In contrast, immigrants passing through Ellis Island were processed within hours or days and merely had to pass medical hurdles. To vent their frustrations at their forced idleness and isolation--authorities separated family members to prevent exchange of coaching information and routinely inspected letters and gift packages.
Detainees wrote poems expressing their anger, despair, homesickness and loneliness. The poetry, written and intricately carved on the walls in the classical style of the Tang dynasty, were recorded by two detainees in the early s and rediscovered in Some of the writing on the walls is still legible today. In the now sparse and airy rooms, one can only imagine the isolation and lack of privacy each detainee was forced to endure.
Crowded into bunks three tiers high, the men and women imprisoned in the cramped "dormitories" lived in constant distrust of each other. Although complaints about unsatisfactory conditions and mistreatment were filed frequently--the first filed only a few days after the station opened--bureaucrats were slow to address the charges and did not abandon the detention center until a fire on Aug.
Three months later, on Nov. On this seemingly ordinary day came the end of a sad and bitter era: The Ellis Island of the West had finally closed its doors. For the thousands of Chinese immigrants who passed through the Angel Island Immigration Station, it is an era best forgotten.
On the whole, former detainees have been reluctant to talk about their experiences, preferring to leave this chapter closed. More than 50 years after the closing of the immigration station, there is finally a sense of conclusion. Over 2, former detainees have been able to return to their island-prison to make peace with the past.
In , the building was slated to be demolished, but Mississippi Freedom Rider -turned-park ranger Alexander Weiss discovered poems written in Chinese calligraphy in the detention barracks. In , California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law a bill to fully restore the barracks and preserve the poems. The site opened to visitors in , and since then has been adding to its exhibits. It became a National Historic Landmark in , and a new museum in a rehabbed hospital on the island is expected to open before the end of Write to Arpita Aneja at arpita.
Waxman at olivia. Related Stories. Already a print subscriber? Go here to link your subscription. Need help? In the s, Chinese workers were recruited in large numbers from both China and the U. During this time, Chinese laborers were also hired by the agricultural industry in California, which was suffering from severe manpower shortages and needed skilled farm workers.
By the s, the U. The country experienced a series of economic crises starting with the Panic of The deflation and depression that followed caused wage levels to fall and many Americans to lose their jobs. In the West white laborers, many of them from the American South, found themselves competing for scarce jobs with Chinese immigrants who would work for lower wages. This led to rising resentment among the white population. Political and labor leaders began to use Chinese immigrants as scapegoats, blaming them for declining wages and high unemployment, and accusing them of being morally corrupt.
In response to economic fears, primarily in California, the U. Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act of , which restricted Chinese immigration. The Act barred Chinese "skilled and unskilled laborers and Chinese employed in mining" from entering the U.
Nonlaborers from exempted classes — diplomats, travelers, merchants, students, ministers, and children of U. The Chinese Exclusion Act marked the first time the U. Congress restricted an immigrant group on the basis of race. Congress passed other exclusionary laws aimed at Chinese immigrants between and , effectively reducing the number of Chinese entering the U.
After passage of the various Chinese exclusionary laws, Japanese immigrants became increasingly sought after by American businesses. Because of this, the number of Japanese immigrating to the U. The previous animosity toward Chinese laborers was transferred to Japanese immigrants.
With anti-Japanese sentiment rising in California, the U. Under the Agreement, Japan voluntarily limited the immigration of Japanese laborers and the U. By , the Japanese had begun to make their presence felt in the agricultural economy of the West Coast. In a letter from Governor William D. San Francisco, California was a primary point of entry for Asians immigrating to the U.
The facilities at the docks, however, proved to be inadequate and unsanitary. A study authorized in , recommended construction of an immigration station on Angel Island in San Francisco Bay. In , the War Department transferred 20 acres of land on the island to the Department of Labor and Commerce for the construction of the new station.
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