Ellis Island and Angel Island

Vocab

● Push Factor● Pull Factor● Ellis Island● Angel Island● Chinese Exclusion Act

Push v. Pull● Reasons why

people leave they are living at the time.○ Choice○ Circumstance

Push Factors● A factor that leaves a

person with no choice but to leave one’s current home.○ Poverty○ Fear○ Disasters○ Unemployment

Pull Factors

● A factor that lures a person to leave their home by choice.○ Opportunity○ Freedom○ Safety

Push or Pull?

1848: James Marshall discovered gold at Sutter's timber mill in

California. The California Gold Rush begins.

Push or Pull?

1850s: Large increase in the number of Irish immigrants to the U.S. due

to a famine caused by a fungus that targets potato crops in Ireland.

Push or Pull?

1862: Homestead Act offers cheap land and citizenship to immigrants

willing to settle in the Midwest.

Push or Pull?

1852: Flooding of the Huang He river in the Shandong Peninsula in China

led to disastrous crop failures, famine and disease.

Push or Pull?

1863: Construction begins on the Transcontinental Railroad. Begins on East and West coasts of the U.S.

and “meets in the middle”.

Ellis Island● Opens in 1892● Port of New York, NJ● Primary

immigration station for the East Coast of the United States

Who came through Ellis Island?● Immigrants from

Europe○ Southern &

Eastern Europe● Immigration

through Ellis Island peaks between 1905 and 1910

Angel Island● Opens in 1910● San Francisco Bay● Primary

immigration station of the West Coast of the United States

Who came through Angel Island?● Immigrants from

Asian countries○ China and Japan

● Immigration through Angel Island peaks around 1910

Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That from and after the expiration of ninety days next after the passage of this act, and until the expiration of ten years next after the passage of this act, the coming of Chinese laborers to the United States be, and the same is hereby, suspended; and during such suspension it shall not be lawful for any Chinese laborer to come, or having so come after the expiration of said ninety days to remain within the United States.

SEC. 5. That any Chinese laborer mentioned in section four of this act being in the United States, and desiring to depart from the United States by land, shall have the right to demand and receive, free of charge or cost, a certificate of identification similar to that provided for in section four of this act to be issued to such Chinese laborers as may desire to leave the United States by water; and it is hereby made the duty of the collector of customs of the district next adjoining the foreign country to which said Chinese laborer desires to go to issue such certificate, free of charge or cost, upon application by such Chinese laborer, and to enter the same upon registry-books to be kept by him for the purpose, as provided for in section four of this act.

SEC. 12. That no Chinese person shall be permitted to enter the United States by land without producing to the proper officer of customs the certificate in this act required of Chinese persons seeking to land from a vessel. And any Chinese person found unlawfully within the United States shall be caused to be removed therefrom to the country from whence he came, by direction of the President of the United States, and at the cost of the United States, after being brought before some justice, judge, or commissioner of a court of the United States and found to be one not lawfully entitled to be or remain in the United States.

SEC. 14. That hereafter no State court or court of the United States shall admit Chinese to citizenship; and all laws in conflict with this act are hereby repealed.

SEC.15. That the words "Chinese laborers", wherever used in this act shall be construed to mean both skilled and unskilled laborers and Chinese employed in mining.

Chinese Exclusion Act 1882● Speaker:

● Occasion:

● Audience:

● Purpose:

Read the questions asked to immigrants coming through Angel Island and Ellis Island.

What is the purpose of questions asked to immigrants coming into Ellis Island? Angel Island? How are they similar? How are they

different?

Angel Island: Gateway or Detention Center?● Originally intended to be the “Ellis Island of the West”

for European immigrants.● Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 has a loophole:

○ If you are the blood relative of someone already living in the United States, then you are allowed immigrate.

● 70% of all people held at Angel Island were Chinese.○ Immigrants could be held for days, weeks, months, and

sometimes even years while trying to immigrate to the U.S.