Immigration lessons learned firsthand
Luladey B. Tadesse
Bix Halfore fled religious persecution in Scotland. Natalie Bernardy
escaped the potato famine in Ireland. Amanda Knuppel left her homeland of
Norway in search of better and cheaper farmland in the New World.
The year is 1901 and 100 immigrants from all over the world are in New
York’s Ellis Island waiting to be admitted into the United States.
Fifth-graders at Lincoln Elementary School in Corona del Mar reenacted
the immigration experience Wednesday morning in the school’s multipurpose
room. Parents volunteered to supervise and act as immigration inspectors.
The event, which has taken place annually since 1992, coincides with
fifth-grade social studies class discussions on immigration to the United
States.
“It’s a great way for them to learn,” said parent Kristi Cook, who played
a medical inspector. “They can learn by experiencing. It is much better
than reading it out of a textbook.”
Cook checked each of the newly arrived people for diseases ranging from
tuberculosis to pink eye and rashes. She inoculated some of them and
isolated those who were ill.
Her son, Ryan Caughren, 10, played a 16-year-old Italian immigrant named
Tony Bianchi. Dressed in a black suede-looking hat, flannel shirt,
sneakers and jeans, Ryan was diagnosed with lice and TB.
“I had to sit down and had to get a shot,” he said.
Students researched the country of their ancestors, dressed in costume
and carried at least three items from that country.
And there were requirements they had to fulfill before they could enter
the United States. Each had to have a passport, two letters of
recommendation, cash equivalent to $20 and were required to pass a health
inspection. Any food or carry-on items deemed unhealthy or suspicious
were confiscated.
Bix, 10, was a 24-year-old Scottish shoemaker named William Grentman. His
leather bag contained shoe polish, a fishing net, a pan in which to cook
the fish, and a book -- Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson.
“If you don’t have two signatures on your recommendations, they won’t let
you in,” Bix said. “You have to get to the end of the line.”
The purpose of the experience was not to romanticize the immigration
process.
“We wanted to teach them it wasn’t easy,” said social studies teacher
Ellyn Olander. “Whatever the horrible ocean journey they had, they still
have to wait and wait.”
Long lines. Instructions in foreign languages. Heavy suitcases. Hunger.
The process was grueling for some students.
A few of them, deemed to better handle more challenging situations, were
given green dots. The insignia permitted inspectors to be harsher on
them.
“That meant you could hassle them,” Olander said. For example, one
student who innocently placed his money in a passport and handed it to an
inspector suffered the consequence for his action.
The inspector, Cook, stole his cash and made it almost impossible for him
to pay for a ferry to Manhattan.
“In America, streets are littered with gold, there is no crime and no one
complains,” Olander shouted over the microphone.
“We still had tears,” Olander said of students disheartened by the wait
and the uncertainty that they would get off Ellis Island.
But at last, all made it to the Promised Land.
“We would like to welcome you all to America,” said Olander. The students
made the Pledge of Allegiance, sang the national anthem and ended their
long journey to their new country.
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