: Courage,
Sacrifice, and Hope in a New Land by John Coy brings the experience of immigrants to America
up-to-date for young readers, simply and empathetically conveyed through photos
and brief testimonies of newcomers from around the world. Ages 6-9.
