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.