Sunday 10 July 2016

Ellis Island

Germans, Italians, Irish and Chinese stood in long queues, all with hopes for the Promised Land.  Exhausted from their arduous journeys, they had to undergo a registration process including a six second medical exam and a language test.  Many would pass the tests, others would fail, returning to their homeland with their hopes dashed.  Still others would find a way to cut through the red tape (see "The Memory Coat" at http://alinefromlinda.blogspot.ca/2013/05/may-27.html).

The rust coloured brick building, resembling something from 19th Century Russia, served for 32 years as the portal to America for 12 million immigrants (see /"The Ghosts of Ellis Island" at http://alinefromlinda.blogspot.ca/2012/08/august-10.html).  Now the 27-acre island is the site of an immigration station which traces the history of the immigrants and serves as an archive for their data.




U.S. Stamp courtesy http://www.zazzle.ca/gifts


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