Between 1892 and 1954, this was the largest of all U.S. customs. Their numbers impressed, because during this period, some 12 million people passed through its facilities, mostly from Europe and the old continent.
The history of Ellis Island dates back to 1770 when Samuel Ellis becomes its owner.
Since 1812, the island passed to the U.S. Federal Government, who gave mostly military applications, but in 1890, becomes the principal office of the City of New York and a major immigration center country.
in 1954 when it lost this function to change the immigration system and was abandoned until 1965, when it was declared a National Monument.
Since 1990, houses the Museum of Immigration.
To understand and appreciate the significance of this museum, it is advisable to make a journey of 100 years in time and put us in a European port where we board a boat to sail with which we intend to cross the Atlantic in search of a better life across the ocean to take the American dream.
About a week later, we see the window of the boat, the silhouette of the Statue of Liberty and we started to hear screams and cries of joy from the hundreds of passengers they can almost touch hands with a future of progress and freedom, forgetting for a moment of moments of anguish and sadness for leaving behind family and homeland.
Nothing could be further from reality, as it was a very complex process that in many cases became reality in illusion and delusion on a hard blow to them back to whence they were expelled or who fled because of war and famine.
Upon arrival, began the disembarkation of passengers in first and second class, so that immigrants traveling in steerage, had to wait several hours until he finally received permission to disembark with their luggage, forming long queues at the entrance to the main building of the island.
then had to submit its documentation and pray that nothing was wrong or that the guard on duty to consider that someone of that nationality did not deserve to enter the country or suspected he was carrying some kind of disease.
Then came the physical evidence, a veritable sieve in which the mere fact of being crippled, have any tattoos, warts, or red eyes, the immigrant won many points to win a return trip so they were marked with a cross to undergo more medical tests.
In fact, most of the building was dedicated to a hospital where avails itself of that mass of people who needed a more thorough medical examination, although more than one hospital and due to the overcrowding of people, that was more like a concentration camp, as we see in this picture taken one of the information panels the museum.
The visit to the museum, you can see reconstructions of some of the rooms where they waited for days or even weeks to be visited by a doctor.
With a little luck, from a window that gave light to the room could see the Statue of Liberty giving encouragement and illuminating her torch their hopes of obtaining a visa that would open the gates of the land of dreams and opportunities.
Among the other tests they were subjected, were psychological examinations and interrogations that without a translator to help them understand and answer the questions, were not able to answer questions as simple as eg What is your name?, where does it come from?, Whither?, Do you have money or a contract of employment? ...
Finally, before getting the coveted visa, often ended up being questioned by a jury passed sentence by totally subjective judgments and even racist on many occasions, with the result that is subject to exceptional cases of families in which one of its members were not admitted and should return to their home country, mothers who had to leave their children, friends would be seen forced to break those ties forever.
According to statistics kept, only 3% of all immigrants were deported. It is a very high percentage, but they represent about 300,000 people of which nearly 3000 committed suicide rather than make the journey back home.
Back to the present, the museum has plenty of items left or lost by their owners. From dresses, furniture or documentation, even trunks kept inside the lifetime of some of the immigrants who traveled to the U.S. 100 years ago.
We also find some computers that we can find if any of our ancestors passed through Ellis Island on their journey from Europe to America, or where it appears many descendants of immigrants from each country is estimated that currently live in the U.S. .
A really interesting part, is dedicated to all the propaganda, posters, leaflets and other leaflets that praised the virtues of America at the expense of Europe, or where we can see the ads time that appeared in large cruise ships that plied the ocean between the two continents.
From a window, we have privileged views of the skyline of the city wrapped in a wet fog of late November, the only image that many succeeded in having the City skyscrapers.
Finally, from the ground up, we have an overview of all the main hall, and we can see in some photographs the various uses of this huge space, which has been home from a high to a hospital improvised.
It is precisely here, where many thousands of Europeans ended their American dream, where I put an end to the summary of my visits to New York City.
I thought it a good place to say goodbye to this amazing city around the meaning and the thousand and one stories that have passed between these four walls.
A place that could be considered the cradle of all the U.S., it is estimated that some 130 million Americans, nearly half of its total population, have been directly or indirectly through a family member to this place, so that All of them can be considered heirs of Ellis Island and authentic framers of the American dream.
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