Hey everybody, it is with some sadness that I report that my time at Ellis Island has come to an end.  After fifteen months of volunteering in the Interpretation Division the time has come to move on.  I will always be thankful to the rangers, especially to volunteer coordinators April Antonellis and Anthony Chu, who taught me so much and gave me the opportunity to work in the museum and with the public.  I had always known what a special place Ellis Island is, but as the weeks and then months went by I was increasingly humbled as I learned more and more about the immigration station and the 12 million people who passed through it.  It is hallowed ground.  Leaving Ellis does not mean I will stop volunteering with the NPS, however.  This summer I will begin volunteering with National Park Service across the water at Governors Island, where I can pursue my passion not only for American history in general but the Civil War in particular.  I think it is going to be a rewarding and enjoyable summer.

Be well.

Ellis Island Registry Room, May 2011

(Photo: Arnold Newman, White House Press Office; Source: Wikimedia Commons)

It was on this date in 1965 that President Lyndon Johnson signed the proclamation designating Ellis Island a national monument and placing it in the protection of the National Park Service.  The ceremony took place in the White House Rose Garden.  Here are President Johnson’s remarks:

Members of Congress, ladies and gentlemen:

For nearly three decades Ellis Island was a beacon of opportunity, a symbol of freedom for millions.

Between 1892 and 1930, 16 million immigrants entered America through the open doors of Ellis Island. These men, women, and children from many lands enriched the American melting pot. They brought to these shores a rich variety of individual gifts, a heritage derived from the total experience of all of their many nations. They made us not merely a nation, but nation of nations.

These steerage immigrants entered into the very fiber of American life. Each made contributions to the American cause. Others achieved greatness or rose to positions of national leadership. Among those who passed through Ellis Island were such eminent Americans as Irving Berlin, David Dubinsky, Father Flanagan, Justice Felix Frankfurter, Charles A. Lindbergh, Sr., Philip Murray, Jacob Potofsky, Adm. Hyman Rickover, Knute Rockne, David Sarnoff, Spyros Skouras, Igor Sikorsky. Vice President Humphrey’s mother entered the United States through Ellis Island. Fiorello LaGuardia once worked as an interpreter there.

So we profit from the legacy of Ellis Island today in all parts of this great land of ours. Its meaning is symbolized here this morning by the presence of so many of our finest Members of Congress, nineteen of whose parents or grandparents entered the American gate at Ellis Island. Their names are Bayh, Hruska, Javits, Mansfield, Muskie, Pastore, Ribicoff, Cederberg, Daniels, Dent, Farbstein, Helstoski, Joelson, Mackay, Minish, Multer, Rodino, Pucinski, and Vanik. They all belong on a roster of honor that will someday surely be commemorated in this great national shrine.

So I am signing today a proclamation making Ellis Island a part of Liberty Island National Monument. In addition, I am asking Congress to enact legislation authorizing appropriations to. make Ellis Island a handsome shrine in the broad harbor of the great port of New York.

It is also my pleasure to announce approval of a Job Corps Conservation Center on the New Jersey shore adjacent to Ellis Island. Once this center is established, Job Corps. men will transform and restore Ellis Island and help the State of New Jersey create a new Liberty State Park in a blighted section of the Jersey City waterfront.

This exciting Federal-State project will preserve a bright chapter in American history. It will bring beauty where there is now blight. It will demonstrate at the very doorstep of our largest metropolis the opportunity that is offered us if we are wise enough to cherish our authentic historic places and accept the challenge of the new conservation.

I also hope that this Congress will draw on the lessons of Ellis Island and enact legislation to provide America with a wise immigration policy adapted to the needs of the 1960’s.

Earlier this year I sent to the Congress a proposal to replace the outdated national origins quota system. I asked the Congress to replace this worn out system with a new one, a schedule of immigration priorities based on the skills of applicants, skills that this Nation now needs, and on the existence of close family relationships between applicants and United States citizens.

This long overdue change, rooted as it is in national interests and in humanitarianism, should be enacted without further delay.

I know in my heart that the people of this Nation truly believe that every individual ought to be judged on his worth as a human being and by the contribution that he makes to his country. He ought not be judged on the church he attends, or how he spells his name, or the color of his skin. We are committed in this land to that belief and our efforts will never cease until it has really, in actuality, become a permanent fact as well as a guiding principle.

Thank you very much.

(Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons)

When I give my talks at Ellis Island I tell the story of America’s immigration history warts and all.  Anything less would be hagiography not history, and the twelve million brave souls who passed through Ellis Island from 1892-1954 deserve better than that.  For the most part the story is one of conscientious public servants and health officials working hard and well under difficult circumstances.  Processing 5,000-6,000 incoming immigrants day-after-day, year-after-year—all without the help of today’s technology—was a herculean and uniquely American endeavor for which we are rightfully proud. Today, however, is the anniversary of one of the darker moments of that history.  It was on this date in 1882 that Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act.  Chinese laborers had been in the United States for decades, working in mines and building the transcontinental railroad that was completed in 1869.  With that project done, there was great fear that these workers might take away American jobs.  The National Archives explains:

In the spring of 1882, the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed by Congress and signed by President Chester A. Arthur. This act provided an absolute 10-year moratorium on Chinese labor immigration. For the first time, Federal law proscribed entry of an ethnic working group on the premise that it endangered the good order of certain localities.

The Chinese Exclusion Act required the few nonlaborers who sought entry to obtain certification from the Chinese government that they were qualified to immigrate. But this group found it increasingly difficult to prove that they were not laborers because the 1882 act defined excludables as “skilled and unskilled laborers and Chinese employed in mining.” Thus very few Chinese could enter the country under the 1882 law.

Not a proud moment in our nation’s history, but one to remember.

The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation Inc. held its tenth annual Family Heritage Awards last Wednesday.  This year’s recipients were Senator George Mitchell, Martina Navratilova, Joe Torre, and the foundation’s first chairman, Lee Iacocca.

Hey everybody, as I mentioned in a previous post the annual Tartan Week celebration came to Ellis Island this past weekend.  There was a sizable turnout to see the exhibit, performances, and the unveiling of the new tartan design.

As always, the bagpipers put on an excellent performance throughout the day.

This guy was spinning plates and entertaining everyone who walked past.

Photo op

There is something for everyone at Ellis Island, the Gateway to America.

Hey everybody, it is spring in New York and that can only mean one thing.  Yes, it’s Tartan Week here in New York.  Because we do things bigger in the Big Apple the “week” will last thirteen days.  Another round of Glenfiddich all around.  In all seriousness, should you happen to be at Ellis Island this coming weekend be sure to see “A Celebration of Tartan” on the second floor of the museum.  The exhibit, produced by the Clan Currie Society, will be on display Friday through Sunday.  There will be singing and dancing throughout the festival and on Sunday April 3 the Rampant Lion Pipe Band will play.  Here is a clip from last year.

After the slower months of January and February things start picking up at Ellis Island in March.  One reason is that many high school groups travel to New York City for spring break and visit Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty.  I always enjoy seeing younger people at Ellis and other historical sites.  In case you happen to be visiting tomorrow be sure to check out the Staley High School Falcon Chorale performing in the Great Hall.  Choir director Tracy Resseguie will lead his students through a performance of a piece Mr. Resseguie commissioned to honor his great-grandfather, Peter Mandius Nerland, who passed through the immigration station 111 years ago.  After spending a few days in New York the group will travel to Norway for the rest of spring break, where among other things they will play the same piece in the church in which Nerland was baptized.