US History

The Emergence of Modern America (1890-1930)

Asian Americans

Migration

This collection uses primary sources to explore Asian immigration through the Angel Island Immigration Station between 1910 and 1940.

Teaching Guide: Exploring the Angel Island Immigration Station

A 1901 letter from a Los Angeles banker asking US Secretary of State John Hay to reconsider a portion of the Chinese Exclusion Act.

A letter from a Sing Fat & Company executive asking immigration officials to cancel sponsorship for two employees, 1905.

An excerpt from *Angel Island: The Ellis Island of the West* by Mary Bamford, 1917.

A photograph of immigrants arriving at Angel Island, 1939.

A photograph of young immigrants standing outside Angel Island’s hospital, 1923.

A photograph of an Angel Island dormitory room as it looked when the immigration station was in use, 2003.

A photograph of immigration officials interviewing an Angel Island detainee, 1923.

A photograph of a missionary conducting an English lesson for a group of immigrant women, 1933.

A photograph of a Chinese poem carved into an Angel Island dormitory wall by a detainee.

A photograph of the Lee family, including their “paper son,” in San Francisco, ca. 1920.

A photograph of the Angel Island administration building soon before the station’s closure, 1930s.

A photograph of the Angel Island administration building on fire, August 12, 1940.

A photograph of a note left by a Japanese prisoner of war held at Angel Island during World War II.

A poster advertising a San Francisco art gallery’s exhibition about the Chinese experience at Angel Island, 1976.

A photograph of a former Angel Island detainee returning with his family, 2003.

Resources

1. [Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation](https://www.aiisf.org/).
2. [Immigrant Voices Oral History collection](https://www.aiisf.org/immigrant-voices/), Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation. 
3. “[The Lost Poetry of the Angel Island Detention Center](https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-lost-poetry-of-the-angel-island-detention-center),” *The New Yorker*, February 22, 2017. 
4. [Angel Island: Immigrant Journeys of Chinese Americans](http://www.angel-island.com/). 

Overview

Angel Island Immigration Station was the entryway to America for hundreds of thousands of immigrants, mainly from Asian countries, during its operation from 1910 to 1940. [Chinese immigration](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/sets/early-chinese-immigration-to-the-us/) to the United States had increased steadily since the mid-nineteenth century, and some Americans worried that Chinese employment as low-wage workers threatened American jobs. Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882 to reduce the number of Chinese immigrants entering the country and make immigration more difficult. Federal officials initially processed immigrants in San Francisco upon arrival but relocated the screening center to Angel Island, a strategically-ideal location north of the city in the San Francisco Bay. There, detainees had limited contact with other immigrants who might coach them on passing their interrogations, less risk of spreading infectious diseases, and fewer chances of escaping.

Although Angel Island is often called the “Ellis Island of the West,” the process for entering the United States was very different for Asian immigrants on the West Coast compared to the experiences of European immigrants in the East. Because of the Chinese Exclusion Act’s rules about who was allowed to enter the country, immigration was a frustrating, expensive, and lengthy process for Asian, and specifically Chinese, immigrants. While a European immigrant might expect to spend a few hours at Ellis Island (or at any station on the West Coast), Asian immigrants spent weeks or months detained on Angel Island. 

The exact number of immigrants who passed through Angel Island is unknown; estimates vary between 300,000 and one million people. While Angel Island was most consistently processing Chinese and Japanese immigrants, immigrants also arrived from India, Korea, the Philippines, Russia, Mexico, and seventy-five other countries. In the 1970s, thirty years after the immigration station closed, Asian American communities and the State of California began working to preserve both the physical station and the stories it represented. Today, the immigration station is open to the public and reminds visitors of the bravery, despair, anger, and hope of the people who dreamed of coming to America.

English

Immigration through Angel Island

immigration-angel-island_10_2da637457d827b93d6d7fa35d2b05741.jpg

Courtesy of California State University, Chico via California Digital Library.

“Lee Family,” Digital Public Library of America, https://dp.la/item/2da637457d827b93d6d7fa35d2b05741. 

In this family portrait, the Lees pose with their seven children and their “paper son.” Relatives of American citizens were allowed to enter the country under the Chinese Exclusion Act, so many immigrants purchased false identities and pretended to belong to a family who had already immigrated; they were relatives on paper only. Paper relatives had to remember the details of their “family” long after leaving Angel Island, as they could still face future inspections from the Bureau of Immigration. The Lee family immigrated from China through San Francisco and later moved north to Chico, California in 1924.

A photograph of the Lee family, including their “paper son,” in San Francisco, ca. 1920.

Cite this item

Tips for Students

Item 10 of 15 in the Primary Source Set Immigration through Angel Island