Angel Island Immigration

From 1910 to 1940, over half a million people sailed through the Golden Gate, hoping to start a new life in America. But they did not all disembark in San Francisco; instead, most were ferried across the bay to the Angel Island Immigration Station. For many, this was the real gateway to the United States. For others, it was a prison and their final destination, before being sent home. In this landmark book, historians Erika Lee and Judy Yung (both descendants of immigrants detained on the island) provide the first comprehensive history of the Angel Island Immigration Station. Drawing on extensive new research, including immigration records, oral histories, and inscriptions on the barrack walls, the authors produce a sweeping yet intensely personal history of Chinese "paper sons," Japanese picture brides, Korean students, South Asian political activists, Russian and Jewish refugees, Mexican families, Filipino repatriates, and many others from around the world. Their experiences on Angel Island reveal how America's discriminatory immigration policies changed the lives of immigrants and transformed the nation. A place of heartrending history and breathtaking beauty, the Angel Island Immigration Station is a National Historic Landmark, and like Ellis Island, it is recognized as one of the most important sites where America's immigration history was made. This fascinating history is ultimately about America itself and its complicated relationship to immigration, a story that continues today.

This book relays the factual details of immigration through the Angel Island station, which is near San Francisco, California. The narrative provides multiple accounts of the event, and readers learn details through the point of view of a male Chinese immigrant, a Chinese woman coming to join her immigrant husband, and a missionary woman trying to help Chinese immigrants. The text offers opportunities to compare and contrast various perspectives in the text while gathering and analyzing information about a historical event.

Presents the history of San Francisco's Angel Island Immigration Station that operated between 1910 and 1940. Argues that Asian immigrants, rather than being welcomed, were denied liberties and even entrance to the United States.

The events surrounding immigration through the Angel Island station did not look the same to everyone involved. Step back in time and into the shoes of a male Chinese immigrant, a Chinese woman coming to join her immigrant husband, and a missionary woman trying to help Chinese immigrants as readers act out the scenes that took place in the midst of this historic event. Written with simplified, considerate text to help struggling readers, books in this series are made to build confidence as readers engage and read aloud. This book includes a table of contents, glossary, index, author biography, sidebars, and timelines.

Explores the history of Angel Island which became an immigration processing center for the United States.

*Includes pictures *Includes accounts *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading "The boat was launched and I set out to search for better anchorage for the ship. I went out toward the island I named de los Angeles [Angel Island], which is the largest in this harbor, in search of proper moorings for making water and wood; and though I found some good ones, I rather preferred to pass onward in search of another island, which when I reached it proved so arid and steep there was not even a boat-harbor there; I named this island La Isla de los Alcatraces [Island of the Pelicans] because of their being so plentiful there." - Juan Manuel de Ayala, 1775 Angel Island, the largest island in San Francisco Bay at about 740 acres, was originally named when Don Juan Manuel Ayala sailed into San Francisco Bay. Supposedly, the island was named "Angel" because the land mass appeared to him as an angel guarding the bay, and when Ayala made a map of the Bay, on it he marked Angel Island as, "Isla de Los Angeles." This would remain the island's name ever since, even as the use of the island would certainly change over time. The island is currently a large state park with beautiful views of the San Francisco Bay and skyline, but the most noteworthy part of the park is the immigration museum. That site is what makes Angel Island so famous today, as it remains best known for being the entry point for Asian immigrants to the United States from 1910-1940. There is no way to know for sure how many people actually passed through Angel Island because of the destruction of most of the historical documentation in a fire, but historians estimate that it was between 100,000 and 500,000 people. Angel Island is often referred to the Ellis Island of the West, but many argue that they are extremely different in their preservation of immigrant histories. For one, Angel Island took much longer to preserve, and the preservation of Ellis Island focuses on the positive reception of European immigrants on the East Coast, which plays well to corporate sponsors and the American story. Historian John Bodnar explained that Ellis Island represents "the view of American history as a steady succession progress and uplift for ordinary people." Ellis Island fits nicely into the narrative of the American Dream, because even though the immigrants who came through there were subject to racism, they were predominantly white. Angel Island was a much more multiracial experience, and when recounting its history, the tensions of exclusiveness and xenophobia that existed in the late 19th century and early 20th century are laid bare for all to see. After a fire in 1940, Angel Island went from being an immigration station to being used for military purposes. At first, it was used as POW holding facility during World War II, and then finally as a Nike missile base between 1954 and 1962. After a long fight to preserve the island's history as an immigration station and a huge pillar of Asian-American history, the island was declared a landmark in 1996, and the museum opened with a fully restored immigration station in 2009. Today, the island can be visited by the public via a ferry from San Francisco, and countless people hike and bike the island, as well as taking tours of the immigration station. Angel Island: The History and Legacy of the Immigration Center in San Francisco Bay examines the frequently overlooked station, and what the experience was like there for immigrants. Along with pictures depicting important people, places, and events, you will learn about Angel Island like never before.

Angel Island, in the Town of Tiburon, is a mile-square jewel set in San Francisco Bay that attracts thousands of visitors each year. Few of those who hike, bike, camp, or enjoy the spectacular vistas in this California State Park realize its diverse history. From the Spanish ships that anchored at Ayala Cove in 1775 to the 1960s cold war-era missile silos, Angel Island has endured to become one of the most popular parks in the state. Although many building were demolished, there are still countless reminders of the island's multifaceted evolution, including a quarantine station, army base, and immigration station.