An inspection at Ellis Island. Would you have passed?
Tap to Begin
✦ Tap the torch to see it catch ✦
· ❦ ·
September, 1907. Ellis Island, New York Harbor.
You are one of twelve million who will pass through these doors between 1892 and 1954. Today is your day. You have been on the SS Celtic for fifteen days in steerage. You are cold, you are tired, you are hungry — and the Statue of Liberty has just come into view.
You are Maria Rossi, twenty-four years old, from a small village in Calabria in southern Italy. Your brother Giuseppe came to New York two years ago and works in a shoemaker's shop. He will be waiting for you past the inspection hall — if you pass.
The inspectors will ask you nine questions. Then the doctors will examine you. Answer honestly. Ninety-eight percent of those who came here were admitted. Two percent were not.
· The Six-Second Physical ·
The Doctors Watch You Climb the Stairs
Before you reach the Great Hall, Public Health Service doctors study you as you climb. They have six seconds to judge you. If they see illness, they will mark your coat with chalk — and you will be taken aside for a closer look. Families teach children to walk straight. Some carry the weak ones so they do not stumble.
E
Eyes — possible trachoma, the contagious infection that causes blindness. The doctors use a buttonhook to flip each eyelid. It is the moment every immigrant dreads.
H
Heart — possible cardiac condition.
L
Lameness — trouble walking, a limp that might mean trouble supporting yourself.
X
Suspected mental illness — the mark no one could read, so no one could hide from.
CT
Trachoma confirmed — the most common cause of deportation from Ellis Island. If the doctor saw it, you went home.
A mark does not mean deportation. It means further examination in the island hospital. But the fear of that chalk is real. Eighty percent of those marked were still admitted.
· A Breath Between ·
Three Small Wonders
Before the questions — tap each object to hear a story the textbooks often leave out.
The Torch
The Ticket
The Badge
Three to find — then you may begin the questions.
· Knowledge Check ·
Five Questions
To honor those who crossed, answer what you have learned. Your score goes in your passport.