Day 9: Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty
I have waited my whole life to see the Statue of Liberty up close and personal. The only time I ever saw that beautiful lady, I was eleven years old and in the backseat of a ’76 Plymouth Volaré crossing the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge on the way to Colorado after moving back to the states from Germany. I could barely see her that evening and was disappointed. Today was finally the day that void ended.
We boarded a ferry in Battery Park and set off across the harbor. The early morning clouds gave way to a warm sun, painting a beautiful scene in the harbor. To our left, the southern tip of Long Island and the Verrazano-Narrows bridge; to our right, the Jersey shore; receding in our wakes, the skyline of Manhattan and Brooklyn; ahead off the port quarter, the Statue of Liberty; and off the star quarter, Ellis Island.
Lady Liberty From a Distance
Ellis Island From a Distance
Liberty Enlightening the World
Dave near the Statue of Liberty
Our ferry docked at Liberty Island briefly to let off passengers going there as their first stop. We stayed on, however, as our first stop was Ellis Island and an educational program. Approaching the pier at Ellis Island, several of us couldn’t help but adopt the guise of an immigrant in the late nineteenth or early twentieth century and imagining what it would have been like to be them as they arrived in their new country. We stepped off the ferry and went into the main building just as 12 million others had. I was not aware that the original processing building had burned down, and that the Ellis Island that we know today was not built until 1900.
Ellis Island
We Comin' To America
Dana, one of our presenters, met us and escorted us through a part of the building most visitors never see because it is undergoing construction. We walked through the Ferry Building and to a classroom where our main presenter, Jessica, warmly greeted us and began her presentation. These two women are part of an organization called Save Ellis Island, whose goal is to restore the remaining 30 buildings that make up Ellis Island, including the Ferry Building, the entire medical wing, and the laundry services area. We were lucky enough to be able to get a tour of the other part of Ellis Island which few people know about, much less get to see. We were not allowed to take pictures in this wing, so alas, this may be a bland blog. We saw the contagious disease ward, the infectious disease ward, the laundry facilities, kitchen area, and the living quarters for the staff. It was quite interesting to hear Jessica tell stories about oral histories regarding Christmases on the island in the living quarters. One never really stops to think that some people lived here. The buildings of the south annex are staggered in their orientation, offset from the main corridor. This was done as part of the overall effort to stop the spread of disease. Circulation of fresh air was considered vital, and large windows in the rooms were left open to provide fresh air within the room, while doorways into the main corridor never fronted other doorways because of the fear that disease could spread across halls. None of the service workers ever had to come into contact with the patients, because the building was designed to minimize their contact.
Jessica said that she wanted to change the way we thought about Ellis Island and she succeeded. I use pictures a lot in the class, but not in the exact way that she did. I really liked the inquiry activity she had us do and the three-stage method. I am going to try to do this in my upper level classes and perhaps lower level (with more support, because many of those kids give up if the answer does not seem to come easily). Through these exercises, I learned that as terrible as the inspection and detention process was for the newly arrived immigrants, most of the efforts to the staff were intended to help them. Jessica pointed out that the medical facility was state of the art for the times and that the medical staff was top-notch, not at all what I had been led to believe in the past. Efforts were made to bring witnesses to testify on the behalf of a person detained, even to the point of sending people into the city to find that witness. Books were available, recreation programs were provided, and efforts were made to improve nutrition. It is no wonder that this organization wants to save the south annex as much history would be lost if it were gone.
Career Change
After the class session and tour of the south annex, we toured Ellis Island on our own. The exhibits were wonderful, especially the exhibit on the second floor documenting the people coming to the United States. There were countless passports, ship manifests, liner tickets, etc. There were stories documenting why people came over and their view of their new country. All of the accounts showed the push-pull factors of immigration that I talk of in my classes. The propaganda that was spread overseas to attract settlers was obvious in that many of the accounts of immigrants mentioned the untold wealth of America, the resources of the country, and make it sound like paradise on earth. There was obviously little to suggest to these immigrants that life could be difficult and that they could be exploited.
The Registry Room was neat to see in person, as it is often shown in pictures of Ellis Island. While the ropelines were not there, the immigration officers’ tables were still at the head of the hall as if the lines were still there and the immigrants were still waiting to check in.
Registry Room
After exploring the museum, we went to Liberty Island, but didn’t spend much time there because the rain was coming down pretty good. So after walking around and getting some pictures, we left for Manhattan, whereupon the rain ended and the day brightened. Such was our luck.
Statue of Liberty
Old Glory
"The Island at the Center of the World"
In the evening, Mie, Ray, and I ate at a place called The Pizza under the Brooklyn Bridge. We had attempted to go to Grimaldi’s but the line was down the street. Apparently it is as good as its reputation. Our pizza was still very good, though not as good as Lombardi’s.
The Pizza
