Thursday, December 11, 2008

Angel Island Immigration Station

In class, we watched a short video on Angel Island to introduce our poetry assignment.

The Angel Island immigration station is located in the San Francisco Bay where thousands of immigrants hoped for their papers to be completed and processed to be able to enter the U.S. Beginning in 1910, thousands of Chinese immigrants poured into the station only to find out that were going to be detained and interrogated. Many of the immigrants stayed in barracks for not only weeks or months, but some even years, awaiting their approval. Many told the stories of their struggles and expressed their fears and frustrations through poems that were carved on the wall, many of which are still visible today in the museum. The immigration station operated for 30 years before a fire destroyed the administration building in 1940 forcing the government to decide on abandoning the station.

After watching the video, I've realized the great length thousands of immigrants endured to be able to live a better life for not just themselves, but their families. Many immigrants traveled on their own, leaving behind loved ones to find work to provide and support their families. I can't even begin to imagine what was going through their minds and how they felt going to a foreign country, completely different from their homes and what they know.

- Angelie

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