- Emma Lazarus “The New Colossus” DO NOW: Read the quote below which was inscribed on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” - Emma Lazarus “The New Colossus” Based on “The New Colossus” why do you think this poem was chosen for the Statue of Liberty?

Questions of the Day: Why did so many people move to America? What was it like once they got here?

The Arrival: East Coast Ellis Island in New York Harbor opened up in 1890 and was known as the “Gate to America”. By 1910, 6 million immigrants had come through Ellis Island. They were given a medical exam, asked a series of questions about their background. http://www.ellisisland.org

The Arrival: West Coast Angel Island was the immigration station of the west coast. It was located in San Francisco, and was known as the “Ellis Island of the West.” Mainly Chinese immigrants came through this processing station.

The Arrival: South Mexican immigrants came to America in large numbers in the 1800’s. The main processing station was in El Paso, TX.

How were they processed? On Ellis Island: processing took hours or days On Angel Island: processing could take weeks or even months Immigrants were given medical exams Were asked a series of 29 background questions

How were they processed? Inspectors had just 2 minutes to complete the process Inspectors were impatient to determine foreign spellings Many immigrants had their last names changed

ELLIS ISLAND EXPLORATION http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/immigration/tour/index.htm