9-10-10
June 10, 2010
Today we began at Ellis Island.
As we were waiting to get on the ferry at Battery Park something caught my eye and my breath caught in my throat. It was a sculpture of three men trying to save a drowning victim, with one man reaching down towards the water and an arm and hand reaching up out of the ocean in desperation. Every time a wave withdrew the head and shoulders of the man in the water were visible. It was one of the most powerful things I have ever seen and I asked a National Park Ranger what it was. He said it was the American Merchant Marine Memorial and that it was inspired by a photo of survivors of a U-boat attack who later died at sea on a ship with all hands lost. I told him that I had been in the Marine Corps and I knew that many Merchant Marines gave their lives for their country. The Ranger got a little emotional and said that a close family member was in the Merchant Marines and had perished. Regrettably I often forget to talk about the Merchant Marines when I teach history. This will help me remember to do so in the future. It was truly a just way to begin the day with the Statue of Liberty in view.
The ferry out to the island was fitting and I tried to think what it would have been like as a young (younger than me for sure) Irish immigrant leaving Ireland for the United States and arriving in New York Harbor. I believe I would have felt joy and apprehension (no- fear…), mixed with relief at arriving and sadness knowing I was leaving my home forever.
The presentation by the Save Ellis Island organization (the National Park Service fundraising and programmatic non-profit partner for the rehabilitation of the twenty-nine remaining buildings on Ellis Island, with the mission and mandate to raise the funds necessary to create and sustain, within these buildings, the Ellis Island Institute and Conference Center) was interesting and useful in my classrooms. I teach about immigration in my U.S. History II and American Government classes. I honestly did not know that all ship passengers who arrived in New York Harbor did not go through Ellis Island. It was informative (and it made common sense) that 1st and 2nd Class passengers did not need to go through the institution. I always taught that steerage passengers were the bulk of Ellis Island’s visitors, but I failed to mention that many others did not have to go through the process–or they went through a much simplified process. The altruistic purpose of much of Ellis Island’s procedures also will change the way I teach. I knew that some of the processes were altruistic, but stories of name-changing, anarchist-hunting, and undesirable-excluding colored what I taught. These things still occurred, but I will attempt to temper what I teach in the future. The endeavor to weed-out indentured servitude was also new (and common sense) to me; as was the fact that Ellis Island had interpreters for almost every language on earth.
It also made sense that the medical facilities, practices, and employees were at the pinnacle of their filed. It would stand to reason that the psychological employees would also be at the top of the psychological field (although I forgot to ask), especially with the vast array of humans and their obvious array of psychological differences.
Ellis Island Psychological Testing
Further, I did not know that it cost money to be treated at Ellis Island and I had no idea that 12 year olds and older were deported without necessarily an accompanying adult.
The museum was also amazing and I was reminded of one of the most powerful images I have ever seen regarding immigration. It was the Puck’s 1893 Joseph Keppler political cartoon “Looking Backward:”
They would close to the newcomer the bridge that carried them and their fathers over.
Finally, the jump drive that we were given has a tremendous amount of resources.
