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Ellis Island: The Portal into the United States
Ellis Island is a small island in the harbor of New York City dominated by a large, official, building. For many people, this island, along with this building, was the beginning of their story of being in America. Once the building was the largest immigration-processing center in the United States. Now it is a museum. Today, the island is quiet except for the visitors to the museum; but from January 1, 1892, when a young Irish girl named Annie Moore stepped onto Ellis Island, until 1954, the island was a busy place through which people passed on their way to a new life in the United States.
There are many ways in which people have come to the United States: some passed over the great landmass from Asia between 15,000 to 40,000 years ago. These people became known as Native Americans. Others came over on pilgrim ships from England. Still many more came to America under force having been captured in the slave trade in Africa. Some came from China to build the great railroads of the West. The huge immigration movement of the mid-nineteenth to mid-twentieth century brought people to the United States who were looking for a better way of life, more freedom, and the opportunity to express themselves. Most of these people came from the nations of Europe and the lands east that comprise Russia and its neighboring countries.
Of all the many people who came to the United States from all over the world, more than twelve million of them passed through Ellis Island. So many started on this journey that did not finish it. The ocean crossing was difficult. Many people got sick along the way. Some died. Even once they got to New York Harbor, their ordeal was not over. They had to pass a series of inspections. The first one was the medical inspection.
Is Everything All Right with You? The Inspections on Ellis Island
Imagine yourself walking down the gangplank of a great ship. You've been at sea for weeks. You are probably tired and hungry. You probably have not been able to wash yourself while you were at sea. You are in a new place. Maybe you don't speak English yet. You climb the stairs to the Registry Room on Ellis Island. Perhaps a relative is walking with you, or behind you. Many, many people are coming off the ship and walking with you. When you get into the Registry Room, a doctor looks at your scalp, your eyes, your throat, your hands. If he sees something that he thinks doesn't look quite healthy, he takes a piece of chalk and makes a mark on your right shoulder. This mark is to alert someone else that you should be given a more thorough medical examination. The mark that the doctor put on your shoulder would let whoever saw it know what he should look for. Sometimes, you would be sent to a hospital. The people who did not get better were sent back to where they came from. That was very hard. They may have been traveling with family and friends. They may have been thinking for a long time about coming to this new place to live a new life. It was hard to go back. Very hard.
If you passed the medical inspection, there were still other tests that you might have to take. Sometimes the immigration officials were confused about someone's intelligence because that person did not know English. People were sometimes given tests to determine whether or not they had some sort of "mental" problem. Another test was given to find out whether or not you would be able to support yourself financially in your new country.
Finally, you would have to go to a desk and show a form with your name on it. Many of the names that people had, from many different countries, were ones that the immigration inspectors could not read or were not familiar with. It has been told for many generations within many families that the inspectors sometimes changed the names of those entering the country (either by changing the spelling or simplifying the name). Can you imagine having someone change your name within a few moments without asking your permission? Still, by the time the entire process was over, people were relieved and happy to be allowed to leave Ellis Island and begin their journey into America through the great city of New York.
America. For so many people the name was a dream. It represented not only a place, but a different way of living, the possibility of progress, of not being hungry, of not being persecuted. But if America was the destination, where did we all come from?
The stories in the play Coming to America: Immigrant Tales are a small representation of the many places from which Americans have come. These stories, and these places, are meant to help you get a flavor for the breadth and depth of what many would call the "American experience."
The Dominican Republic, Vietnam, Lebanon, and Russia are all very far from each other. They are all very different from each other. Yet what these four countries have in common are the same things that every American has in common: they are places from which we came. Sometimes people write, and talk, about America as the great melting pot. Other times, people refer to it as a big salad. What all of these people are trying to get at is how to understand what it is that the United States is as a country that is characterized, made special, by the diversity of people that make up its citizenry. That's a hard thing to do. No one has quite yet figured out how to do it, how to talk about it. The best we can do is to begin. If we begin by looking at the places from which we came, perhaps we can get an appreciation for each other, and for the unique background and gifts that we all brought here. Those are gifts that we continue to bring, even when our families have been in the United States for a long time.
The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea. It lies southeast of Cuba, which is southeast of Florida. Until 1844, the nation that we now call the Dominican Republic shared the island as part of the nation of Haiti. In 1844, it became an independent nation. If you think that the United States officially became a nation in 1776, you will realize that the Dominican Republic has been a near neighbor for most of the time the United States has been a country.
As with the United States, most of the people in the Dominican Republic came from somewhere else. The country's official language is Spanish, and that can help you figure out that it had ties to Spain during the colonial period in the Americas. The Dominican Republic also has a strong African heritage. Many of the people on the island have connections to the enslaved African people who were brought to the Americas. The blends of these cultures, as well as other influences, have resulted in a rich heritage of music, dance, arts and crafts, as well as a unique cuisine. The Dominican Republic's strong poetic tradition has produced many fine poets: chief among them Pedro Mir, Fabio Fiallo, and Gaston Fernando Deligne.
With all of the gifts of this country, one of the ones that it is most known for is the strength of the family tradition. A mutual trust, loyalty, and commitment between family members, and members of the community is something that is deeply ingrained in the culture. It is a tradition of caring and responsibility.
Vietnam, too, is a nation with many traditions. As with the Dominican Republic, there is a strong emphasis on the family. Family relations, and family hierarchy, are closely kept. Although there is a recorded history of the Vietnamese people from as early as 208 B.C., the nation that we now know as Vietnam is of more recent imagining. This beautiful country, one that encompasses mountains, deep forests, and rich lowlands, is one that has been through many wars and much difficulty. In contrast to all the battles that have taken place on its soil (these battles often by other nations striving for domination of the territory), the Vietnamese people are known for their gentleness, politeness, and careful manners. Showing respect for your elders is very important. Taking care of your family is also very important.
The Vietnamese have a rich historical and religious tradition. There are numerous festivals of cultural and religious origin to celebrate events, seasons, and spiritual ideals. These festivals are part of what binds Vietnamese communities together. There is also a strong cultural tradition of art, music, and dance.
Although Vietnam is not an island, water is very present in the landscape. The agricultural production of the country makes good use of this water. There are rainy seasons, and many rivers, and the country borders on the South China Sea.
Lebanon is another country that borders a sea, the Mediterranean. Lebanon's climate and terrain are very different from that of Vietnam or the Dominican Republic. It is a country with four seasons and a variety of climates. Depending on whether you are by the coast or in the mountains, and depending on the season, it may be hot, cold, mild, or rainy.
The official language of Lebanon is Arabic. Of the four countries we are visiting, it is the only one in which the language is written from right to left. Although Arabic is the official language, French and English are also spoken by many Lebanese people.
There are many different religions, and many different cultures within Lebanon. Different groups have different cultural traditions. With all of the different traditions there is still a "national" dance, the dabke. This dance, along with many arts and crafts, is part of the heritage of Lebanon.
To talk about Russia is like talking about the Americas. It is very large, many different ethnic groups of people live there, and many different stories make up its history. It is the biggest country in the world with a broad diversity of climates and terrain. While Russian has its own unique alphabet, there are many other peoples living in the country with different languages and different traditions.
The Jewish communities of Russia, which provide the starting point for one of the stories in the play, had their own tightly woven history. These communities were, in many ways, isolated from the non-Jewish communities around them. One of the ways the cultural identity of the community was maintained was by the speaking of Yiddish. This bond of language, as well as the bond of religion and culture, made the communities very strong.
Although the Jewish communities were always vulnerable to religious and political persecution, this persecution increased at the end of the nineteenth century. As a result, many Russian Jews emigrated to the United States. They brought a rich heritage and culture with them.
These few words about the nations and cultures represented in the play are the slightest indication of the depth of history, tradition, culture, arts, and vitality that the countries embody, and that the citizens of these countries brought with them when they came to the United States. Let this be a starting point from which you investigate more deeply into those countries that interest you. Sometimes you may not know what interests you until you look. But you have to start somewhere. If a character in the play catches your attention, perhaps you could find out more about the country from which he or she came. Or you could find out more about the country, or countries, from which you and your family came. We all came from somewhere. That is the great gift that America has given to each of us. We all meet here.