|
Spring Semester 2000, Vol. 11, no. 1 Lesson III: The Ellis Island Family Rationale In
order to develop an understanding of the symbolic importance the
Statue of Liberty held for immigrants coming to America, students will
take on the role of an immigrant in many ways.
Students will research their own ancestry to determine which
country their family comes from. They
will interview family members and create a family tree based on those
interviews. They will imagine themselves packing for the trip from their
native country to America, taking into consideration the small number of
items allotted each immigrant. Students
will work collaboratively to create a mock immigration station in the
classroom, using handmade passports and filling out the same form given to
many immigrants. Students
will make connections between Ellis Island and the
Statue of Liberty, adding to their ability to develop more complete
symbolic interpretations of the statue. Overview In
this lesson students will be introduced to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island as symbols of freedom to many
foreign immigrants. They will
consider the history of the island, discovering the changes it went
through as both a blockade against immigration and a welcoming gateway for
immigrants. Students will
begin by examining their own ancestry to create a family tree, discovering
that little, if any, of their family?s roots actually started in
America. They will consider
the importance of family heritage in order to comprehend the important,
frightening step many individuals took by leaving their extended families
behind to travel to America. Students
will then ?become? immigrants, making a limited list of items to pack
for the 10-day trip to the New World.
They will create a mock immigration station in the classroom.
They will make passports to use as identification and fill out
forms similar to those handed to immigrants throughout the history of
Ellis Island. The activities
in this lesson include elements of art production, art history, and
aesthetics. Suggestions for
art history and other activities are provided in Extensions. Objectives Students
will:
Materials
and Resources Materials
Reproductions
Resources
Planning
and Preparation
Vocabulary Ancestry:
the
descendants of one individual; inherited properties shared with others
of your bloodline. Copper:
a name given to a number of metallic minerals, sulfides of iron, copper,
cobalt, nickel, and tin, of a white or yellowish color. [sulfide: a binary
compound of sulfur with a metal.] Freedom:
the state of being free; exemption from the power and control of another;
liberty; independence; the power to act or speak or think without
externally imposed restraints. Immigrant:
a person who comes to country where they were not born in order to settle
there. Liberty:
the state of a free person; exemption from subjection to the will of
another claiming ownership of the person or services; freedom; opposed to
slavery, serfdom, bondage, or subjection. Monument:
a building, pillar, stone, or the like, erected to preserve the
remembrance of a person, event, action, etc.; as the Washington monument;
the Bunker Hill monument; a tomb with memorial inscriptions. Sculpture:
the art of carving, cutting, or hewing wood, stone, metal, etc., into
statues, ornaments, etc., or into figures of people, or other things
whether in plastic or hard materials; carved work modeled of, or cut upon,
wood, stone, metal, etc. Statue:
the likeness of a living being, animal, or other object sculptured or
modeled in some solid substance, as marble, bronze, or wax. Steerage:
the hinder part of a vessel; the stern; the space in the after part of a
vessel, under the cabin, used generally to indicate any part of a vessel
having the poorest accommodations and occupied by passengers paying the
lowest rate of fare. Symbol/Symbolism:
a visible sign or representation of an idea; anything which suggests an
idea, quality, or another thing by resemblance or by convention; a
representation; a type; a figure; as, the lion is the symbol of courage;
the lamb is the symbol of meekness or patience. Background
Information for Teachers Ellis
Island: Gateway and Obstacle
Located in the upper New York Bay, Ellis Island was originally
known to Native Americans as Kioshk, or Gull Island, named for the birds
that were its only inhabitants. In 1630, European colonists gave Native Americans ?certain
cargoes, or parcels of goods? in exchange for the island, but they found
that it was not a prime building site, so the island changed ownership
many times. During the 1700s
the island was known as Gibbet Island, due to the executions by hanging of
state criminals from a ?gibbet,? or gallows tree, that took place
there. By means never
officially determined, ownership passed into the hands of Samuel Ellis who
tried, unsuccessfully, to sell the island.
Ellis still owned the island when he died in 1794, and members of
his family disputed title to the island.
The same year that Ellis died, a small part of the island that was
publicly owned was deeded to the state and construction began on a
military fort, Fort Gibson, in fear of new attacks from the British.
The state of New York convinced Ellis? family to sell the island
for $10,000 so that Fort Gibson could be expanded.
The island became an unnecessary barrier to prevent other countries
from entering America. It was
used only to store ammunition until, in 1890, the House Committee on
Immigration chose the island as the site of the new Immigration Station
for the Port of New York. When the Immigration Station officially opened on January 1,
1892, its final cost had reached $500,00.
Despite the apparent transformation of the island into a gateway
for immigrants to enter America, a more comprehensive immigration law
passed in the spring of 1891. The law screened for ?undesirables,?
people with prison records for crimes involving ?moral turpitude,? and
all ?persons suffering from a loathsome or contagious disease.?
The combination of this stricter law, a cholera scare, and the
financial panic of 1893, followed by several years of economic depression,
led to a consistent decrease in the number of immigrants arriving in New
York. By 1898 the number of
immigrants processed fell from 445,987 (in 1892) to 178,748.
A fire in 1897 led to the reconstruction of the Immigration
Station, including a new main building, dormitories, a baggage receiving
room, and the addition of two, smaller islands holding hospital
facilities. The new Ellis
Island opened in 1900 and cost $1.5 million to complete. Unfortunately, by
the outbreak of World War I in 1914, immigration to America all but
ceased. After the war, many
Americans were eager to see immigration restricted, and in 1917 new
legislation did just that. The
law specified 33 classes of foreigners who could not be admitted, and
demanded literacy testing. Despite
these obstacles, by 1921 the number of arrivals climbed to 500,000.
Additional laws restricting immigrants led to severe declines in
immigrant arrivals so that by 1954, only 21,500 immigrants passed through
the Island?s portals.
A variety of circumstances caused the island to be abandoned for
more than 20 years and many proposals developed to close it, but the
National Park Service released a study in 1964 claiming that the island
should become a national monument. President Lyndon Johnson agreed and officially proclaimed
Ellis Island part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument on May 11,
1965. adapted from
American Park Network |