Park service here at ellis island. This island for Many Americans is the place where their american story began. 12 to 13 million americans came to this island and to this building in order to be given the okay to go out and start their lives in the late 1800s and early 1900s. A lot of people dont know about ellis island before that time. Ill talk about ellis island itself. Today were 27 acres in size. But in the original form, it was three acres. Small island in the middle of the harbor. Barely came above sea level at high tide. For most of its life was t was a military installation. First as a fort during the war of 1812 and eventually during the 1800s as a storage but around 1890 it was decided this is the place that they would institute the first building specifically contracted for the processing of immigrants. And so they did construct that building between 1890 and 1892. The building you see here is not the first processing center. It is actually the second. The first was a large wooden structure that lasted for five years and burnt to the ground in about three hours. Due to a fernas fire in 1897. They decided to build something more permanent and also reflect the grandeur of a government building. So the structure you see here made of brick and limestone was built between 1898 and 1,900 and it opened in december of 1900. It is a beautiful building. And from the moment it opened it was already too small for what it was about to face. Constructed to handle about half a Million People a year, it ended up handling in 1907 alone, 1,200,000 people. So if you look at the building, there was no third floor in the original structure. It was two stories with the four towers that we have here. But as we had more and more people come through, and they realized that they were really too small to handle the flow, they began to add structures. The building we see straight out here, the three story structure is called the dormitory building. That was added on because the overflow of people being detained or waiting for members of family was so enormous that the dormitories on the balconies and the great hall were too small. We also found out that twothirds of people coming through here were going to end up going to other parts of america. Only about a third of them would go to new york city. So this building we have right here was constructed and added on as a place for immigrants to buy their tickets in order to go and start their lives in other parts of the country. A long polish population heading out to chicago and czech heading down to nebraska, a large group of germans and slovaks heading to texas, for instance. So it housed ticket windows for 12 railroads that would eventually sell the tickets at the immigrant needed and they would go across the harbor here to the Central Railroad of new jersey terminal where they would eventually find a train to take them out to most likely friends and relatives who had already settled in those areas. The other third will head to new york. And those people will find many different ethnic neighborhoods that oftentimes will welcome them with open arms. We have the sea wall of ellis island facing out into new york harbor, and this is a Perfect Place for us to begin the story of the immigrants that came here. 12 to 13 Million People would make their way through the building we have here. But their journey started back in europe when they made that very brave and sometimes ambitious decision to leave sometimes everybody they knew behind and to make a journey here to this country. For most of those immigrants, who came to ellis island, this is going to be a place that they had to save for quite a long time the money just to be able to buy a ticket and to make their way through this building. An immigrant had to pay 30 of the money of the time period which could equal several hundred dollars in todays money just for a ticket for a spot on an ocean liner never meant for any human being. The ocean liners took care of people with money. First class passengers paid thousands of dollars in todays money to be able to be wined and dined and treated like royalty. And with a little less money you could get a second class ticket that would give you a modest but private room. But the shipping Companies Began to realize that so many people who were poor wanted to come here in the late 1800s and early 1900s, they have to accommodate that demand. So they looked at ships and figures they could shack feis cargo holds below deck. Cramped and dirty and things for kra crates, they now housed bunkbeds, three to four high, packed in tightly. And the immigrant who was coming to ellis island would be a passenger in those lower decks. Those lower decks were not pleasant. Very little light. Very little ventilation. There is about a thousand to 1500 of you packed down there and your ship ride to take a week to a month. To coming to america was a great challenge. They would be leaving port cities like brennan or hamburg or liverpool or constantinople where shipping companies had their offices. Very important part of the immigrant story is when they boarded the ship they have had to answer 25 to 30 questions about themselves on whose boat theyre about to board and those answers are a very important part of the story because that is the information that will be used in the great hall to interrogate the immigrants to determine if they have the legal right to land here. Well return to that story later. Now were at the harbor for a reason. Were going to assume that the immigrant ship made it across safely. The first place they will enter new york harbor is where you see the narrows bridge, an area that we call the narrows in this area. There is the first place where inspectors will board ships to check to see if this ship has a raging epidemic of a disease. They dont want diseases brought into the country which is what were checking inside in the great hall. Now inspectors arent likely to find anybody with illness because Ship Companies have done some preprocessing. They knew quickly that american law stated if a shipping Company Brought somebody here who was to be deported, they have to bring them back at the shipping companys cost. So Many Companies had their own small processing before you got here. Didnt mean people might not get sick on the ship. So they get taken off the ship there. And your ocean liners will move into this harbor. Now if youre look at the harbor today, it is about the most peaceful site you ever want to see. But if you use your imagination, think about the fact that basically your International Travel is all on ship at this time. So this harbor would be full with commercial vessels, private vessels, ocean liners, especially at peak time here in the mid 1900s and 1910 time period, and you would have had ocean liners waiting for a dock to open. And there could be noise and a dingy atmosphere and no environmental laws back then and a poor immigrant farmer and many of them are going to be from rural areas, theyre going to be absolutely amazed at the sight. Theyre going to look at skyline of new york and even some of the smaller buildings that are brick may have been here, not the beautiful modern structures. They dont look very big compared to one world trade. But for an immigrant who has never seen anything more than a couple of stories in a building, it is going to be like something from outer space. So their welcome to america is twofold. This gorgeous sight, threefold, actually, this harbor and of course theyre amazed at lady liberty. This is the first thing that welcomed them, is this gous site which opened in 1886. So up the harbor the ship comes. A lot of people who come here think the ships docked here and let people out and that is not true. Our inlet is too shallow for Something Like that. So theyre make their way up the harbor and go to docks up the river here. Today where the uss intrepid is moored as a museum for instance. That is where an immigrant learns the first lesson in america. In america, money talks. Because our first and second class passengers are going to be given a very quick inspection as the boat moves up the harbor and unless they have a glaring probe that needs attention, theyre let out to go start their lives. The thinking was this, if you have a slight illness, youve got the money to pay for a doctor. Youre going to be able to go and get the care you need. And youre also going to be able to afford a place to live. Now the steer class passengers, the 30 ticket and in their pocket hopefully another couple of hundred dollars they have to prove they have when they get inside. Still not enough to prove theyre not a problem foresig. Society. Theyre afraid of being overwhelmed by the population. So that is what ellis island does. It serves as a way to clear the steerage class passengers to come into this country and start their lives. So there is a very clear delineation for the immigrants. If you have the money, youre in. If you dont have the money, youre going to get checked. And so when we had inside in just a couple of minutes, well start the story of those immigrants who have come off the ship, and brought down here by a ferry and are going to enter the front door and come in to the first floor of ellis island. Which really looked dramatically different than it does today. Okay. Were about to enter the main entrance of ellis island. But across the way there might be a point of note. These beautiful buildings that are now abandoned were the hospital complexes that were run by the United StatesPublic Health service which was just a fantastic crew of doctors who cared for immigrants who were detained for medical reasons. About 10 of the people who came through here were detained for medical reasons. The string of buildings we see right here were for noncontagious diseases. Behind it about 30 yards parallel is a string of buildings for contagious diseases. So there was a measles ward and a tuberculosis ward and ain sail asylum and a morgue, one of the scariest places ive been in in my life and this is a real operating island. The Public Health service was so good at their job that occasionally hospitals from new york would send cases out here to be taken care of. And they did a great job of nursing people back to health who had diseases that we curable. That is a very big standard here. If you had a disease that was incurable, and contagious, youre definitely going back. If you have an incurable disease, it is more likely that youre going to go back. It is a very big part of our complex. It is not open to the public yet. It is being worked on. It is a work in progress and showily but surely well get that complex opened up and open for the public to see, too. Now were walking up the ramp, under the canopy here at ellis island, this canopy and this spot would have been a place where immigrants who had just gotten off the boat here would have lined up to go in the door and begin their processing. The original canopy had black slate roofs. People lined up here and what they had with them is virtually only what was important to them. For many who were bringing their entire families at the same time, they had to sell everything they owned back in europe. The farm lands, the cattle, all of the supplies, the farm itself. Just to be able to afford all of the fares for everybody coming here. So youll see inside, there is a beautiful picture that just showed you this. They have a bag or a satchel or a steamer trunk and everything that the family owns, that is of value to them, will come with them. So lets take you inside. The room were entering right now is the baggage room. Here is the place where immigrants got their fight site of ellis island. And to be honest with you, this room looked very different depending upon the moment you came. In 1907, according to some floor plans ive seen, immigrants who came in this door had to go immediately over to our left, their right where medical examination would take place. Now eventually they would end up in the staircase which is originally right up in the middle of the ceiling. That took you right up into the middle of the great hall. Now as i mentioned to you earlier, this building was really planned to handle a lot less people than they thought. So over the years the process of having all of this medical processing here and immigrants going up the stairs here became highly impractical and they have to figure out a way to make it work for efficiently. So around 1912, this stairwell in the middle of the room was closed up and a wooden staircase was built right where we have our modern staircase today. Taking you upstairs to the second floor. And it wasnt just to make the flow go faster. It was also a way to make the medical processing more efficient, too. So you give credit to the people who were here, they handled a highly chaotic situation in a really fi really efficient and compassionate way. Doesnt mean it wasnt scary or terrifying to the immigrant but there was care put forward to make things better. I will tell you this, that early on in the early 1900s, this could be a place that was very tricky for an immigrant to get through. So the people who were bringing their baggage in and you could see samples of baggage here that we have, baggage handlers could hold your luggage, make sure it gets on the boat when you head over to catch your ferry on if youre going to go to catch a train. But early on we have concessionaires who took advantage. Double or triple charge for services. Money Exchange People would oftentimes give them back just a small amount of what their money was worth and pocket the rest. The food concession people dressed up somebody looking like an inspector and he went in the crowds and told them if they didnt buy a lunch from the food stand, they would get deported. Give credit to william williams, who dressed up a couple of the best inspectors and put them in the crowd to document the corruption and very instrumental in making things for fair for the people coming through. So here you come in and after 1912 youre going be directed to go up those stairs. And were going to head upstairs to the second floor now to talk about the medical and legal processing. Theyre also going to the see the room that i think most of you have come to know as the symbol of ellis island. It is officially called the registry room but we call it and most people call it the great hall of ellis island. It is a imaginestic majestic piece of art tecture. So follow me up the stairs if you will. Were heading up the stairs to the second floor. As i said, this is a modern staircase. But imagine there being a wooden staircase here that immigrants would walk up in large crowds. If some had refused to give baggage to she still got their suitcase or perhaps a sheet with stuff in it over their shoulders, their belongings. And theyre all coming up these stairs and the one thing they dont realize yet is that their already being inspected as they walk up the stairs. They might be limping because of a bad foot, maybe they stubbed their toe, they might be carrying a big baggage and holding their chest and having trouble breathing. They may be very happy to be here and singing a song from the old country and just looking wonderfully ecstatic. All three of those conditions would be observed by inspectors who would be at the top of the stairs and they would be watching. So as you got to the top of the stairs here, those inspectors would come up to you with one of their tools of the trade, a piece of chalk, and theyre going to mark your coat up with initials that signify exactly what they feel may be the condition you have. The stubbed toe, gets an l for lameness. The Person Holding their chest might have a heart problem and get h. The person so ecstatic to get here because their singing and dancing, they have a condition that needs to be checked, so they have a x put then our coat. I do this on my tours, i ask everybody to do something and when they dont do it, we have to check their hearing because they werent listening. And again, not to make their feel any bad about themselves but it is all about the idea of inspection without understanding what is going on. Now, doctors will also meet you here. And theyll give you an inspection that is just about as fast as a medical inspection that you could get. Anywhere from five to ten seconds, maybe 15, theyre highly skilled members of Public Health service who could spot even the smallest sign of anywhere from 50 to 60 ailments that normally afflict an immigrant. And again, any doubt that you have something means more initials are going on your coat. The one set of initials you dont want on your coat is cf. That represents an illness called track oma. It is a much widespread disease back in the past. Still in existence today in some parts of world. It made the undersigh of your eyelid of sand paper. Highly contagious and incurable. Now they had to check the eyes and they would use button hooks, these little hooks that were used to pull up formal gloves for women of high society, they would catch your eyelid and pull up to see if the tail telltale signs were there. If you are taking and this moment with initials on your coat, it doesnt mean you were automatically be sent back. It did mean that down these hallways, here and over here, they will take you to individual medical exam rooms. All of these initials were about making this process more efficient. They didnt have the time to give you a thorough exam. But the doctors down that hall would look at you, and check you out more specifically for just those two or three initials on your coat. The vast majority it is no problem. The man with the stubbed toe and he will be treated and come back out here. But for some it may mean an internment of hospitals of days, weeks and maybe even months. And for some, as i said, it may mean the doctors report will rule that, in fact, they need to be sent back. So this is step one of the process. Okay. As they walk into this room, as terrifying as this moment can be, theyre also in a room which is the grandest room that some of you have ever seen in your entire life. This is the great hall of ellis island. It has been restored to the way it looked roughly around 1918. Our american flags have 48 stars because in the early 1900s we only have 48 states. So we tried to be a little accurate, right to the point about 1918 and what we had. The ceiling that you see up here, those tiles were put up here by a Family Company called the gustavinna family who is still famous in Carnegie Hall and saint john the divine in new york. 29,000 tiles placed on a vaulted ceiling in a patented styling that was all their own. When the restoration was done here in the 1980s they had to check every tile for their integrity and they found only 13 tiles in a had to be replaced. So the gustavino work is legendary and solid. The floor were standing on is over 100 years old. When they wax this floor, it looks brandnew. Tiles on the columns all around here are part of the room as it opened in 1900. As are the chandelier, first here and the other one in the middle of the room. The third one you could never get was a reproduction but it was broken by a cable snapping in the restoration and they figured you couldnt go up there and check. These are the original chandeliers. To get a sense of what the room was like, when people came here, you have to use your imagination. Today we dont have much in here because we want people to be able to roam and to enjoy and look at the room. But if you were here as an immigrant, you would have entered a room after 1912 that was absolutely full of rows of benches here. We have benches in the front, the darker ones are original benches, the lighter ones were reproductions done by a High School Program up in new york state. And if we use our emergenciation, t our imagination, the rows would have come down to here and right into the middle of the room. Once you got past this medical inspection, youre going to come and sit and wait. When you got off the boat in new york, a tag was put on your catt with a number that corresponded to your ships manifest. When the ships manifest book is brought to the desk, they call your number and get everybody with that number and they line you up and youre about to be retested to see if you are, in fact, the person who you say you are when you got on the boat. Sos that where were going to head next. Were going to head down to that inspectors desk and well talk about those questions that were asked and what happened to many people when they got there. Our last stop in the great hall is going to be at a replica of the possibly about 15 to 20 inspectors desk that lined this end of the hall. Here is the spot where you go through the last part of your processing. Now, if you remember, we talked a little bit about a ship manifest outside. Manifests were a list of answers to questions that immigrants gave. 25 to 30 questions were asked. What is your name . What is your age . What is your nationality . Where is the last place you lived in europe and with whom . What is your final destination . Can you read and write . Where are you going to go live in america and with whom . How much money do you have . That is a bit of a tricky question. It wasnt always known by immigrants that inspectors at most points were looking for you to have about 25 in the money at the time period. A couple of hundred dollars in todays money. You might have that money when you board the ship. It may be stolen. You might have lost it. If you dont have anywhere near that amount, that could be a reason to detain you. Because they dont want to let people out in america with no money to go start their lives. This is another tricky question that a lot of people wouldnt take as a trick question. By whom was your passage paid. Most people are going to say i paid for it myself or my father or my mother paid. The answer that you dont want to give, even if youre nervous, and if you think it will impress the inspector, is my new boss in america paid for me to come here. I start working for him tomorrow. It may seem like an impressive answer because the inspector would let you in because you already have a job, but you just admitted to being a contract laborer. The fern act of 1885 made that illegal. To admit that would be a certain trip to europe. And a hefty fine for your american employer. So every one of these questions would be asked or sampling. Some of them here are actually physical descriptions. Coy answer them by simply looking at the immigrant. I could see that a young woman is 52 and she has gray eyes and blond hair. For the vast majority of people that came up to this desk, this is going to be a pretty easy process. Theyre answer all of the questions, remember all of the answers. They wont look to suspicious in answering because if you look too suspicious in answering that alone could be a reason for detention. But about 80 of people who come through this building will eventually leave here to go start their lives after an experience of about three or four hours. But 20 are detained. 10 for the legal processing that we saw. And another 10 for some discrepancies in their interrogation here. So were going to take you to the room where they have their chance or day in court. It is a scary experience. As ill talk about athat in a m. Well head to the board of inquiry room. It has been restored to look pretty much the way it did in the early 1900s. So if you follow me, well head down there. This wing that were heading into it actually the legal ring of ellis island at the time period. There were actually four operating courtrooms in this area at one time. Offices were hear for lawyers. There were detention rooms for those who would be detained in some way. Many of the items on this desk are authentic and from our collections. And what they have tried to do here is to recreate what an inspectors desk would look like. There are three inspectors seated here and they are your judges. Each of them will hear and will hear your case and they will ask you important questions. A stenographer would be here to keep a record of the case and an interpreter would be seated at the end here to help the inspectors understand the words of the immigrants as they pleaded their cases. Immigrants were not allowed to have a lawyer in this first hearing. They had to plead their own case. Often times there could be members of what would be called immigrant aid societies. Groups set up by specific ethnic groups to help people of their background to get through this process here in ellis island. And they could serve as the interpreter for the immigrant themselves. Now, immigrant could also call witnesses to come and testify on their behalf. So lets say the young person, a young woman who lost her money on the boat bee fred by a nice man who eventually ended up stealing her money. She would send a telegram into new york to her brother who lives in new york, who shes going to go live with and ask him to come out here to testify and her behalf. They would never allow the two people, the brother and the sister in the same courtroom at the same time. They would interrogate them separately so they would not be any story created between the two of them. If the brother came in here and said shes my sister. I will take her in. Here is my name and address. I vouch for her. She will stay under my wing until she has enough money to get a place of her own and has a job. That would oftentimes be more than enough to solve or to assuage the fears of the inspectors here. All they need to do is convince two of the three inspectors that the reason for which they were detained was not enough of a reason to send them back to europe. For the 20 of people who came through here, it is a terrifying moment. Theyve really not seen many of them justice in their own country. Many of them have come from pretty brutal regimes. And theyve never seen a man in uniform do anything fair or compassionate. But theyre going to be given a wonderful introduction to an american Justice System which gives them a real good shake. Of the 20 in this room, only 2 would eventually be sent back. That means 18 had enough of an explanation for the reason for their detention that it would be enough for at least two or three of the inspectors to allow them could come in and stay. So the board of special ininquiry room created a sense of fear but for most it caused celebration and joy as theyre told they could go out and enter and start their lives here. So this is where the story would end for the rest of the 20 . Our 80 out in the great hall are going to start their lives, as i mentioned, a third heading to new york and twothirds heading other places. 18 of the 20 could be here a day, a week, a month or more. But for them, the story would eventually start, too. For me, i have three grandparents that came through here in 1909 and 1912 and it is a very special experience to work here because i know im telling their story and coy only imagine what they would think if they knew 100 years later that her grandson would be here giving tours and telling their story. The items in this exhibit area called treasures for home were donated to us by people whose ancestors had come here and the items are actually organized by theme. So here we have a case of clothing that was worn by many people who came here. A beautiful, rich texture and the craftsmanship is just absolutely gorgeous. And these are items that were in my cases actually worn here when immigrants got off the boat and came into ellis island. As we walk down, we have a of personal papers that were part of many immigrants process. So a lot of these are going to be documents that they took, legal documents from the old country that have been put in here. And just representative of the type of things that would you find if you start to do some Family Research and you start looking for documents overseas. The case next to us here is, i believe, religious items. Yes. And these religious items are, again, it is the type of things that immigrants would bring here that they would not dare leave behind. So for many here you see the rosary beads here and so many of the other items that are throughout here. The clothing that is religiously based. These are things that they would not leave behind. If they had that one steamer trunk, that would definitely be something that would be in there. And here, of course, pictures. So many pictures of so many people. Either back in the old country or perhaps here in america when they finally came. Would definitely be something that you would do to send pictures back to the old country of your life here in america. There are so many pictures like this that i think every family who had an ancestor come through ellis island has at home. I know i have a shoe box full at home that im still sorting through. But so many different images. So many different backgrounds. So many people with so many dreams of something better. This is what, when you look at all of the pictures, you could really kind of absorb and appreciate. The last case here brings in what te call family life items. Just things that people would bring that they used in every day life. Cutlery, sewing machine, camera, just a sampling of the tremendous amount of items that were actually donated to us here. Just one quick look in the back here. Some families gave us so much, actually we could turn right to this here, some families gave us so much that cases were dedicated to those families specifically. So we have about six or seven of these heres and behind the photographs that are dedicated to specific families who kind of literally gave us the steamer trunk full of items and asked us to tell their story and their importance to their family and to their culture and their backgrounds. Processing center opened in 1892. And for the next 30 years or so operated at full tilt as a mass processing center. Somewhere in the early 1920s there was a beginning of the process of restricting immigration through very restrictive quota laws that brought the flow of people through here almost to a halt. World war i helped to do that, too. But by 1924, a very restrictive quota law in conjunction with the creation of the consulate system that we have today really brought ellis island to a close as a mass processing center. Now it remained open for another 30 years. And it would be a place where those detained in port in new york would be brought out and held until their case was adjudicated. By 1954 were in the middle of a strong anticommunity surge, a fear of foreign elements and by that time the building had really kind of lost its total purpose and use. So in november of 1954, the building closed and it would be really empty for the next 11 years. Until 1965 where president johnson issued the order to add ellis island as part of the statue of Liberty National monument. Now for the next 15 years, the building would be administered by the park service but not restored or opened to the general public. You had to arrange for what they called a hard hat tour. And they did bring people out here and walk them through the abandoned structures. But i guess in conjunction with the centennial of the statue of liberty and its restoration, money was raised by the statue of liberty, ellis island foundation. Both to restore the statue as well as to restore this building. So the statue will be rededicated in 1986 and this building will open in october of 1990, i believe Vice President quail came out to officiate at the opening of the museum. And weve been open ever since. So all told, 98 of the people who came through building were able to get out and start tlir lives in america. 98 of 12 million to 13 Million People will translate into about 45 of the American Population today. Who could tell you honestly that one of their ancestors came through this building, went through this process, and began their familys american story. For so many people it is the reason why they come here, to visit ellis island, because theyve heard so much about it. It has been in their family folklore and they come back to see the moment or the place, i should say, with grandma and great grandfather came to america, answered the questions, passed the medical processing and began their familys american story. I think in all of the discussions of immigration that we have going on today, i think there needs to be the context that this story of people coming here, being from a different cultural background, starting their lives here and in many cases becoming successes, that is a Great American story and it will continue. It will not be one that ever ends. And i think that sometimes we lose track of that. Some of us what are the descendants of those immigrants from the late 1800s have kind of forgotten about grandma and grandpas journey. And i hope that maybe a visit here will reawaken that in many peoples eyes and minds. And that is what ellis island is about. It is a story of americans looking for something better, really the American Dream which i think we all cherish greatly. So thank you for coming along were glad that you did and we hope you get to visit ellis island and well see you personally. Weeknights this month, were featuring American History tv programs as a preview after what is available every weekend on cspan3. Tonight from history bookshelf series, jim dwyer and kevin flynn talk about 102 minutes, the untold story of the fight to survive inside of the twin towers. The two authors conducted interviews with family members of victims who made lastminute contact with friends and relatives on the morn of september 11th, 2001. Watch tonight beginning at 8 00 eastern and enjoy American History tv this week and every weekend on cspan3. Every saturday, at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on American History tv on cspan3. Go inside a Different College classroom and hear about topics ranging from the american revolution, civil rights and u. S. President s to 9 11. Thanks for your patience and for logging in to class. With most College Classes closed due to the impact of coronavirus, watch professors transfer to a virtual setting. Gorbachev did most of the work to change the soviet union, but reagan met him half way. Reagan encouraged him. Reagan supported him. I should just mention, madison called it freedom of the use of the press and it is indeed freedom to print things and publish things. Lectures in history, every saturday at 8 00 p. M. Eastern. Lectures in history is also