watch live on cspan and listen live on the free ÷úcspan radio app.ym cspan where history unfolds daily. in 1979 cspan was created as a public service by america's cable television company and is brought to you today by your rovider. >> between 1892 and 1954, about 12 million immigrants making a new life in america werezbáaken to ellis island for processing. today millions of americans take ferry boats each year to visith and the statute of liberty. american artifacts, we visit ellis island immigration museum to learn about the immigrant experience. >> good morning. i'm a park ranger for the national park range here. 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÷ú to be given the okay to go out and start their lives in the late 18 hundreds and early 1900s. a lot of people did÷ú not know about ellis island before that time. . in the original form, it was three acres, small island in the middle of the harbor. for most of itsym life it was military insta lal igs of 1812 and eventually during the 18 hundreds.p somewhere around 1890 it was decided by the federal government that this will be the place that they'll institute the first building specifically constructed in processing of immigrants. they did construct that into 1890s and 1892. the building you see, it's actually the second. the first was a large hidden structure that lasted for five years and burned to the ground in about three hours. fire at 1897. federal government decided at something more permanent, something that will also reflect the graduate and so the structure you see here, brick and limestone was built between 1898 and 19 hundreds and it opened in december ofzv 1,900. from the moment it opened it was already too small for what it was aboutzv to say. if you look at the building, there was no third floor. it was two stories and more and more people come through and÷ú they realize they were really too small to handle the building we see straight out here -- the over flow of people being detained here who are waitingzbo for detains members of their family was so enormous that the dormitory ris on the balconies÷ are too small. two-thirds of the people coming through here are going to go to other parts of america, only about a (hird of them will go to new york city to buy their tickets in order to go.d8 >> the germans heading to the -- so the railroad ticket terminal housed ticket windowsym for 12 radios that will eventually sell the tickets at the immigrant museum and they will actually go across the harbor here and jersey terminal where they would eventually find a train to take them out to most likely friends and relatives who had÷ú settled. the other will be heading the to new york. ople will find many different ethnic neighborhoods that oftentimes will welcome them with open rms. their journey started back in europe. and sometimes ambitious decisions to leave sometimes everybody they knewym behind an to make journey here to this country. this is ging to be a place to bhie a ticket and make their way through it. and immigrant had to payzv $30 money at the time period which could equal several hundred dollars in today's money just for its ticketmy and an spot on ocean liner that was never meant for any human being. they had always taken care of people with money. they paidzv thousands of dollar in today's money to be able to wined and dined and treated like royalty. even if you had a÷ú little bit less money, you could get a second class ticket that would give you a modest but private room. but shipping companies began to realize that s/ú many people wh were poor wanted to come here in the late 18 hundreds and 19 hundreds to accommodate that demand. cramped, dirty, usually÷ú place that now have bunked beds packed in tightly and the immigrants who are coming to ellis island will be a passenger in those lower decks. they're not quite variable light, very@l+ttle ventilation, about a thousand to 1,500 packed down there and they can take anywhere a week to÷ú a month. . where shipping÷ú companies had their offices very important part of the immigrant story when they boarded the ship and those answers are going to be part of because that's the information that will be used in the great hall to interrogate toym have i. i want to bring that story right now. so we're at the harbor for a reason. you're going to assume that the immigrant ship, the first place they'll enter the harbor is where you see the bridge.zv and the area that ar rees in this area. there is the first place where ! mean to check to see if this ship has an epidemic. which was one of the things we're ymchecking. shipping companies had done the process. they knew pretty quickly that american law stated if a shipping company brought something -- and take on the ship. as they're taken off the ship there and the ocean is going to move into this harbor. if you're looking at the wharbo today you're looking at the most peaceful site. think about the fact that basicallyym international trave private vessels, ocean liner, the mid 19 hundreds and 19 so time period you'll have ocean liners out here anchored waiting for a dock÷ú to open. and in the atmosphere and a -- are going to be from rural ar s areas -- they'll look at the some of the smaller buildings may have been here, not the beautiful modern structures, they don't look vqy big compared to one trade. from a immigrant that's never seen more than a couple of stories in a building. from out of space. welcome to america is twofold. this gorgeous site. this harbor and of course they are absolutely amazed at lady of liberty. this is the first thing that welcomes them and absolutely gorgeous site that openedym in 1886. and they let people out andzv that's not zvtrue. . now, there is where -- we'll learn the first lesson in america. . it will give them a very quick inspection and move its way÷ú u the harbor and unless they have glaring problems that need attention, they'll be let out to start their lives. the thinking was this, if you haveym a slight illness, you've got the money to pay for a doctor, you'll be able to go and get the care you need and you'll alsobe able to afford the place to live. the passengers, they've got the $30 ticket of $100. and in theirpocket hopefully another couple of hundred dollars that they'll have to prove they have when they get inside. still not enough to prove they're not going to be a problem÷ú to society. they're afraid of people getting involved in crimes. they're afraid of being overwhelmed,÷ú so that is what it serves on the right to clear and passengers to come into this country and start their life. sozv there's a very clear delineation of the immigrant. if you have the money, you're in. if you don't have the money, you'll get checked. so when we head inside in just couple of minutes we'll start the story of those immigrants who come off the ship and brought down here and are going to enter the front door and come in to the first doorbell, which really looked dramatically different than it÷ú does today. . okay. we're about to enter the main interest, but across the way here, there might be a point, these beautiful buildings that are now abandoned where the hospital complex is that were÷ú run by the united states public health service which was just a fantastic crew of doctors who -- so it contains for medical reasons, about 10% of the people were detained for medical reasons. the string of buildings that we see right here were for not÷ú contagious disease. behind it about 30 yards parallel is a string of buildings for con:sway jotagiou diseases. there was an insane asylum. it's one of the scariest places that i've been inb)z 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. they did a great job of nursing people back to health who had diseases that were curable. that's a very big standard here. if you had a disease that was encurable and contagious, you're definitely going back. if you have an incurable disease, it's more likely that you're going to go back. it's a very big art, not open to the public yet. it's being worked on, definitely it's a work inko bprogress. underneath the canmy. here would have lined up to go in the door and begin their process, theoriginal can pi, people lined up here and what they had was virtually only what was important to them. for ma'p who were bringing their entire families at the same time, they had to sell everything they owned back at europe. the farm land, the÷ú cattle, al the supplies, the farm itself, just to be able to afford all of the fair for everybody coming here. so you'll see inside there's a beautiful picture that just shows you -- that a bag or a satchel or steamer trunk and everything the family owns that is of value to them will come with them, let's takes÷su here is the place where immigrants got their first site of ellis island. and to be honest with you, this room looks very different depending upon the moment you came. in 1907, according to some floor plans i've seen, immigrants who came in door had to go immediately over to our left, their right where medical examination would take÷ú place. right up in the middle of this feeling that took you right up in the middle of the great hall. now, as i mentioned to youu! earlier, this building was really planned to handle a lot less people than they thought. over the years the process of going up the stairs here became highly impractical, and they had to figure out a way to make it work more efficiently. around 1912, this stair well in the middle of the room was torn up and a mod everyone staircase was built where we have it today taking you up to the second floor. it was not just to make the flow go faster, it was also to make the medical processing more efficient, too. you give credit to the people who were here. they handled a highly chaotic situation in a really efficient and i think in many cases compassionate way. doesn't mean it wasn't scary to the immigrant but there was a lot of care put forward to make things better. i will tell you this, that 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 can see samples of the 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 or if you're going to go catch a train. early on we had concession airs who would take advantage. they would double or triple charge them for their services. money exchange people would give them back a small amount of what their money was worth and pocket the rest. the food concession people dressed up somebody looking like an inspector. he went in the crowds and told them if they didn't buy a lunch from the food stand, they'd get deported. william williams dressed up a couple of his best inspectors as immigrants and put them in the crowd to document the corruption and he was very instrumental in getting rid of the corrupt concession firms and making things even more fair for the people coming through. so here you come in. and after 1912 you're going to be directed to go up those stairs. we're going to head up stairs to the second floor now to talk about the medical and legal processing. we're also going to see the room that i think most of you have come to know as the symbol of ellis island. it's officially called the registry room but we call it and i think most people call it the great hall of ellis island. it's a majestic piece of architecture. we're going to take you up the stairs. if you will. we're 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. some had refused to give their baggage to the baggage handler, so they've still got either their suitcase or perhaps a sheet with stuff in it over their shoulders, their belongings. they're coming up these stairs. the one thing they don't realize yet is they're 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 that 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 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. 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, piece of chalk, and they're going to mark your coat up with initials that signify exactly what they feel may be the condition you have. the stubd toe gets an l for lameness. the person holding their chest might have a heart problem, h. the person who's so ecstatic to be here that they're singing and dancing, we feel they may have a mental condition that needs to be checked, so they have an x on their coat. migrants didn't expect it. i ask everybody to do something and when they don't do it i tell them we have to check their hearing. because they weren't listening. not to make themselves feel bad about themselves but it's all about the idea of inspection without understanding what's going on. now, doctors will also meet you here. and they'll give you an inspection that is just about as fast a medical inspection as you're ever going to get. i know sometimes they were called the six-second specialists for that reason. anywhere from five to ten seconds, maybe 15. there are highly skilled members of the united states public health service who can 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. so the one set of initials you don't want on your coat is ct. ct represented an illness called trochoma. it was a much widespread disease back in the past. still exists. today in some parts of the world. it makes the underpart of your eyelid is rough as sandpaper. it would make you blind. highly contagious and incurable. if they had to check the eyes, they used buttonhooks, hooks that were used to pull up gloves for women of high society. they would catch your eyelid and pull up your eye to see if the tell tale signs of the disease were there. if you were taken this moment with initials on your coat, intit didn't mean you were automatically going to 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 didn't have the time to give you a thorough exam. but the doctors down that hall could look at you and check you out more specifically for just those two or three initials on your coat. the vars majority, it will be no problem. the man with the stubbed toe. he'll be treated and come back out here. for some, it may mean an internment in the hospital for days, weeks, and maybe even months. for some, as i said, it may mean the doctor's report will rule that they, in fact, need to be sent back. this is step one of the process. ok. as they walk into this room, as terrifying as this moment can be, they're also in a room which is the grandest room that some of you have ever seen in your entire life. is 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 they only had 48 states. so we try to be a little accurate right to the point about 1918 in what we had. the ceiling that you see up here, those tiles were put up here by a family company called the bustavino family whose work is still famous in places like carnegie hall around grand central station and the cathedral of st. john the divine in new york. 29,000 tiles placed on the ceiling in a patented style 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 only found only 13 tiles that needed to be replaced. so the work is legendary and solid. the floor we're standing on is over a hundred years old. when they waxed this floor it looked brand-new. tiles on the column around here are part of the room in 1900. as are the chandelier, first chandelier here and the other chandelier in the middle of the room. the third one, you could never guess, was a reproduction but it apparently was destroyed by a cable snapping when they did the restoration. they put up -- i guess they figured you couldn't go up there and check, but, anyway, these are the original chandeliers. now, to get a sense of what the room was like when people came here, you had to use your imagination. today we don't have much in here because we want people to be able to roam and enjoy the room. if you were here as an immigrant, you would have entered a room after 1912 that was full of rows of benches here. we have benches in the front. the darker ones are original benches. tlt lighter ones were reproductions done by a high school program up in new york state. and if we use your imaginations, the benches would have been in rows coming all the way down here coming all the way into the middle of the room. once you got passed this medical inspection you're going to come and sit and wait. when you got off the boat in new york, a tag was put on your coat with a number that corresponded to your ship's manifest. when your ship's manifest's book is brought to the desk, they call your number, they send inspectors out to get everybody with that number, they line you up and you're about to be retested to see if you are, in fact, the person who you say you are when you got on the boat. that's where we're going to head next. we're going to head down to that inspector's desk. we'll talk a little bit about the 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 desks that line 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's your name? what's your age? what's your nationality? where's the last place you lived in europe and with whom? what's your final destination? can you read and write? who -- where are you going to -- where are you going to live in america and with whom? how much money do you have? now, that's a bit of a tricky question. it wasn't always known by immigrants that inspectors add most points were looking for you to have about $25 in the money of time period. couple hundred dollars in today's money. you might have that money when you board the ship. it may be stolen. you may have lost it. if i don't have anywhere near that amount, that could be a reason to detain you, because they don't 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 wouldn't take as a trick question. who paid for your passage? most people will say i paid for it myself. my mother or my father paid. the answer you don't want to give, even if you're nervous and think it will inspect the inspector is my new boss in america paid for me to come here. i start working tomorrow. it may seem like an impressive answer because the inspector would let you in because you have a josh but you just admitted you were a contract laborer. the act of 1885 would be illegal and to admit that would be a certain trim back 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. i can answer them simply by looking at the immigrant. ok. so i can see that, for instance, a young woman, 5'2" with gray eyes and blonde hair. for the vast majority of people that came up to this desk, this is going to be a pretty easy process. they'll answer all the questions. they'll remember all the answers. they won't look too suspicious in answering, because if you look too suspicious in answering, that alone could be a reason for detention. but about 80% of the people who come through this building will eventually leave here to go start their lives after an experience of about three or four hours. the 20% are detained. 10% to the legal processing that we saw and another 10% for some discrepancies in their interrogation here. so we're going to take you to the room where they had their chance or their day in court. it's a scary experience. we'll talk about that in a minute, for so many of them. we're going to head down the hall to the board of special inquiry room located on the very spot where it existed and has been restored to look pretty much the way it did in the early 1900s. if you'll follow me, we'll head down there. this wing you're heading into is actually the legal wing of ellis ooild island at the time period. there were actually four operating courtrooms in this area at one time. offices were here for lawyers. there were detention rooms for those who would be detained in some way. many of the items on this desk are authentic from our collections. they tried to create what inspectors' desks would look like. there are three inspectors seatsed here, and they are your judges. each of them will hear and -- will hear your case as they will ask you important questions. a stenographer would be here to to keep a record of the case and an interpreter would be 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. oftentimes there would be members of what were called immigrant aid societies, groups that had been set up by specific ethnic groups to help people of their background to get through this process here on ellis island and they could serve as an interpreter for the immigrant themselves. in migrant could call witnesses to come and testify on their behalf. let's say the young woman who lost her money on the boat befriended by a very nice man who eventually ended up stealing her money, she would send a telegram in to new york to her brother who lives in new york who she's going to go live with and ask him to come out and testify on her behalf. they would never allow the two people, the brother and sister, in the same courtroom at the same time. they will interrogate them separately so there would not be any kind of story created betweened the two of them. if the brother came in and said she is my sister, i will take her in, here's 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 get a job, that would oftentimes be more than enough to solve or assuage the fears of the expecters here. all they need to do is convince two of these three inspectors is that the reason they were detained is not a good enough reason to send them back to europe. for the 20% of people who came through here, it's a terrifying moment. they've really not seen a lot of justice in their own country. many of them have come from pretty brutal regimes. they've never seen a man in uniform do anything fair or compassionate. they're 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 to come in and stay. the board of special inquiry room was also one that created fears of terror and fear but for the most part, it created joy and celebration where they could go out and start their lives here. so this would be where the story would end for the rest of the 20%. 80% in the great hall are going to start their lives. as i mentioned, a third heading to new york, two-thirds headed to another places. 18 of that 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. it's a very special experience to work here, because i know i'm telling their story and i can only imagine what they would think if they knew a hundred years later that their grandson would be here and giving tours and telling their story. >> the items that we have in this exhibit area which is called treasures from home, were donated to us by people whose ancestors had come here. they're actually organized by theme. here we have a case of clothing that was worn by many people who came here. a beautiful rich texture and the craftsmanship is absolutely gorgeous. and these are items that were in many cases actually worn here when immigrants got off the boat and came in to ellis island. as we walk down, we have a case of personal papers that were a 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 had been put in here and just representative of the type of things that you would 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 -- the type of things that immigrants would bring here that they would not dare leave behind. so 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 they would not leave behind. if they had that one steamer trunk, this would definitely be something that would be in there. ok. here are pictures. so many pictures of so many people. either back in the old country or perhaps here in america where they finally came would definitely be something you would do to send countries back to the old country of your life here in america. there are so many pictures like this who i think every family who comes through ellis island has at home. i've got a shoe box at home that i'm still sorting through. 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 these pictures you can really kind of absorb and appreciate. the last case here brings in what they 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. just one quick look in the back here, some families gave us so much that cases were dedicated to those families specifically. so we have about six or seven of these here 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 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 the 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. in 1934, an immigration law really brought ellis island to a close as a mass processing center. now, it remained open for another 30 years. it would be a place where those detained in port in new york would be brought out and held until the case was adjudicated. by 1954, we're in the middle of a strong anti-communist surge, 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, when president johnson issued the order to add ellis island as part of the statue of liberty national monument. for the next 15 years, the building would be administered by the parks service but not restored or open to the general public. you had to arrange for what they called the hard hat tour and they did bring people out here and walk them through the abandoned structures. i guess in conjunction with the centennial of the statue of liberty and its restories, money was raised by the statue of liberty-ellis island foundation both to restore the statue as well as to restore this building. the statue will be rededicated in 1986 and this building will open in october of 1990. believe vice president quail -- quayl came out to efficient the opening and we've been open ever since. so all told, 98% of the people who came through this building were able to get out and start their lives in america. 98% of 12 to 13 million people will translate into about 45% of the american population today who can tell you honestly that one of their ancestors came through this building, went through this process, and began their family's american story. for so many people it is the reason why they come visit ellis island, because they've heard so much about it. it's been in their family folklore. they come back to see the place where grandma or great grandfather came to america, answered the questions, passed the medical processing and began their family's american story. i think in all the discussions with 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's really 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. that some of us who are the descend ends of the 1880s have forgotten. i hope this will reawaken that in some people's minds. that's what ellis island is about. it's the story of americans looking for something better, really, the american dream, which i think we cherish greatly. thank you for coming along. i'm glad you did. we hope you get to visit ellis island and we'll sue you personally. join us on tuesday, january 3rd, for live coverage of the opening day of the new congress. watch the official swearing in of the new and reelected members of the house and senate. and the election of the speaker of the house. our all day live coverage of the day's events from capitol hill begins at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span and c-span.org or you could listen to it on the free c-span radio app. next on american history tv american artifacts, we visit the cannon house office building to see artifacts that tell the story of african-americans in congress in the 20th ce