A steamship sails into New York Harbor in 1914 (left); People arriving at Ellis Island had to wear numbered tags (center); The main building at Ellis Island, shown here in 1918 (right)

Hulton Collection/Getty Images (boat); Fotosearch/Getty Images (mother & son); Library of Congress (Ellis Island)

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Voyage to America

Years ago, the first stop in the U.S. for many immigrants was Ellis Island.

April 1, 2018
By Barbara Krasner

For hundreds of years, people have left their homes in other countries to move to America to seek a better life. Beginning in 1892, many stopped at Ellis Island, the famous immigration station in New York Harbor. Their journey to America is celebrated there every April 17. That’s the day in 1907 when 12,000 people passed through Ellis Island, the most of any day in its history.

Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images

Immigrants at Ellis Island in 1902 wait with their luggage.

Ten-year-old Edward Corsi (KOR-see) was one of the immigrants who arrived at Ellis Island that year. He was born in a tiny town near Rome, Italy. Edward recalled a cousin visiting from America telling his family about the opportunities there. At the time, Edward’s stepfather badly needed a job. “Two months later we were on our way,” Edward remembered in his book In the Shadow of Liberty: The Chronicle of Ellis Island.

Hulton Collection/Getty Images

A steamship sails into New York Harbor in 1914.

Many immigrants, like Edward’s family, moved looking for work that would lift them out of poverty. Others were escaping war. Some left because they were being treated cruelly for their religious beliefs.

Immigrants who came through Ellis Island were mostly from Europe. Some traveled hundreds of miles from their hometowns to port cities located by seas or rivers. There, people boarded transatlantic steamships that took them across the Atlantic Ocean.

Bettmann Archive/Getty Images

These boys came from Italy in 1905.

Some immigrants left from places in Western or Northern Europe like Germany, Ireland, or Norway.  Others moved from places in Southern and Eastern Europe like Italy, Greece, and Austria-Hungary.

Edward’s family spent two weeks aboard a steamship after leaving the Italian port of Naples. As they approached Ellis Island, they were greeted by the Statue of Liberty.

Edward described how “this symbol of America . . . inspired awe in the hopeful immigrants.”

But their journey was far from over. There was no guarantee that they would be let into America. Immigrants first had to wait in line for hours, waiting for their paperwork to be checked. Doctors then examined them for diseases. Some people were turned away and sent back to their country.

Luckily, Edward and his family made it through. He grew up to become the head of immigration at Ellis Island and continued to help immigrants until he died in 1965.

In the years that Ellis Island was open—from 1892 to 1954—more than 12 million people passed through its doors. They became the ancestors of almost half of Americans alive today.

1. If you were traveling from Germany during this time, which port city on the map might you leave from? 

2. Which countries on the map offered the most port cities to leave from? 

3. How do you think the large numbers of immigrants at this time might have affected New York City?

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