Immprof on Vacation: Photos from Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration

Having recently returned from a family trip to New York City, where my kids wanted to visit the Statue of Liberty, I was able to also make a trip to the Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration.  It’s part of the official Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island tour (which attracts approximately 4 million visitors per year).  I was impressed by the number of historical documents — steamship ledgers, passports, anti-immigrant political propaganda, and photographs — on display.  The Registry Room, where in-person inspections to determine one’s entry, was also worth seeing. It does take a full day for the tour though, and during the summer the whole tour is extremely crowded.  Given the current state of immigration discourse though, it was a good time to reflect (and to see visitors reflecting) on the country’s immigration history and our stated commitment to the ideals inscribed on the Statue of Liberty.  

I was also reminded of Hiroshi Motomura’s video comparing the histories of Angel Island near San Francisco, and the long-term detention of mainly Chinese immigrants there, with the comparatively more idealized history of Ellis Island.

-JKoh