Angel Island Immigration Station

From 1910 to 1940, the Angel Island Immigration Station in California functioned as a Detention Center for people immigrating to the United States through the West Coast. Many of the people that passed through Angel Island came from Asia but also South America, Russia, Mexico, Australia, and Canada. Hundreds of inscriptions mark the walls of the former Immigration Station Detention Center including poems, names, dates, and images. Inscribed by detainees, the writing on the wall provides insight into the lives of those detained on the Island. The Angel Island Immigraiton Station is one of only two National Historic Landmarks in the United States focused on Asian and Asian American history.

angel island tour virtual

National Geographic Education Blog

Bring the spirit of exploration to your classroom.

angel island tour virtual

Virtual Tours Are Taking Off. Here’s How to Integrate Them Into Your Teaching

Educator James Fester wrote this post.

It is said that every place tells one story better than any other place.

As a volunteer educator at Angel Island State Park in San Francisco, I came to appreciate this more deeply. I was lucky to have such an excellent teaching environment. The park, which covers an island in the middle of San Francisco Bay, tells a multilayered story. It has been the site of Indigenous settlements, Civil War fortifications, World War II embarkation facilities, and the U.S.’s main West Coast immigration station from 1910 to 1940. The visitors who participated in my program were surrounded by an environment full of resources that I could leverage to illustrate my points and that they could explore to fulfill their own curiosity. I’d always wished I could duplicate in my classroom the kind of learning that took place in the park.

Fortunately, California State Parks developed the PORTS Home Learning Programs , which provide distance learning to students across the state. The creation of a virtual tour took this concept a step further, allowing students to explore parts of Angel Island on their own.

These resources weren’t unique to Angel Island, with many other parks and museums creating their own virtual experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic for learners of all sorts to use. Educational sites and organizations that previously catered to visiting student groups were forced to close down, but like classroom educators, they didn’t give up. Rather, they began rapidly adapting to distance learning, and the result was an explosion in virtual tours.

As a park volunteer, I saw this occur firsthand. The same pivoting that occurred in thousands of classrooms also happened at parks, zoos, museums, and aquariums across the United States, and the result was a rapid increase in interactive and virtual experiences that engaged students and promoted deeper thinking.

These kinds of resources aren’t backed up just by anecdotal evidence. Multiple studies have shown that the inclusion of virtual tours and trips in curriculum increases reading comprehension , helps promote global awareness among isolated or rural populations , and can be used to effectively engage and reduce dropout rates for at-risk populations of students .

However, even the fanciest website, with all sorts of interactive buttons, isn’t automatically a valuable learning experience. It is just a resource unless you pair it with a method. The tour needs to be supported by a framework that encourages the kinds of exploratory activities that give learners the opportunity to find and construct their own answers.

Creating activities that both incorporate virtual exploration and connect to the National Geographic Learning Framework can be done in a lot of different ways. Here are a few:

  • Similar to exploring a physical environment, exploring a virtual environment requires observation. For example, students learning about differences between how people live today and how people lived long ago might take this 3D tour of Hampton National Historic Site. They could record their observations in a Venn diagram or share them during an all-class discussion.
  • Students can be given a question or inquiry challenge, then can collaborate in pairs or small groups, discussing what they are learning as they navigate through an experience. For example, students can use this interactive tour of Carlsbad Caverns to learn about the site’s complex cave ecosystems, then get into small groups to construct annotated diagrams of ecosystem features based on what they learned.
  • Virtual tours help promote awareness of distant cultural resources and natural wonders. Without virtual tours, archeological marvels like Mesa Verde National Park were inaccessible to millions and millions of people. Now, through platforms like YouVisit , global audiences can experience this place and hopefully turn that awareness into empathy for its protection and preservation.
  • When virtual exploration is structured along inquiry-based lines, student curiosity becomes the driver, allowing for choice and interest to guide learning. Using a broad, open-ended question like “How do monuments communicate meaning?” and allowing students choice as they explore memorials and monuments helps them learn how sculpture and symbolism convey meaning. 3D models of locations like the Lincoln Memorial and Mount Rushmore help students stay engaged and investigate more deeply.

These great resources will get you started teaching with virtual tours:

  • Google Arts & Culture has an extensive collection of resources you can use to create immersive virtual experiences for students interested in exploring the natural and cultural wonders preserved by the National Park Service!
  • CyArk is a fantastic site that includes amazing virtual tours that are navigable and narrated, as well as terrific 3D models that are manipulable. They also curate great collections, like this collection focusing on social justice and equal rights .
  • The National Park Service provides a multitude of options for exploring virtually. Visit their website for a selection of virtual tours and multimedia resources, or check out the Virtual Passport Cancellation activities offered by a nonprofit partner of the park service.
  • Finally, my COVID-19 Remote Learning Emergency Fund project, funded by the National Geographic Society, allowed me to create resources that can be used by any teacher to develop their own Google-powered virtual tours and explorations! I wanted to create exemplary virtual tours that could be used either on their own or by teachers interested in making their own virtual tours. Check out my webpage to learn more about how to build your own virtual interpretive tours!

For more on the National Geographic Learning Framework, read the overview on nationalgeographic.org and enroll in our free, 90-minute mini-course “ Developing a National Geographic Explorer Mindset with Your Learners ,” open now.

James Fester is a consultant and author passionate about project-based learning (PBL) and experiential learning. His educational experience includes classroom teaching, instructional coaching, technology integration, and, most recently, serving as a member of the PBLWorks National Faculty. In addition to his consulting work, James is a National Park Service volunteer who collaborates on educational programs for parks across the country. His writing has been featured by National Geographic, TED-Ed, KQED, and in a recent book on PBL and environmental science published by ISTE . He currently resides in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota. Learn more about his work or how to work with him on his website !

This post references a project made possible in part by an award from the National Geographic Society’s COVID-19 Remote Learning Emergency Fund for Educators .

In the featured image, a caver lights up a gypsum chandelier in Carlsbad Caverns National Park, one of several parks educators and students can experience in a virtual tour hosted by Google Arts & Culture. (Dr. Jean K. Krejca, Zara Environmental LLC – For Public Use)

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Chinese American Museum of Chicago

Vitual tour of angel island.

Join Angel Island State Park and Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation for this Home Learning Program (recorded on May 5, 2022). Learn more about the history of Angel Island Immigration Station and learn some fun facts about Asian and Pacific American communities. The month of May is recognized as Asian and Pacific American Heritage Month. Watch the full video here .

  • Getting There
  • To Do and See
  • Live Webcam
  • Natural History
  • Military History
  • Cultural History
  • Initiatives
  • Amazon Smile

How do we facilitate the bond and the love that will inspire ongoing stewardship for Angel Island?

We believe that learning opportunities extend far beyond the classroom, but many schools find it more and more difficult to bring students to museums, historical sites, and cultural organizations. And it’s even more challenging when your destination is an island in the middle of San Francisco Bay. Our field trip grants help give children these unique, firsthand learning experiences.

The Overnight Living History Program (also known as the Environmental Living Program or ELP) gives students a chance to role-play the life of Union artillery soldiers stationed at Camp Reynolds on Angel Island during the Civil War. Through hands-on experience, students learn what life was like for 24-hours in a typical soldier's day, including activities such as baking bread and finishing with a cannon firing before they depart. (A mandatory Teacher Training Weekend is held in September)

Program Capacity: 20-44 People (No more than 11 adults) Program Length: 24 hours Program Availability: September to mid-June.

Appropriate for 4th, 5th, and 8th grade levels.

Additional Information: Plan for a 30-minute walk one-way (1 mile) to the site from Ayala Cove. Applications go out in early spring for the following school year. For more information about this program, contact the program coordinator at: [email protected]

The ELP Manual can be found HERE .

If you would like to support the Living History Program, visit our join+give page!

The Programs Committee runs AIC's Title-1 School Scholarship Program to help bring low-income schools to this island on field trips. If you are from a Title-1 School please apply by following this link and filling out the form. Angel Island Field Trip Scholarship Application

To date, because of generous donations from individuals and Corporate grants, AIC has awarded "scholarships" to over 2,000 students and their 360 chaperones.

Angel Island Conservancy (AIC) seeks to engage, educate, and inspire the next generation of youth through its Student Service-Learning Scholarship Program.

This program enables disadvantaged youth from qualifying low-income Title I schools to visit Angel Island State Park for educational and recreational purposes, as well as to participate in volunteer service opportunities in which they help to restore and maintain this unique environment.

The desired outcome of this program is to develop an awareness, appreciation, and a connection to nature and history, and to provide a hands-on experience contributing to restoring and maintaining, and hopefully sparking a desire to continue caring for one of the Bay Area’s most treasured resources.

The Scholarship Programs are run by Angel Island State Park Interpreters and include the following choices:

- Tour of the United States Immigration Station - Camp Reynolds Guided Tour - Fort McDowell Guided Tour - Explorer’s Tour in Ayala Cove

RESERVATIONS:

Please contact the Angel Island State Park Tour Coordinator

(415) 435-5537 or email them at [email protected]

Volunteer groups play an increasingly important role in enhancing, maintaining, and restoring our California State Parks. At Angel Island State Park, we welcome your interest and support in caring for the Island’s environment while preserving its history. Please contact the park if you have a group of 15 or more people, ages 12 years or older who would like to do a one-day volunteer project. Projects will be chosen based on park needs and staff availability. One adult for every 5 youth is required. All tools provided.

CONTACT & INFO:

Please reach out to us at [email protected] or 415-435-5537 and provide us with the following:

-Group name

-Requested Date

-Alternate Date

-Number of youth

-Number of adults

-Grade level

-Ferry (Tiburon or San Francisco)

-If group is planning to stay for the day only or camping overnight

If camping please make a site reservation through www.reservecalifornia.com before requesting a service project. Please share the date of arrival and date of departure with us.

Program Topic: Immigration Stories told from Angel Island State Park

General Description: The walls of the detention barracks at the US Immigration Station, Angel Island are filled with poetry, written and carved by immigrants expressing their feelings of frustration, anger, and hope.

Historically called the “Guardian of the Western Gate” by staff, the U.S. Immigration Station, second in size only to Ellis Island in New York, was built to enforce immigration laws like the Chinese Exclusion Act. People from over 80 countries, were detained on Angel Island between 1910-1940, the largest groups were immigrants from China, Japan, Russia, and India.

Students go on a virtual tour of the detention barracks and learn about the people, poetry, and history of immigration on Angel Island.

To learn more visit the California State Park website at www.parks.ca.gov/ports

Our Community. Our Island. Our Legacy.

Angel Island Conservancy // PO Box 866 / Tiburon / CA 94920 // [email protected] // Tax ID No. 51-0152954 // FACEBOOK // FLICKR // INSTAGRAM

Immigration | Stories of Yesterday and Today

A new land 1492-1790.

angel island tour virtual

Expanding America 1790-1880

The american dream 1880-1930, a place of refuge 1930-1965.

angel island tour virtual

Building a Modern America 1965-Today

The beautiful land of the New World amazed the European explorers who arrived on North American shores around 1500. They realized the economic possibilities of the fertile soil and many natural resources. In the 17th century, Europeans established successful permanent settlements in what is now the United States. The European settlers soon dominated the Native American civilizations, which had existed for thousands of years. The major European powers (including England, Spain, and France) established colonies,

which are lands controlled by a faraway government. The people who lived in the colonies were called colonists. Enduring great hardship, the colonists built new communities in the New World

The Explorers

In 1492, Christopher Columbus, an Italian explorer and excellent sailor, crossed the Atlantic Ocean in search of a shorter trade route to Asia. After more than two months at sea, he landed in the Bahamas in the Caribbean islands. Although Columbus never reached the mainland of North America, he had discovered the gateway to a vast continent unexplored by Europeans. Columbus returned to Europe believing he had reached previously unknown islands in Asia. Word of the new route spread in Europe. Over the next few decades, other explorers followed in Columbus's wake, hoping to take advantage of the shortcut to Asia. It would be another Italian explorer, named Amerigo Vespucci, who realized that what had actually been discovered was a continent unknown to Europeans. He called it the New World.

angel island tour virtual

New Settlements

European nations—including Spain, France, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, and England—vied to claim pieces of the new land. In the 1600s, England founded colonies along the Atlantic seaboard, from what is now New Hampshire to Georgia. These original 13 colonies would eventually become the United States of America. Spain founded a colony at Saint Augustine, Florida, as early as 1565 and would go on to claim parts of what are now the states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. France established colonies along the Saint Lawrence River, in what is now Canada; and also in the southern part of North America, in the region that is now Louisiana. The Dutch began the settlement of New Amersterdam on the southern tip of what is now Manhattan Island, home to part of New York City. The European countries often fought each over ownership of the new land; more land meant more power and economic opportunity.

angel island tour virtual

Jamestown Succeeds

In 1607, England sent 100 men to America to found a new colony. The colony was named Jamestown after King James I and was located on the coast of what is now Virginia. It would become the first English colony to succeed in America, but its beginning was exceptionally difficult. The colonists were hoping to find gold easily, but didn't. And tragically, they hadn't anticipated how hard it would be to survive in the New World. More than half of the settlers died in the first year because of the harsh winters, poor planning, and disease. But under the leadership of the colonist John Smith, the colony began to succeed. They grew tobacco, which was sent back to England and sold for profit. With the profit, the colonists had the money to plant other crops, such as wheat, grapes, and corn, which is a food native to North America. By 1620, Jamestown plus other settlements that sprang up nearby had a population of about 4,000. The colony was thriving. This economic success gave England a powerful interest in protecting its foothold in the New World.

angel island tour virtual

Slavery Begins

Africans first arrived in North America in 1619. In that year, 20 African people were brought to the Jamestown colony aboard a Dutch warship. They were slaves. They had been taken from their homes in Africa by force. They were beaten and enchained by men carrying weapons. Over the next almost 200 years, hundreds of thousands of Africans would be brought to America as slaves to work on plantations, especially to grow tobacco. By the end of the colonial period, Africans numbered about 500,000 and formed about 20 percent of the population of the United States.

angel island tour virtual

The Pilgrims

Some colonies were formed because people wanted to escape religious persecution in Europe. In 17th century England, two groups of Christians, the Catholics and the Anglicans, were arguing over what religion and church should be the true church of England. Some of the Anglicans, called Puritans, thought that there should be more distinction between their Church of England and the Catholic Church. Some Puritans, called the Separatists, didn't want to belong to the Church of England at all anymore. King James, who was the head of the Church of England, would not allow the Separatists to practice religion on their own. To escape the situation in England, a small group of Separatists left Europe on the Mayflower ship. In 1620, the ship landed at what is now Plymouth, Massachusetts, carrying 102 passengers. Many were Separatists, who became known as the Pilgrims. They established Plymouth Colony. After the Pilgrims, many more people flocked to the new colonies for religious reasons: About 200,000 Puritans emigrated from England during the years 1620 to 1641.

angel island tour virtual

Religious Freedom

After the Pilgrims, many other immigrants came to America for the religious freedom it offered. The colony of Maryland was founded in 1634 as a refuge for Catholics, who were persecuted in England in the 17th century. In 1681, William Penn began a Quaker colony in the land that was later named after him: Pennsylvania. The main settlement was Philadelphia, which prospered through farming and commerce. In 1685, 14,000 Huguenots who were persecuted in France also joined the growing English colonies.

angel island tour virtual

Expanding Colonies

Early immigrants to America settled up and down the East Coast. Farming was difficult in the rocky soil of New England, so people grew only enough food for their families to live on. This is called subsistence farming. They also became fishermen, fishing cod in the Atlantic Ocean and selling it to the European markets. As they needed good ships for fishing, they started making them, becoming successful shipbuilders. In the South, where farming was easier, colonists started large plantations to grow crops, such as tobacco, rice, and indigo. Indigo was a rich blue dye, mainly used for dyeing textiles. Plantations depended on the free labor of the slaves. Many more slaves were forced to come to America to meet the demand for labor. By the time of the Revolutionary War, about 2.5 million people lived in the colonies, including approximately 450,000 Africans; 200,000 Irish; 500,000 Scottish and Scotch-Irish; 140,000 Germans; and 12,000 French.

As the colonies grew, people began to look past the natural barrier of the Appalachian Mountains. They moved west into the frontier lands, in what is now Ohio, and beyond.

angel island tour virtual

A New Nation

The colonies grew prosperous and the population increased. Between the time of the first settlements and the Revolutionary War, about seven generations of people were born in America. Many of them no longer wanted to be ruled by the English throne. And they didn't want to pay taxes to the English government when they had no colonial representation in the Parliament. They became known as Patriots, or Whigs, and they included Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. The Loyalists were colonists who wanted to remain part of England. The Patriots and Loyalists were bitterly divided on the issue. In 1776, the Continental Congress, a group of leaders from each of the 13 colonies, issued the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration stated that the United States of America was its own country. The Patriots fought England in the Revolutionary War to gain independence for the colonies.

In 1783, with the help of the French, who had joined their side, the colonists won the war. The United States of America was a new nation. The new government conducted a census, or count, of everyone living in the United States. At the time of the first census in 1790, nearly 700,00 Africans and 3 million Europeans lived in the new United States.

angel island tour virtual

  • The Americas

In the decades after the Revolutionary War, the 13 original colonies grew to include states stretching from Maine in the north to Louisiana in the south; from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to Illinois in the west. As a new nation, the United States of America thrived. By 1820, the population had grown to nearly 10 million people. The quality of life for ordinary people was improving. People were moving west, creating towns along the route of the Transcontinental Railroad, which connected the entire country by rail, east to west, for the first time.

The prosperous young country lured Europeans who were struggling with population growth, land redistribution, and industrialization, which had changed the traditional way of life for peasants. These people wanted to escape poverty and hardship in their home countries. More than 8 million would come to the United States from 1820 to 1880.

Slavery Continues

At the turn of the 19th century, more than 1 million African Americans lived in the United States. As slaves, they were not considered citizens. Large farms and plantations depended on the free labor they provided in fields and homes. It was difficult, backbreaking work. In 1808, the United States government banned the importation of enslaved people into the country, although the practice did continue illegally. Slavery, however, was not abolished for nearly 60 more years.

angel island tour virtual

The Irish and Germans

In the early and mid-19th century, nearly all of the immigrants coming to the United States arrived from northern and western Europe. In 1860, seven out of 10 foreign-born people in the United States were Irish or German. Most of the Irish were coming from poor circumstances. With little money to travel any further, they stayed in the cities where they arrived, such as Boston and New York City. More than 2,335,000 Irish arrived between 1820 and 1870. The Germans who came during the time period were often better off than the Irish were. They had enough money to journey to the Midwestern cities, such as Chicago, Cincinnati, and St. Louis, or to claim farmland. More than 2,200,000 Germans arrived between 1820 and 1870.

angel island tour virtual

The Irish Potato Famine

In 1845, a famine began in Ireland. A potato fungus, also called blight, ruined the potato crop for several years in a row. Potatoes were a central part of the Irish diet, so hundreds of thousands of people now didn't have enough to eat. At the same time of the famine, diseases, such as cholera, were spreading. Starvation and disease killed more than a million people. These extreme conditions caused mass immigration of Irish people to the United States. Between 1846 and 1852, more than a million Irish are estimated to have arrived in America. The men found jobs building railroads, digging canals, and working in factories; they also became policemen and firemen. Irish women often worked as domestic servants. Even after the famine ended, Irish people continued to come to America in search of a better life. More than 3.5 million Irish in total had arrived by 1880.

angel island tour virtual

Civil War and the End of Slavery

In the early 1860s, the United States was in crisis. The Northern states and Southern states could not agree on the issue of slavery. Most people in the Northern states thought slavery was wrong. People in South, where the plantations depended on slavery, wanted to continue the practice. In 1861, the Civil War began between the North and South. It would be an extremely bloody war; over 600,000 people would die in the fighting. Many immigrants fought in the war. Since immigrants had settled mostly in the North, where factories provided jobs and small farms were available, hundreds of thousands of foreign-born men fought for the Union. In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared that all the slaves in the rebelling Southern states were free. It was the beginning of the end of slavery.

To ensure that the abolishment of slavery was permanent, Congress passed the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which outlawed slavery throughout the United States. The 14th Amendment, adopted in 1868, declared that African Americans were citizens of the United States. In 1870, African Americans numbered almost 5 million and made up 12.7 percent of the U.S. population.

angel island tour virtual

The Homestead Act

In the late 19th century, America was looking west. People began moving away from the now crowded Eastern cities. Some were motivated by the Homestead Act of 1862, which offered free land from the government. The government offered to give 160 acres of land—considered a good size for a single family to farm—in areas including Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas, and Nebraska. Homesteaders were required to stay on the land, build a home, and farm the land for five years. The offer attracted migrants from inside the country—and waves of more immigrants from Europe. For example, many people from Sweden, where land was extremely scarce, were drawn to come to the United States. These brave settlers worked hard to start a new life on the frontier. Though life was difficult, many succeeded.

angel island tour virtual

The Transcontinental Railroad

The Transcontinental Railroad was a massive construction project that linked the country by rail from east to west. The railway was built entirely by hand during a six-year period, with construction often continuing around the clock. Chinese and Irish immigrants were vital to the project. In 1868, Chinese immigrants made up about 80 percent of the workforce of the Central Pacific Railroad, one of the companies building the railway. The workers of the Union Pacific Railroad, another company that built the railroad, were mostly Irish immigrants. These railroad workers labored under dangerous conditions, often risking their lives. After the Transatlantic Railroad was completed, cities and towns sprung up all along its path, and immigrants moved to these new communities. The Transcontinental Railroad was a radical improvement in travel in the United States; after its completion, the trip from East Coast to West Coast, which once took months, could be made in five days.

angel island tour virtual

By 1880, America was booming. The image of America as a land of promise attracted people from all over the world. On the East Coast, Ellis Island welcomed new immigrants, largely from Europe. America was "the golden door," a metaphor for a prosperous society that welcomed immigrants. Asian immigrants, however, didn't have the same experience as European immigrants. They were the focus of one of the first major pieces of legislation on immigration. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 severely restricted immigration from China.

And the 1907 "Gentlemen's Agreement" between Japan and the United States was an informal agreement that limited immigration from Japan. Despite those limitations, nearly 30 million immigrants arrived from around the world during this great wave of immigration, more than at any time before.

Ellis Island

In 1892, President Benjamin Harrison designated Ellis Island in New York Harbor as the nation's first immigration station. At the time, people traveled across the Atlantic Ocean by steamship to the bustling port of New York City. The trip took one to two weeks, much faster than in the past (when sailing ships were the mode of transportation), a fact that helped fuel the major wave of immigration. For many immigrants, one of their first sights in America was the welcoming beacon of the Statue of Liberty, which was dedicated in 1886. Immigrants were taken from their ships to be processed at Ellis Island before they could enter the country. About 12 million immigrants would pass through Ellis Island during the time of its operation, from 1892 to 1954. Many of them were from Southern and Eastern Europe. They included Russians, Italians, Slavs, Jews, Greeks, Poles, Serbs, and Turks. Explore the Ellis Island Interactive Tour

angel island tour virtual

Bursting Cities

New immigrants flooded into cities. In places like New York and Chicago, groups of immigrants chose to live and work near others from their home countries. Whole neighborhoods or blocks could be populated with people from the same country. Small pockets of America would be nicknamed "Little Italy" or "Chinatown." Immigrants often lived in poor areas of the city. In New York, for example, whole families crowded into tiny apartments in tenement buildings on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Many organizations were formed to try to help the new immigrants adjust to life in America. Settlement houses, such as Hull House in Chicago, and religious-based organizations worked to help the immigrants learn English and life skills, such as cooking and sewing.

angel island tour virtual

Angel Island

On the West Coast, Asian immigrants were processed at Angel Island, often called the "Ellis Island of the West." Angel Island, which lies off the coast of San Francisco, opened in 1910. Although the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 restricted immigration, 175,000 Chinese came through Angel Island over a period of three decades. They were overwhelmingly the main group processed here: In fact, 97 percent of the immigrants who passed through Angel Island were from China. Explore the Angel Island Activity

angel island tour virtual

Building America

Many of the immigrants who arrived in the early 20th century were poor and hardworking. They took jobs paving streets, laying gas lines, digging subway tunnels, and building bridges and skyscrapers. They also got jobs in America's new factories, where conditions could be dangerous, making shoes, clothing, and glass products. Immigrants fueled the lumber industry in the Pacific Northwest, the mining industry in the West, and steel manufacturing in the Midwest. They went to the territory of Hawaii to work on sugar cane plantations. Eventually, they bargained for better wages and improved worker safety. They were on the road to becoming America's middle class.

angel island tour virtual

By the 1920s, America had absorbed millions of new immigrants. The country had just fought in the "Great War", as World War I was known then. People became suspicious of foreigners' motivations. Some native-born Americans started to express their dislike of foreign-born people. They were fearful that immigrants would take the available jobs. Some Americans weren't used to interacting with people who spoke different languages, practiced a different religion, or were a different race. Racism, anti-Semitism, and xenophobia (fear and hatred of foreigners) were the unfortunate result. In 1924, Congress passed the National Origins Act. It placed restrictions and quotas on who could enter the country. The annual quotas limited immigration from any country to 3 percent of the number of people from that country who were living in the United States in 1890. The effect was to exclude Asians, Jews, blacks, and non-English speakers.

angel island tour virtual

The Great Depression and War in Europe

In the 1930s, the country was going through the Great Depression, a terrible period of economic hardship. People were out of work, hungry, and extremely poor. Few immigrants came during this period; in fact, many people returned to their home countries. Half a million Mexicans left, for example, in what was known as the Mexican Repatriation. Unfortunately, many of those Mexicans were forced to leave by the U.S. government. In 1933, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) was formed. It still exists today. In 1938, World War II started in Europe. America was again concerned about protecting itself. Fears about foreign-born people continued to grow. As a result of the turmoil in the 1930s, immigration figures dropped dramatically from where they had been in previous decades. In the 1920s, approximately 4,300,000 immigrants came to the United States; in the 1930s, fewer than 700,000 arrived.

angel island tour virtual

World War II and the Postwar Period

The United States entered World War II in 1942. During the war, immigration decreased. There was fighting in Europe, transportation was interrupted, and the American consulates weren't open. Fewer than 10 percent of the immigration quotas from Europe were used from 1942 to 1945. In many ways, the country was still fearful of the influence of foreign-born people. The United States was fighting Germany, Italy, and Japan (also known as the Axis Powers), and the U.S. government decided it would detain certain resident aliens of those countries. (Resident aliens are people who are living permanently in the United States but are not citizens.) Oftentimes, there was no reason for these people to be detained, other than fear and racism. Beginning in 1942, the government even detained American citizens who were ethnically Japanese. The government did this despite the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, which says "nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty or property without the due process of law."

Also because of the war, the Chinese Exclusion Act was repealed in 1943. China had quickly become an important ally of the United States against Japan; therefore, the U.S. government did away with the offensive law. Chinese immigrants could once again legally enter the country, although they did so only in small numbers for the next couple of decades. After World War II, the economy began to improve in the United States. Many people wanted to leave war-torn Europe and come to America. President Harry S. Truman urged the government to help the "appalling dislocation" of hundreds of thousands of Europeans. In 1945, Truman said, "everything possible should be done at once to facilitate the entrance of some of these displaced persons and refugees into the United States. " On January 7, 1948, Truman urged Congress to "pass suitable legislation at once so that this Nation may do its share in caring for homeless and suffering refugees of all faiths.

I believe that the admission of these persons will add to the strength and energy of the Nation." Congress passed the Displaced Persons Act of 1948. It allowed for refugees to come to the United States who otherwise wouldn't have been allowed to enter under existing immigration law. The Act marked the beginning of a period of refugee immigration.

angel island tour virtual

The Cold War Begins

In 1953, the Refugee Relief Act was passed to replace the Displaced Persons Act of 1948, which had expired. It also allowed non-Europeans to come to the United States as refugees. The Refugee Relief Act also reflected the U.S. government's concern with Communism, a political ideology that was gaining popularity in the world, particularly in the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union was also controlling the governments of other countries. The Act allowed people fleeing from those countries to enter the United States. When he signed the Act, President Dwight D. Eisenhower said, "This action demonstrates again America's traditional concern for the homeless, the persecuted, and the less fortunate of other lands. It is a dramatic contrast to the tragic events taking place in East Germany and in other captive nations." By "captive nations," Eisenhower meant countries being dominated by the Soviet Union.

In 1956, there was a revolution in Hungary in which the people protested the Soviet-controlled government. Many people fled the country during the short revolution. They were known as "fifty-sixers". About 36,000 Hungarians came to the United States during this time. Some of their countrymen also moved to Canada. In 1959, Cuba experienced a revolution, and Fidel Castro took over the government. His dictatorship aligned itself with the Soviet Union. More than 200,000 Cubans left their country in the years after the revolution; many of them settled in Florida.

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Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965

In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the 1965 Immigration and Naturalization Act, also known as the Hart-Celler Act. This act repealed the quota system based on national origins that had been in place since 1921. This was the most significant change to immigration policy in decades. Instead of quotas, immigration policy was now based on a preference for reuniting families and bringing highly skilled workers to the United States. This was a change because in the past, many immigrants were less skilled and less educated than the average American worker. In the modern period, many immigrants would be doctors, scientists, and high-tech workers. Because Europe was recovering from the war, fewer Europeans were deciding to move to America. But people from the rest of world were eager to move here. Asians and Latin Americans, in particular, were significant groups in the new wave of immigration. Within five years after the act was signed, for example, Asian immigration had doubled.

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Vietnamese Immigration and the Refugee Act

During the 1960s and 1970s, America was involved in a war in Vietnam. Vietnam is located in Southeast Asia, on the Indochina peninsula. From the 1950s into the 1970s there was a great deal of conflict in the area. After the war, Vietnamese refugees started coming to the United States. During the 1970s, about 120,000 Vietnamese came, and hundreds of thousands more continued to arrive during the next two decades. In 1980, the government passed the Refugee Act, a law that was meant specifically to help refugees who needed to come to the country. Refugees come because they fear persecution due to their race, religion, political beliefs, or other reasons. The United States and other countries signed treaties, or legal agreements, that said they should help refugees. The Refugee Act protected this type of immigrant's right to come to America.

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Latin American Immigration

During the 1980s, waves of immigrants arrived from Central America, the Caribbean, and South America. Hundreds of thousands of people came just from Cuba, fleeing the oppressive dictatorship of Fidel Castro. This was a significant new wave of immigrants: During the 1980s, 8 million immigrants came from Latin America, a number nearly equal to the total figure of European immigrants who came to the United States from 1900 to 1910, when European immigration was at a high point. The new immigrants changed the makeup of America: By 1990, Latinos in the United States were about 11.2 percent of the total population.

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A Multicultural America

Since 1990, immigration has been increasing. It is at its highest point in America's history. In both the 1990s and 2000s, around 10 million new immigrants came to the United States. The previous record was from 1900 to 1910, when around 8 million immigrants arrived. In 2000, the foreign-born population of the United States was 28.4 million people. Also in that year, California became the first state in which no one ethnic group made up a majority. Today, more than 80 percent of immigrants in the United States are Latin American or Asian. By comparison, as recently as the 1950s, two-thirds of all immigrants to the United States came from Europe or Canada.

The main countries of origin for immigrants today are Mexico, the Philippines, China, Cuba, and India. About 1 in 10 residents of the United States is foreign-born. Today, the United States is a truly multicultural society.

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  • Explore Ellis Island
  • Meet Young Immigrants
  • Immigration Data
  • Virtual Field Trip To Ellis Island

Interactive Tour of Ellis Island

1st stop the passage, did you know.

  • Emigrant and immigrant are related words Learn more
  • The invention of steamships transformed immigration Learn more

Most of the immigrants who came to America through Ellis Island were from eastern and southern Europe. In many cases, they came to escape the poverty and religious intolerance that existed in small towns in countries such as Italy, Poland, and Russia.

They began their journey to America on foot, horseback, or train. Many trekked hundreds of miles across Europe to get to a seaport. When they arrived at the coast, they boarded a steamship.

The trip across the Atlantic Ocean lasted one to two weeks. The ships divided passengers by wealth and class. First- and second-class passengers stayed in staterooms and cabins. But most people were in third class, called "steerage." Steerage was a large, open space at the bottom of the ship.

As many as 3,000 people crowded the ships. They often came from different countries, spoke different languages, and belonged to different religions.

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Traveling in Europe was often difficult. People sometimes had to walk far distances, carrying their possessions with them.

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Immigrants traveled from Europe to America by steamship.

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Ships were crowded with thousands of passengers.

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Children wave the flag of their new country.

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Passengers make time for dancing aboard the ship.

Photo: The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, Inc./National Park Service

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Emigrant and immigrant are related words

An emigrant is someone who leaves her home country to settle in another country. An immigrant is someone who has come from another country to settle in a new place, usually permanently.

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The invention of steamships transformed immigration

Before the invention of steamships, people took sailing ships to come to America. The trip could take anywhere from one to six months! On steamships, tickets were less expensive and the trip was shorter, which helped prevent diseases from spreading onboard. So many more people decided to make the trip.

IMAGES

  1. Guide to Visiting Angel Island in San Francisco Bay

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  2. Guide to Visiting Angel Island in San Francisco Bay

    angel island tour virtual

  3. Guide to Visiting Angel Island in San Francisco Bay

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  4. What to Do In Angel Island

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  5. Round-Trip Angel Island: A Devil of a Swim · Evan Morrison

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  6. Angel Island Getting Out

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VIDEO

  1. [TAS] SRB2

COMMENTS

  1. AIIM Virtual Exhibition

    The Angel Island Immigration Museum (AIIM) is a place where visitors can explore the full complexity of immigration to the United States through the Pacific Coast. Housed in the former hospital building, the museum presents personal stories, immigration policies, and social issues from both historic and contemporary times.

  2. Plan Your Visit

    Now, you have an opportunity to walk in their footsteps by visiting the Angel Island Immigration Station, once known as the "Ellis Island of the West," located in the heart of San Francisco Bay. ... Visit the AIIM Virtual Exhibition (Free) Self-Guided Tour of the Immigration Station Site (Free) Virtual Tour of the Detention Barracks Museum ...

  3. Field Trips

    Tours of the Immigration Station are led by Angel Island State Parks staff or volunteers and are approximately 1 hour in length. The site can accommodate 90 people (approximately 3 classes). School Tour Information Museum Hours: Wednesday to Sunday, 11:00am - 2:30pm Departure Times: See ferry websites for the most current schedule

  4. Immigration Station and Angel Island Tour Information

    OTHER TOUR & PROGRAM DESCRIPTIONS. American Civil War Living History School Program (ELP) DESCRIPTION: The Overnight Living History Program (also known as the Environmental Living Program or ELP) gives students a chance to role-play the life of Union artillery soldiers stationed at Camp Reynolds on Angel Island during the Civil War.Through hands-on experience, students learn what life was like ...

  5. Angel Island Immigration Station: Guided Tour

    This virtual experience was made possible through 3D data gathered at Angel Island State Park in the San Francisco Bay. The project was a collaboration between CyArk—a non-profit dedicated to digitally preserving the world's heritage sites—California State Parks, and the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation.

  6. Angel Island Immigration Station

    Home Who we are What we do Projects 3D Virtual Tours. Newsletter Donate. Guided Tours 3D Explorer Resources ... From 1910 to 1940, the Angel Island Immigration Station in California functioned as a Detention Center for people immigrating to the United States through the West Coast. Many of the people that passed through Angel Island came from ...

  7. Angel Island Immigration Station: 3D-explorer

    Angel Island Immigration Station: 3D-explorer | CyArk. Exhibit Video Guided Tours 3D Explorer Resources Lesson Plans Open Heritage.

  8. Angel Island Immigration Station Tour

    Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation Presents a tour of the historical venue that processed tens of thousands of immigrants traveling across the Pacif...

  9. U.S. Immigration Station Tours « Angel Island Conservancy

    Please contact the Angel Island State Park Tour Coordinator or call (415) 435-5537 for available guided tour dates and times. Upon arrival, please check-in with park staff at the Immigration Station Barracks admissions desk, located at the top of the long staircase (near the main Barracks entrance) to verify where your tour will begin.

  10. Angel Island Virtual Tour

    The Immigration Station at Angel Island served as an immigration port between 1910 and 1940, designed to process Chinese immigrants whose entry was restricte...

  11. AIISF's Virtual Gallery

    Now, you can explore the Detention Barracks Museum from home! Casey Dexter-Lee from Angel Island State Park will guide you through 24 points of interest around the U.S. Immigration Station site. Discover immigrant poetry on the tour, view a short exhibition on Angel Island's history, download lesson plans, and more with Cyark's 3D Barracks ...

  12. Jun 9: Angel Island Virtual Tour

    Join the Chinese American Museum of Chicago and the Angel Island State Park for a virtual tour on Wednesday, June 9, 2021 from 6:00 - 7:00pm CTT (4:00 - 5:00pm PT). The tour will be led by State Park Interpreter II Casey Dexter-Lee.The Immigration Station at Angel Island served as an immigration port between 1910….

  13. Angel Island SP

    Angel Island Café, Bike Rentals, Tram Tours, for schedule: angelisland.com . About The Island. Angel Island State Park, the largest natural island in the San Francisco Bay, offers some of the best views of the surrounding Bay Area. With great hiking trails and many other recreational opportunities readily available, Angel Island is truly a ...

  14. Ellis Island Interactive Tour With Facts, Pictures, Video

    Learn about immigration on Ellis Island in this interactive, virtual tour. Facts about immigration, pictures of Ellis Island, oral histories, and videos help explain the immigration process to kids. ... Asian immigrants were processed at Angel Island, often called the "Ellis Island of the West." Angel Island, which lies off the coast of San ...

  15. Virtual Tours Are Taking Off. Here's How to Integrate Them Into Your

    The creation of a virtual tour took this concept a step further, allowing students to explore parts of Angel Island on their own. These resources weren't unique to Angel Island, with many other parks and museums creating their own virtual experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic for learners of all sorts to use.

  16. Vitual Tour of Angel Island

    Join Angel Island State Park and Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation for this Home Learning Program (recorded on May 5, 2022). Learn more about the history of Angel Island Immigration Station and learn some fun facts about Asian and Pacific American communities. The month of May is recognized as Asian and Pacific American Heritage Month.…

  17. Angel Island Immigration Station

    CONNECT WITH US Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation 870 Market Street, Suite 901, San Francisco, CA 94102 415-658-7691 • [email protected]

  18. Programs « Angel Island Conservancy

    People from over 80 countries, were detained on Angel Island between 1910-1940, the largest groups were immigrants from China, Japan, Russia, and India. Students go on a virtual tour of the detention barracks and learn about the people, poetry, and history of immigration on Angel Island.

  19. Students Discover Immigration History Through Field Trips and Virtual

    CONNECT WITH US Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation 870 Market Street, Suite 901, San Francisco, CA 94102 415-658-7691 • [email protected]

  20. Angel Island Company

    Ride the ferry from San Francisco or Tiburon to experience one of the most beautiful and history rich islands in the San Francisco Bay—Angel Island State Park. This hidden gem is a wonderful destination for fun, adventure, and American history. Experience expansive breathtaking 360 degree views of the bay area-San Francisco skyline, Golden ...

  21. Welcome to Immigration

    Angel Island. On the West Coast, Asian immigrants were processed at Angel Island, often called the "Ellis Island of the West." Angel Island, which lies off the coast of San Francisco, opened in 1910. Although the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 restricted immigration, 175,000 Chinese came through Angel Island over a period of three decades.

  22. Angel Island Immigration Station

    Home Who we are What we do Projects 3D Virtual Tours. Newsletter Donate. Guided Tours 3D Explorer Resources Lesson Plans ... From 1910 to 1940, the Angel Island Immigration Station in California functioned as a Detention Center for people immigrating to the United States through the West Coast. Many of the people that passed through Angel ...

  23. PORTS

    CONNECT WITH US Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation 870 Market Street, Suite 901, San Francisco, CA 94102 415-658-7691 • [email protected]