Day 8

Let me start off by thanking the Ellis Island Institute, Jessica and Dana, and the “Save Ellis Island” organization for the incredible day they planned for us.  As teachers, we are constantly getting suggestions from people and groups about how to improve our lessons; it’s great when those people go above and beyond to put the tools we need directly in our hands.  Thank you for doing just that.  After a quick ferry ride across the port and past the Statue of Liberty, we stepped off onto the same soil that millions of immigrants to this country did for over sixty years.  We started our study in the New Ferry Building and the exhibit “Future in the Balance: Immigration, Public Health, and Ellis Island Hospitals,” where some of the facts and stories many of us have been teaching for years were expanded upon and shown in a new light, as the presenters made the experience much more “hands on” than I could have hoped for.  I learned that the screening process consisted of two phases: medical and legal, and that the former involved psychological examinations as well as physical.  The learning activities were spectacular, and although I won’t have all the cool artifacts we got to play with, I can no doubt make due with photographs and documents, and I can use the investigative strategy they implemented in many other lessons.

The teaching with images lesson was wonderful as well, and I gained a new perspective on analyzing pictures and documents for all my lessons. (It seems that Jacob Riis wasn’t the only one staging photographs in those days!)  I was also made aware of my own ignorance when I heard that not only was Ellis Island not the only immigration processing center on the East Coast, but that not all those entering the United States through New York Harbor even stepped foot here.  It makes sense that the first and second-class passengers would have been treated better in those days, but I guess I had just always assumed that they got a special “check in” line like first class airline passengers do today.  I had no idea that the steamships would drop off the wealthier immigrants on the mainland first, then a separate ferry would shuttle the steerage group back to the island for processing.  How must it have felt to be so close to your new life, and then be taken a step backward before you could proceed?  Or, as for the 2% who were rejected, denied entrance entirely?

The tour of Ellis Island’s southern side and the unrestored hospital complex were great as well.  I have visited the museum many times, and although it is always an amazing and emotional experience, nothing beats seeing the unkempt buildings and smelling the decaying hallways to get an idea of just how much immigration to this country has changed in the last half century.  The areas not open to the public will ultimately be restored and at some point anyone visiting the island will get to see what we saw, (if the organization can raise the $300 million necessary for the renovation) but until then, we all get to brag about the behind the scenes tour we received.  My students will benefit as well, not only from the pictures I got on the hardhat tour, but from all the resources that were given to us as well.  The teacher resource packets and especially the jump drives loaded with pictures and documents will make scavenging for resources a thing of the past. I wish every tour we took ended with a gift as good as this one!

After touring the museum and a quick trip to Liberty Island, I continued on across the Hudson and into New Jersey.  Arriving at Liberty State Park, I spent the entire afternoon admiring the views of the city from a side I had never seen before.  Sorry Jonathan, but so far I think the best part of New Jersey is its proximity to New York. Hoboken and Weehawken are great communities though, and the chance to see the famous Dueling Grounds where Aaron Burr shot Alexander Hamilton was something I just couldn’t pass up.

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