A story of immigration
The USA has
always been a land of immigration... no doubt Ellis Island played an important
role in the history of immigration from 1892 to 1924. Over 12 million
immigrants poured in from all over the world: from the Middle East, the
Mediterranean, Southern and Eastern Europe. Ellis Island, located in Upper New
York bay within the shadow of the Statue of Liberty, became the gateway
to the New World. Ellis Island immigration station was opened on January
1, 1892 replacing Castle Garden, America’s first official immigration center.
It processed all the immigrants who
escaped poverty, political and economic oppression, as well as persecution,
destitution and violence... to start a new life; for this reason Ellis island
was nicknamed "The Island of Hope". It operated from 1892 to
1954. The peak year was 1907 when 1,004,756 immigrants were processed ; they
came from Europe and the largest number were Italians. Later in 1924, when the
Immigration Act was passed, immigration was greatly restricted; for the first
time it put a limit on how many people
could come into the country and established Visa requirements and a quota of
150,000 admissions a year. Today over 100 million Americans can trace
their ancestry to the immigrants who arrived at Ellis Island.
Ellis Island and Statue of
liberty
The scariest part for the
newcomers was the medical inspection they had to pass ; they
generally spent from 2 to 5 hours at Ellis Island. Then they were interwieved
by inspectors in order to determine if they could support themselves in
America. They were asked 29 questions including name, occupation, country of
origin, and the amount of money carried on. It was important to the American
Government that the newcomers had money to get started.
Ellis Island – The main hall
The ones with visible health
problems or diseases were sent home or held in the island hospital facilities
for long periods of time (a lot of them died, more than 3,000). The
medical inspection was particularly painful : they used unusual techniques such
as the use of a buttonhook to examine immigrants for signs of eye diseases
(particularly trachoma) and the use of a chalk mark code. These symbols were
chalked on the clothing of potentially sick immigrants. The symbols used were:
B – Back C – Conjunctivitis
TC – Trachoma E – Eyes
F – Face
FT – Feet
G – Goiter H – Heart
K – Hernia L – Lameness
N – Neck
P – Physical and Lungs PG – Pregnancy
S – Senility SC – Scalp (Favus) X –
Suspected Mental defect ⓧ – Definite signs of Mental defect
Ellis Island – the medical
inspection
Those who couldn't pass, were
sent home. For example handycapped people were not allowed to enter America as
well as unaccompanied women travelling alone and without a husband. Sometimes
children were separated from their parents or one parent was sent home. For
this reason Ellis Island also had the name of The Island of tear.
These strict procedures were crucial to the crowd control techniques that had
been developed as a matter of necessity at the world busiest immigration
station.
Nowadays Ellis Islands hosts
the famous Immigration Museum. It is located in the Main Building of the former
Immigration Station complex and tells the tales of the 12 million
immigrants who entered America through the Golden Door of Ellis island. Today
the descendants of those immigrants account for almost half the American
people. The U.S. was the largest single recipient of Italian Immigrants in
the world. Once they passed through Ellis Island, many of them settled right in
New York City, bringing with them their culture and beliefs. The new American-
Italians clustered into groups that corresponded to their place of origin.
A M E R I C A
The musical
Characters
young Mother Cabrini the nun
old Mother Cabrini the nun
Bartolomeo the musician
Bianca the young widow
Tommaso the mentally disabled young man
Rosa Tommaso’s sister
Ferdinando the immigrant trafficker
Plot summary
A one-night-long trip, the last one while
on this earth. A journey into the memories of a woman who devotes her entire
life to assisting her countrymen in foreign lands. During this long night, the
protagonist, Mother Francesca Saverio Cabrini, "meets" many of the
people who have made her journey into an unforgettable experience. And so it is
that the stories of many emigrants come to life in the memories of the Sister
who in a sort of delirium-revelation has the opportunity to talk to herself,
the person she was who, 30 years ago, embarked on a journey to the new
continent loaded down with suitcases full of hope and love. And this is how the
stories of Bartolomeo, Bianca, Amalia, and Tommaso reveal themselves to the
public and to the nun herself who, thanks to this last journey of hers, finally
realizes what an epic enterprise she managed to accomplish.
