Immigrants of Yesteryear
In the years around the turn of the century, immigration to
America reached an all-time high. Between 1880 and 1920, 23 million immigrants arrived in
the United States. They came mainly from the countries of Europe, especially from impoverished
towns and villages in southern and eastern Europe. The one thing they had in common
was a fervent belief that in America, life would be better.
 Most of these immigrants were poor. Somehow they managed to scrape together
enough money to pay for their passage to America. Many immigrant families arrived
penniless. Others had to make the journey in stages. Often the father came first, found
work, and sent for his family later.
Immigrants usually crossed the Atlantic as steerage passengers. Reached
by steep, slippery stairs, the steerage lay deep down in the hold of the ship. It was for
passengers paying the lowest fare.
Men, women, and children were packed into dark, smelly compartments.
They slept in narrow bunks stacked three high. They had no showers, no lounges, and
no dining rooms. Food served from huge pots was dished into dinner pails given by the
steamship line. Because steerage life was crowded and uncomfortable, passengers spent as
much time as they could up on deck.
The voyage was an ordeal, but it was worth it. They were on
their way to America.
Most of the immigrants landed in New York City, at America’s busiest
port. They never forgot their first look at the Statue of Liberty.
Edward Corsi, who later became United States commissioner of
immigration, was a ten-year-old Italian immigrant when he sailed into New York Harbor in
1907:
My first impressions of the New World will always remain etched in
my memory, particularly that hazy October morning when I first saw Ellis Island.
The steamer Florida, fourteen days out of Naples, filled to capacity with 1600 natives of
Italy, had weathered one of the worst storms in our captain’s memory; and glad we
were, both children and grown-ups, to leave the open sea and come at last through the
Narrows into the Bay.
My mother, my stepfather, my brother Giuseppe, and my two sisters,
Liberta and Helvetia, all of us together, happy that we had come through the storm safely,
clustered on the foredeck for fear of separation and looked with wonder on this
miraculous land of our dreams.
Giuseppe and I held tightly to Stepfather’s hands, while Liberia and
Helvetia clung to Mother. Passengers all about us were crowding against the rail. Jabbered
conversation, sharp cries, laughs and cheers – a steadily rising din filled the
air. Mothers and fathers lifted up babies so that they too could see, off to the left, the
Statue of Liberty...
Finally the Florida veered to the left, turning northward
into the Hudson River, and now the incredible buildings of lower Manhattan came very close
to us.
The officers of the ship ... went striding up and down the decks
shouting orders and directions and driving the immigrants before them. Scowling and
gesturing, they pushed and pulled the passengers, herding us into separate groups as
though we were animals. A few moments later we came to our dock, and the long journey was
over.
But the journey was not yet over. Before they could enter the United
States, immigrants had to pass through Ellis Island, which became the nation’s chief
immigrant processing center in 1892. There they would be questioned and examined. Those
who could not pass all the exams would be detained. Some would be sent back to
Europe. And so their arrival in America was filled with great fear. Ellis Island was known
as Heartbreak Island among the immigrants.
When their ship landed at Hudson River pier, the immigrants had
numbered identity tags pinned to their clothing. Then they were led onto special
ferryboats that carried them to Ellis Island. Officials hurried them along, shouting
“Quick! Run! Hurry!” in many different languages.
Filing into a huge inspection hall, the immigrants formed long tines
separated by iron railings that made the hall look like a great maze.
Now the examinations began. First the immigrants were examined by two
doctors of the United States Health Service. One doctor looked for physical and mental
problems. When a case aroused suspicion, the immigrant was given a chalk mark on the right
shoulder for another inspection. L was for lameness, h for heart, x
for mental defects, and so on.
The second doctor watched for contagious and infectious
diseases. He looked especially for infections of the scalp and at the eyelids for
symptoms of trachoma, a blinding disease. Since trachoma caused more than half of all
medical detentions, this doctor was greatly feared. He stood directly in the immigrant’s
path. With a swift movement, he would grab the immigrant’s eyelid, pull it up, and peer
beneath it. If all was well, the immigrant was passed on.
Those who failed to get past both doctors had to take a more thorough
medical exam. The others moved on to the registration clerk, who questioned them with the
help of an interpreter: What is your name? Your nationality? Your occupation? Can you read
and write? Have you ever been in prison? How much money do you have with you? Where are
you going?
Some immigrants were so upset that they could not answer. They were
allowed to sit and rest and try again.
About one immigrant out of every five or six was held for additional
examinations and questioning.
The writer Angelo Pellegrini has remembered his own family’s
detention at Ellis Island:
We lived there for three days – Mother and we five children, the
youngest of whom was three years old. Because of the rigorous physical examination
that we had to submit to, particularly of the eyes, there was this terrible anxiety that
one of us might be rejected. And if one of us was, what would the rest of the family do?
My sister was indeed momentarily rejected: she had been so ill and had cried so much that
her eyes were absolutely bloodshot, and Mother was told, “Well, we can’t let
her in.” But fortunately, Mother was an indomitable spirit and finally made them
understand that if her child had a few hours’ rest and a little bite to eat she would be
all right. In the end we did get through.
Most immigrants passed through Ellis Island in about one day. Carrying
all their worldly possessions, they left the examination hall and waited on the dock for
the ferry that would take them to Manhattan, a mile away. Some of them still faced long
journeys overland before they reached their final destination. Others would head directly
for the teeming immigrant neighborhoods of New York City.
Immigrants still come to America. Since World War II, more than eight
million immigrants have entered the country. Although this is a small number compared to
the mass migrations at the turn of the century, the United States continues to admit more
immigrants than any other nation.
Many of today’s immigrants come from countries within the Western
Hemisphere and from Asia and Africa as well as Europe. After they move to the United
States, they face many of the same problems and hardships that have always
confronted newcomers. And they come here for the same reason that immigrants have always
come: to seek a better life for themselves and their children.
By Russell Freedman
VOCABULARY:
turn of the century the point of time change from the 19th to
the 20th century
impoverished made poor
fervent with great feeling
scrape together to gather bit by bit, with difficulty
bunks built-in beds
ordeal a severe trial or experience
etched impressed clearly
hazy darkened by smoke, dust and light vapor
weathered enduring the elements
clustered assembled
jabbered speaking rapidly, indistinctly or unintelligibly
din a loud noise of confused sounds
veered change direction
striding walking with very long steps
scowling frowning
detained kept back, as if in custody
maze a confusing network of passages
lameness limping because a leg or foot is crippled
contagious a disease spread through contact
scalp the skin of the head usually covered with hair
peer look searchingly
rigorous very strict
bloodshot inflamed to redness
indomitable unconquerable
teeming filled to overflowing
hardships distress and difficulties
COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS
1. Why did millions of Europeans leave home to go to the U.S. between
1880 and 1920?
2. What were the stages of the journey for the poor immigrants?
3. What is most important in Edward Corsi’s memory of his family’s
arrival?
4. What role did doctors play in the checking of immigrants? Why?
5. How did Angelo Pellegrini’s mother help his sister pass the exams?
6. Did all the EIlis Island immigrants settle in New York City?
7. The final two paragraphs are not about “Immigrants of
Yesteryear”. What do they discuss?
ISSUES FOR DISCUSSION
1. Can you imagine being willing to leave your home and friends to
start a new life in a new country? Do you think it would be harder for a younger or older
person to make such a move?
2. What qualities of character do you think you would need to be a
successful immigrant? Why?
3. Do you think the ocean voyage in steerage (lasting 10 days to a
month) would affect your health? Do you think many people died during the trip? How would
you try to keep your spirits up? Were steerage conditions on the “Titanic”, pictured
in the movie, realistic?
4. If you were an immigration official, would you be comfortable with
the health inspection policy? What if you had to send a family back to Europe because
their child was very sick and not admitted to the U.S.?
5. It СѓРѕu wРµrРµ an emigrant, leaving your home (maybe forever), and
you could only take two medium suitcases with you, what would you chose: practical items?
sentimental items? valuable items? a mixture?
5. Today’s immigrants arrive in America at airports aboard jumbo
jets. While not as hard, physically, as a hundred years ago, do you think it is just as
difficult for them mentally and emotionally?
Compiled by Erin Bouma
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