by Kathryn Evans
“God must have placed this land here between the two oceans to be found by a certain kind of people, that whatever corner of the world they came from they had the courage and the desire for freedom that went with it to uproot themselves and come to this strange land.”
President Ronald Reagan, speaking on the symbolism of Ellis Island in 1982.1
When you think of Ellis Island, what comes to mind? The average American likely views it as a monument that symbolizes immigration to the United States. It’s taught in schools; It’s represented in popular culture; and it’s recommended to tourists from all over the world. No wonder it is visited by millions of people a year! Over time, Ellis Island, a small isle off the coast of Manhattan Island in New York and New Jersey, has become synonymous with American immigration in popular memory. As the predominant representation of American immigration, it has consequently overwritten the prominence of other sites associated with American immigration.
What is Popular Memory?
Popular memory is the process of how a group collectively remembers and forgets its past. It typically includes culturally and historically significant events, such as 9/11. Popular memory is not the entire population but could be the collective memory of those in a particular region, nation, or in a specific culture. Popular memory will change and evolve over time as a response to the changing world around us, cultural shifts, and even site marketing— Ellis Island is no different.
As Ellis Island served different purposes throughout its use, the way people remembered it changed as well. After its closure as an immigration way station, it had faded from memory due to a lack of public interest and an inability to secure funding to reopen the site. However, countless hours of work, dollars, and a resurging public interest due to preservation campaigns have transformed the island into a site of preeminence and reverence. Now, the site has been elevated in our minds to become, as the organization The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation described it, the “poetic symbol of the American Dream”.2
History of Ellis Island
Ellis Island opened as an immigration processing center in 1892. Later in 1924, following a host of anti-immigration laws, the federal government converted it to an immigrant detention and deportation center.
Image of derogatory newspaper headline towards immigrants from the Ellendale Eagle in 1905
For immigrants who passed through the station, they saw it as the first step to starting a new life in America—a place of excitement and hope. However, for the 20% of immigrants who were temporarily detained there, it was a prison that stood between them and everything they wanted.3
To opponents of immigration, it was a symbol of everything they stood against. Opponents of immigration were driven by xenophobia and labor fears, and Ellis Island stood as a representation of the United States open door immigration policy that allowed millions of immigrants to enter the country. Over time, these seemingly conflicting emotions inform and help develop our collective and national memory.
Photograph by Lewis Wickes Hine in 1905 of an Italian Immigrant family on a ferry, leaving Ellis Island. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Black-and-White Negatives
In 1954, the island officially closed as a detention and deportation facility. Declining numbers at the center rendered the facility obsolete. A 1954 newspaper article described its closure and dissolution from popular memory: “the spot which had long been a welcoming center quickly grew into a symbol of being unwanted by America. But as business continued to drop, the small island’s notoriety slowly began to fade. With only a rare exception, its name dropped out of the news.”4
Ellis Island’s journey to become the monument it is today was not without bureaucratic, political, and social barriers. In the years leading up to its closure, the island was no longer used as the primary port of access for immigrants. Accordingly, the buildings on the island began to fall into disrepair. When the facility officially closed, the island was transferred to the General Services Administration, which effectively abandoned the buildings on the island, now severely deteriorated after decades of neglect.
Government officials attempted to sell the site as surplus property to private bidders. Their efforts were unsuccessful due to the lack of bids and pushback from immigrants and other individuals who wanted the site to be turned into a memorial. In 1965, the National Park Service (NPS) successfully advocated for the island to be made part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument. Even though designated an important historical monument, the site continued to face funding issues and challenges, and many of the efforts intended to restore the site failed. By 1977, nearly two decades after the island’s closure, the NPS was only able to complete emergency repairs.
In the early 1980s, facing a lack of funding, the NPS turned to private contractors to develop parts of the island. The selected proposal was to develop a hotel and conference center which newspaper critics at the time described as ”an ethnic Disneyland.”[5]
Image of Ellis Island, overgrown and in a state of disrepair. Taken between 1980 and 2006. Photographs in the Carol M. Highsmith Archive, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
The preservation community pushed back on the proposals plans for the demolition of several structures and its erasure of the island’s history. The controversial plan was ultimately cancelled, but it brought national attention to the site. The Statue of Liberty–Ellis Island Centennial Commission and private fundraising groups raised over $265 million dollars by 1986, and the main building on Ellis Island was reopened to the public as a museum in 1990. Now, visitors walk the halls and feel connected to the millions of immigrants who passed through the same halls decades before—possibly a family member or friend.
Photograph of the inspection room located in the Great Hall at Ellis Island, taken between 1910-1920. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Detroit Publishing Company Collection
Photograph taken in 2012 of the Great Hall on Ellis Island, restored to its 1918-1924 condition. Several interpretive plaques can be seen in the bottom of the picture. Jean-Christophe BENOIST, CC BY 3.0
But Why Ellis Island?
Ellis Island now sits at the forefront of popular memory regarding American immigration, but it’s not the only immigration site in the United States. Two other ports, Angel Island in Northern California, and Castle Garden in New York also played important roles in our history. Ellis Island has become so tightly associated with American immigration, that other sites have been cut out of our popular memory. So, how did Ellis Island manage to secure a spot in our popular memory, when the other sites have not?
An image of Ellis Island with the Statue of Liberty in the background, Photographs in the Carol M. Highsmith Archive, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.
Ellis Island is home to the National Museum of American Immigration and is thematically and geographically connected to the Statue of Liberty. Its proximity to Lady Liberty places Ellis Island as a central part of American history and evokes feelings of patriotism in visitors. It helps transform the site into a celebration and potential achievement of the American Dream. In addition, the Ellis Island Immigration Museum that opened in 1990, is located inside the former entrance hall of Ellis Island and tells the story of immigration all throughout American history. The museum isn’t limited to only the story of Ellis Island. This presents the image that Ellis Island is the national representation of American immigrants, and its portrayal of immigration is part of the larger American story, not just an individual one.
Furthermore, controversy helps to shape popular memory, and Ellis Island has no shortage of it. The first half of its operation was defined by the United States’ liberal attitude towards immigration. Then, the latter half was shaped by a policy of restrictionism, anti-immigration laws and sentiments. The island’s operation during a period of heavy ideological conflict surrounding American immigration solidified its permanence as the eminent representative site. Ellis Island functions as a portrait of both faces of immigration history.
Why not Castle Garden?
The Island’s predecessor, Castle Garden Emigrant Depot functioned for 34 years until its closure in 1890. Ellis Island replaced Castle Garden immigration in just two years. The site of Castle Garden was then converted to a popular aquarium for the next four decades. The quick turnaround changed the association of Castle Garden away from immigration.
In addition, 8 million immigrants passed through the Castle Gardens – up to 75% of all American immigration at the time.6 Twelve million immigrants passed through Ellis Island during its use from 1892-1954.7 Castle Garden is intertwined with the American immigrant story, with an estimated 20% of people being able to trace their family history back to Castle Garden; but so is Ellis Island, where an estimated 40% of Americans can trace their roots back to the historic facility.8 The sites have comparable importance in our cultural history, but Ellis Island continues to prevail in our memory, while Castle Garden doesn’t.
Why not Angel Island?
Despite being operational in the same period as Ellis Island and carrying the same associations of social and political conflict, Angel Island does not possess the same notoriety as Ellis Island. Operational from 1910 to 1940, Angel Island processed around a half million individuals into the United States that were predominantly of Asian descent. The immigrants received at Ellis Island were primarily from European countries. The difference in nationalities resulted in harsher treatment towards the group that entered through Angel Island. They also encountered more xenophobia and racism than the immigrants of Ellis Island. Approximately 70% of the 500,000 arrivals were detained at Angel Island and 33% of individuals were rejected for entry. In comparison, only 6% of arrivals at Ellis Island during the same time period were turned away.9 When Angel Island first opened, newspapers nicknamed it the “Ellis Island of the West” but this comparison falls flat.10 Ultimately, at Angel Island, the objective was to exclude new arrivals, not welcome them to the country.
“Instead of remaining a citizen of China, I willingly became an ox. I intended to come to America to earn a living. The Western styled buildings are lofty; but I have not the luck to live in them. How was anyone to know that my dwelling place would be a prison?”
Angel Island Poem #1. A poem carved into the walls of Angel Island by a Chinese detainee.11
Angel Island, as a museum, is a much more somber reflection of darker parts of America’s past regarding immigration, whereas Ellis Island can be viewed as a symbol of hope and the American Dream. Preservationists, historians, and organizers framed the visitor’s experience based on the experience of the immigrants and dominant storyline. Angel Island tends to be more somber and reflective as whole than Ellis Island. Both places serve important roles in our history as a country, but it’s natural to tend to remember the more positive aspects of our past. However, it’s important to acknowledge the United States faults alongside celebrating its successes.
The Role of Funding in Popular Memory
Ports of immigration and access were all over the United States. However, only a select few sites ultimately get funding, which attracts more visitors and increases public interest, consequently solidifying the historical monument in our memory. The lack of funding that pushed the NPS into accepting private development proposals for the island generated controversy and public outcry. And a coalition of public and private instruments directed national attention through newspapers on the deteriorated state of Ellis Island.
Popular memory is shaped by the motivations of the force trying to construct it. As such, the groups and individuals who pushed for funding to preserve the chapter of history Ellis Island represents heavily contributed to the site’s interpretation and prevention of private development of the land. The successful push led to a combination of state, federal, and private fundraising efforts that have raised hundreds of millions of dollars over decades to shape the island into a living monument and provide an engaging and immersive visitor experience.
The same effect can be seen on a smaller scale for Angel Island. Activists for Angel Island have similarly fought for funding. After its closure in 1940, the site was rarely mentioned in the national zeitgeist, and was scheduled for demolition in 1970.12 Advocates successfully fought for its preservation by emphasizing its continued historical importance, and $40 million has been raised over the past 50 years for the site’s restoration and conversion into an interpretive site. Funding can have enormous impacts on a site’s visibility towards the public, and the hundreds of millions of dollars difference between funding for both sites resulted in different degrees of visibility for each site.
Ellis Island endures as a powerful symbol of immigration and hope and continues to honor the stories of the many immigrants who passed through its hall. It’s become a commemoration of the story of American immigration and allows visitors to connect to the past in an intimate way.
“When I celebrate Ellis Island, then, I celebrate my grandmother, for I know that the street on which she lived in Poland became part of the Warsaw Ghetto during the Holocaust. Her family’s immigration kept my family safe and made my existence possible.”
Majorie N. Feld, on her relationship to Ellis Island,
A photograph of the main processing center at Ellis Island Immigration Station, taken between 1980 and 2006. Photographs in the Carol M. Highsmith Archive, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.
Notes:
[1] https://www.nytimes.com/1982/05/19/nyregion/notes-on-people-iacocca-to-head-drive-to-restore-landmarks.html
[2] https://www.statueofliberty.org/ellis-island/
[3] https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/goldman-immigration-and-deportation-ellis-island/
[4] https://bit.ly/3ZtX2Jx
[5] https://www.nytimes.com/1986/02/23/nyregion/restoring-ellis-island-bitter-dispute-over-the-future-of-a-national-shrine.html
[6] https://www.nps.gov/cacl/learn/historyculture/castle-garden-emigrant-depot.htm
[7] https://bit.ly/3MRtPAN
[8] https://bit.ly/3B9ZISA and https://bit.ly/3Tzmqtt
[9] https://www.aiisf.org/ellis-angel and https://www.aiisf.org/vault/bythenumbers
[10] https://www.nps.gov/places/u-s-immigration-station-angel-island.htm
[11] https://bit.ly/3MT2q16
[12] https://www.aiisf.org/history
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