Statue of liberty. It is often told as a very uplifting and romantic story where immigrants become americans, but not many of us know the history of immigration through angel island. This is the immigration station in San Francisco, and it is an important site not only for what happened back then in the early 20th century but also because it is so timely today. It is timely because when we pick up any newspaper we see headlines like this. This is just from last week. Reps slam obamas immigration town hall. Obama ill fight any attempt to reverse immigration action. Moving forward to fix our broken immigration system. House conservatives warn boehner, dont cave on immigration dispute. Does anyone know what some of these headlines are referring to last week . What was the big debate in congress . What was the proposed shutdown . Diego . They were fighting to shut down dhs funding because of obamas executive action referring to families. Right. So obamas executive action that would protect million also of undocumented immigrants, undocumented immigrants parents, undocumented immigrants who are parents of u. S. Citizens or legal residents, this would halt their deportation. We know that this is quite a controversial action right now. Governors of 26 states have sued the white house because they believe this executive action exceeds the president s authority. At the same time theres a judge in texas who halted the immigration order, and this has created grid lock in congress. Obama says hes going to continue to fight. He had a town hall in miami that was sponsored by a group where he was talking about his commitment to reforming immigration laws. We know because weve been studying immigration history for the past several weeks this is just the latest in our nations immigration debate, but it does seem like it is a contracted one. There doesnt seem to be an end in sight. So how do we consider this immigration debate with what weve been talking about most recently . Immigration through ellis island. That story of european immigrants coming to new york, passing through ellis island. Certainly there were examinations, there were physicals, there was some detention, but it was primarily pretty shortlived and most immigrants were admitted pretty easily into the country. Not only that, but this story has taken on a myth of its own. It is really the bedrock of this idea that the United States is a nation of immigrants, right . So how do we reconcile this great immigration debate thats going on today and then this idea that we are a nation of immigrants . I think one of the way also that we can think about this complicate it history of immigration is through looking at immigration through angel island. We know that not all immigrants were welcomed into the country, not all immigrants were able to achieve their american dreams, but rather we picked and sifted and chose which immigrants to let in and which immigrants to let out. To keep out. Many times this really was dependent upon an immigrants race, ethnicity, gender, class, this idea of who was fit to become a citizen and who was not. This is the history that is best exemplified through immigration through angel island. This is in the San Francisco bay. It is that other island, not alcatraz, but it is the other island in the San Francisco bay that is now california state park. So the immigration station on angel island was open from 1910 to 1940. You primarily think about it as an entry point for immigrants from china and japan, and twothirds of the immigrants who did come through angel island were from those two countries. As you can see, there are over 80 countries represented on the immigration screen that came through angel island. According to our research it ranged from places like denmark and luxembourg, to south africa, spain, switzerland, also folks who came south from canada and also north from south america. This is a photograph of the Administration Building on angel island. When immigrants would dock, they would land on a pier. They would go up this pier and this is the first sight they would see. There are three entrances here and racial segregation was the order of the day. There was an entrance for employees, an entrance for whites and an entrance for asians. Within that Administration Building there were separate waiting areas as well. At all times the different groups were separated from each other through this Administration Building. So when we compare it to ellis island, ellis island is primarily enforcing laws that relate to immigrants from europe, right . It is in new york and most of the immigrants coming over are coming across the atlantic. Angel island is situated in San Francisco on the pacific ocean. It is primarily enforcing laws targeting asian immigrants and the laws are very while ellis island the mostly a Processing Center angel island is a place of interrogation, Health Examinations and detention. This history is not as well known but its important because it helps shape our modern immigration system. So lets take a look at who these asian immigrants were. When we think about this great era of immigration, theres two great arir eras of immigration. One is from 1830 to 1930. There are 35 Million Immigrants. The vast majority are from europe. So this is about a Million Immigrants from asia and another Million Immigrants come from latin america. So in the big picture this is just a drop in the bucket, right . 1 million out of 35 million who are coming. South asia is the term that was used to describe immigrants from india, pakistan and bangladesh. It is a great diversity in terms of numbers. And remember, theres only a million of them so who were these immigrants . The chinese. They are like the european immigrants. They are mostly young male laborers. They want to come to the United States. They are thinking that their stay is temporary, that they are going to make money, return home. Thats why they come alone. They tend to leave their wives and children behind. Over the years they decide eventually they would like to stay in the United States. So they start calling for their family members. Similarly the japanese are also male laborers. Remember, this is a time when immigrants are needed for their labor. Its for railroad building. Its for agricultural work. Its for light entry, for mining. They want unskilled laborers to do that work. So japanese are also male laborers. They are generally more educated than some of the other asian immigrants they also come thinking they will stay temporarily. Over time they decide that the United States is worth settling down in and they start calling for their wives and fiances to come as well. So that by world war ii the japanese American Population is such that theres a great proportion of u. S. Born children. This is very different than the other groups. The immigrants who are coming from south asia are really extremely diverse. Theres a mixture of hin dues, muslims but they are from one area increasingly there are a lot of students that with coming over too. This is a period of intense indian nationalism. The immigrants coming over at this time are very much a part of that nationalist movement. Koreans are a small group because japan is very much controlling who goes in and who leaves the country. Only a small number are coming over to the United States primarily to the west coast and to hawaii. They are also coming for work but more so than other groups they really see themselves as refugees similar to the russian jews. They are fleeing japanese there was lots of surveillance. They see themselves and potentially staying away far long time. One of the other things is they are often christian because of the role of american missionaries at this time. It is a really broad Diverse Group of people who are coming. The last group are philippifil os. It has been colonized by the United States. When they migrate they may grate as what was called u. S. Nationals. They are not subjected to immigration laws, which is very important. As every other group is restricted they can come without restriction and without interrogation and inspections. They also see themselves as american. They have grown up with american teachers. They have grown up with american culture. They have grown up believing about the glory and riches of america. And so they believe they are coming to just another part of the country, that they are already americans, but they are unequal in status. U. S. Nationals allows them to migrate. They are not citizens. They cannot vote. When they come they often face a lot of prizing to them antiasian sentiment. So this is the broad diversity of asian immigrants who are coming to this country early 20th century. And when they come they set in motion the reaction that americans have to them. This may be surprising to many people because today when we talk about Asian Americans we talk about the popular understandings that they are on the rise, whats the stereo type of Asian Americans . They are smart. They are the model minority. They are some how exemplary. So they can succeed. They can achieve economic success and they do so on their own. So Asian Americans are the model minority. So it may be surprising that in the early 20th century they were considered not only undesirable immigrants but foreigners to such a degree that the United States wanted to not only reduce their numbers but exclude them all together. So historians describe this, you know, power. She says the presence of asians on american soil highlighted fundamental cleavages meaning that they were the first noneuropean immigrant group to come in such great numbers. They came at a time that there was changing race relations. This is post civil war, post reconstruction. These ideas about what does it mean to be an american, what does it mean to be free . What does it mean to be a worker . What rights do we have and what the is the role of the u. S. In the world . All of these early 20th century are with all of these massive changes in society. Political disfran chieszment, remember the 1790 naturalization act that said only free white persons can become citizens and can vote. Already they are barred from becoming naturalized citizens. Physical violence, immigration exclusion, which is what we are talking about mostly today. Social segregation and incarceration, Mass Relocation and encaincarceration. What did this look like in reality and on the ground . This is a cartoon from 1881 in s San Francisco. It is from the magazine called the wasp. Im going to ask you what you see. What is this telling us about chinese immigration at this time . It appears to be sort of a reaction to what is perceived as sort of overwhelming number of chinese immigrants and this sort of its a mockery of the statue of liberty but its clearly a chinese man due to the long braid which marks a lot of chinese and its definitely a mirror image of new york. Good. And whats the title of the cartoon . Statue for our harbor. Right. Statue for our harbor. In new york they have the stew chew of liberty. In San Francisco this is what our statue would be. So a couple of things. We can recognize this as a chinese male. He has this long cue. It was a hair style mandated by the empire. In the United States it became seen as a sign of femme thinini. He is wearing robes but they are very tattered. This is not the classical greek figure. It has no dignity, right . She standing toen a skull meaning that he is bringing ruin. Does anyone see what he is holding in his left hand . Yes. So another symbol of the chinese so she is bringing drugs and immorality. Can anyone see what that writing is around his head . Its hard to see from the middle cartoon. Immorality, disease. We are reading right to left as the chinese would. This one says ruin to can anyone point out those last two . Yes. Ruin to white labor. It is bringing filth, immorality, disease, ruin to white labor. It is catastrophic to San Francisco. The ships that are coming are capsizing and then the sun or the moon in the background has slanted eyes. So this is the future of california this is the future of the United States through chinese immigration. This is not a, you know, a far right or far left or extreme example about this. This is one of the most well respected, well read illustrated magazines in the late 19th century. Whats the effect of some of this popular sentiment . One is through violence. There are countless episodes of the chinese being driven out, literally driving them out of small towns like california as well as big stis like seattle this is an illustration of one of the well known incidents, the massacre of chinese at rock springs, wyoming in 1885. It happened around a mining incident it drove them out after inflicting massive violence there are hundreds driven out into the outlying areas. This is some of the sentiment that is shaping chinese immigration. One of the really fascinating aspects of this history is remember how diverse all of the asian groups were nevertheless when this is being a threat to the United States, a class threat, a racial threat, an economic threat it became attached to other asian immigrant groups as well so that the newspapers would say chinese excluded but now we have a Japanese Problem but now the hindues are coming. It kind of got little ridiculous. There was the second invasion then the third and it just became this typology that was framing the threat of asian immigration. It had very real consequences. So on the left is a newspaper clipping from the New York Times in 1907 talking about the driving out or expulsion of south asian immigrants from a little town in marysville. This is more troubling i think. This is a private letter that was sent to a towns man in california. It was collected and archived at the uc berkeley archives. So a threat or they would inflict violence on the town. International concern, this was called the yellow parol. It had two elements. One was the familiar refrain that japanese immigrants were racially inferior, that they were taking away jobs, that they were mixing with whites. The second aspect was more unique to japan and japans rising power in the world. They are an empire. They defeated russia. They defeated china in 1894. They kol lcolonized korea. There is an empire thats infusing that with greater force this was the rhetoric and by the 1920s and 30s that japanese immigrants were actually soldiers in disguise and would be ready to do this. Okay. What does this say . What does this mean to you . 1942, so that date is significant. Yes . There is an element of malfeasance with the coming of japanese and it implies they have some sort of connection with their country of origin and they are willing to act on the desires of that government should they be called to do so. And how so . What are they going to do . Blow up. The little boxes they are carrying say tnt. It is assumed they are going to do some sort of damage. And what about the ways in which they are drawn . There are a number of them in a variety of different they have different clothing but all of the faces are the same and that perpetuates that all asians look the same. It also speaks to the stereo type that the japanese act as a unit. They are uniform. Good. Okay. So one thing here, remember the statue for our harbor . What was the chinese guy wearing . Was he wearing typical western dress . He was wearing really tattered robes. Yes. He was wearing robes. It could be seen as he was wearing classical greek robes and they got tattered or chinese robes. Here these japanese immigrants are wearing western suits. So they are assimilated to a degree. They are westernized to a degree which makes them more of a threat. You cant tell they are really the enemy within. You cant tell they are not loyal. In fact deep down inside they are just waiting for the signal from home. So they are up and down the Pacific Coast, the idea of this. The signal is almost like a beacon. The signal from home is coming. This one guy is looking across the pacific waiting for it. It has come. Now its time to wreck even more damage from within. So theres various different types of anti asian sentiment. All of them at its root describe asian immigrants as not american, always asian. Immigrants that are dangerous cannot be assimilated. Dangerous for several different reasons. By the 1930s its about national security. And then we know that by 1942 that japanese americans all up and down the west coast are forcibly removed. There are Exclusion Orders that have posted at every Street Corner in the cities ordering anyone with japanese ancestry to remove themselves. They are barred from living in these areas and to assemble at various Different Assembly centers where then they will be incarcerated throughout the United States. The name kind of says it all but not everything. Not every chinese is excluded. Who is excluded . All chinese immigrants aside from anyone who is a merchant to children of a native born citizen. Okay. Good. So some are excluded. There are certain provisions. The main group thats excluded are chinese laborers. At the very beginning the exclusion act says for ten years. So chinese laborers are excluded, but like you were saying, there are exempt classes, teachers, travelers, m merchants and diplomats. It is not only racially based, its class based. Its those who want to learn about the United States. Its those who want to visit the United States and spend money here. It is those engaged the international trade. So u. S. China relationships and of course diplomats. But those who are the bulk, the vast majority of laborers are barred. Its important because this is the very first time in u. S. History that we bar a Group Wholesale based on race. Remember when we were talking about the irish immigration, the anti Catholic Movement and how even the know Nothing Party that had a national platform, they never went so far as to advocate for restriction. They wanted longer times for naturalization, but they never said we are going to close the gates. But this time the United States does do that. And it doesnt just last for ten years. It gets renewed in 1902 and its made permanent in 1904. Its really not until 50 years ago that we ban discrimination and immigration law. So it lasts a long time and it has lots of repercussions. So the chinese exclusion act is just that First Step Towards closes the gates to asian immigration, but it would not be the last. So after this is the irony. Chinese laborers are barred. This is a time when 32 million europeans are still coming over and labor is still needed. As soon as chinese exclusion has passed japanese immigration increases because they are still needed in the farms and especially in the plantations of hawaii. But again, that pattern kicked into gear and by 1908 we also prohibit japanese laborers. We do not dare call this a japanese exclusion act because we dont want to bother japan. We dont want to insult jajapan. We think of japan as an equal and we channel to have a diplomatic agreement be reached. We call it a gentlemans agreement as though it was equally agreed upon. Japanese laborers are prohibited by 1908. Again, you bar japanese laborers, the immigration from south asia starts to increase. The United States feels like it has another Immigration Crisis on hand. So the 1917 immigration act decides to take a little bit more of a drastic approach and basically draws an entire red line throughout all of asia and calls it the zone. Its primary aim is that prohibiting south asians. There were only 8,000 coming, but still, this law institutes these new restrictions. The 1924 immigration act also has a blanket exclusion. The one group that is not covered is japan. Even though laborers were barred others were not. So students were coming over but especially women. So 1924 immigration act, the two my mare aims is to close the loopholes and also to restriction southern and Eastern European immigration as well. So then the last group left are philippineos. The only way to bar them from coming to the country is by granting the philippines independence. The philippines is a colony. You cannot ban a colonial subject from going from one part of the empire to another. So we have this really odd coalition. Philippine nationalists who are eager for independence for the philippines and anti asian exclusionists. They come together and decide this is how we include our goals. By doing that they are no longer going to be u. S. Nationals but instead they will be aliens, foreigners, immigrants and they will be subjected to immigration laws. So you go from really large scale immigration from the philippines, 150,000 to a quo that that only gives them 150 spots per year. So the United States has a problem. As soon as we pass these immigration laws, again, these are transformative. We have never done this before. We are not really sure how to enforce immigration laws. So for example with the 1882 chinese exclusion act we pass this law many may. Ships of chinese immigrants are coming to San Francisco and the immigration officials who are really Customs Officials who have been told oh, by the way, in addition to counting the barrels of cotton youre also supposed to enforce these new laws. So these Customs Officials are throwing their hands up and kind of saying what . How are we what are these laws and what do you want us to do with them . So lets just take the case of chinese merchants. A ship load of merchants comes and goes out to the ship. Which one of you are laborers and which one of you are merchants . How are they going to determine who is a laborer and who is a document . This is the beginning of the interrogation. What happens if the case is really complicated . The merchant needs two white witnesses to verify their claims. They are probably not waiting at the pier. You probably have to send someone to go and get them. This takes time. So very soon after these laws are passed the u. S. Government realizes we dont really know what we are doing just yet. We have these immigrants. Examinations are taking longer than we thought. We have nowhere to put them. So at the very beginning they kept them on the ship. The ship captain would say its all well and good that youre using my ship as a Detention Center but i have to go back. Im on schedule to go back across the pacific to pick up more passengers. They would move those detainees to another ship. Observers in the 1890s talk about having these ships in the bay that are basically immigrant Detention Centers. So theres a small shed. It is crowded. Its a fire trap. Its also not escape proof. The u. S. Government allocates money in 1903 to build the immigration station on an island, escape proof, hard to get to, hard to leave and calls it tell Police Island of the west. Some of the newspapers from that time are talking about how is this beautiful resort and immigrants will be so lucky to spend days under the palm trees at the immigration station, but we know it didnt necessarily turn out to be the case. So sheer another irony of this time period. We passed immigration laws. Immigrants still keep coming. This is why we have have an undocumented immigration situation even though the laws and the fences and gates have been built immigrants still want to come to the United States. So theres several different reasons. We have to understand that during this time period theres a lot of stuff going on in china. Those push factors that we often talk about with immigration. Theres civil unrest. Theres famine, theres growing numbers of people, population explosion just like we were talking about with southern and Eastern Europe and especially european and american powers are in china at this time. They are instituting uneconomtr and trying to gain more power in this region north of hong kong. By this time it opens up is 1910. Chinese have been coming since the gold rush. Thats 60 years. So chinese families have become dependent on migration as a form of economic survival. Even though the laws are passed they are dependent on migration to the United States. How do they get around the laws is the question for them . So the steamships are getting faster. They are bigger and fares are cheaper. They have saying i can get you there for this much and the business is still being drummed up. The United States needs imglant labor. There are some groups we know can still come, merchants, u. S. Citizens they try to find other ways of coming in. This is why we call chinese immigrants the first undocumented immigrants. In about 100,000 then still come during the exclus era. 100,000 come there angel island. So this is an interview. They were kind of forced. Would you mind reading this aloud for us . Sure. We didnt want to come in illegally but we were forced to because of immigration laws. They particularly picked on the chinese. So whats the crooked path . Whats the crooked path he is talking about . Was sons and daughters. Explain that a little bit for us. They would have a family friend or somebody they knew that would basically just tell immigration that they were family members and they just had to provide a peace keeper. So they were sons or daughters only by paper. They were getting in under those classes that still allowed the suns or children of a u. S. Citizen to come. Okay. Does anyone recognize this photo or can imagine . Yes. What is it . I really like this photo. This was the coaching notes. They talked about how the kitchen staff would go into the city to get food and when they would come back they would hand notes out to whoever it belonged to. And they would provide answers to some of the interrogations. I have also seen notes crumpled up into peanut shells and also oranges. So think about your best efforts at passing a test and these strategies here. So this is a government exhibit. Immigration officials found this banana and found these notes and then took a picture of it. You can see it all laid out on kind of a scrapbook and sent it back to d. C. As proof of the conditions of chinese immigration at this time. It says the admissibilit admiss. One of the tests claims is a comparison of the statements of applicant and which would be Common Knowledge between them if the relationship existed. So the two interrogation of the applicant and the applicants relative. They compare the questions and answers. The exhibits here illustrate one of the alleged relatives to send applicants held in detention on angel island coaches information. Contemplated to make their testimony agree with that given by the alleged relatives. The chinese letter in the village diagram were transmitted in a banana. Here is the letter on the left. Ton right is literally a map of the village and their allegedly shared village so they could answer the question. The trick was discovered before the fruit was given to the applicant. So this is some of the consequences of chinese immigrations. The coaching notes and also things like this, this is a page taken out of an immigration officers log. Pages and pages of photographs and details of every immigrant in the city, things like a cook. Changed by inter prert. Apparently he changed his name. So you can kind of imagine this immigration officer going up and down the street with his little log and keeping track of all of the chinese immigrants in his town. They would mark left for china or returned and so forth. So you have got the beginning of surveillance on immigrant groups. New government crack downs, undocumented immigration, new investigations of fraudulent immigration documents. We have stricter and length thi thinker examinations. For the first time we are requiring them to have what we know today as green cards. So for the very first time we institute these for chinese immigrants. If you were found without these you could be arrested and deported for not being in the country legally. Longer detentions, immigration raids, arrests and deportations. There are numerous raids in San Francisco and around the country of people, immigration officers and local Police Looking for undocumented immigrants. I remember specifically looking through immigration files in the National Archives and coming across this poor guys record. He may or may not have come in with fraudulent papers but the immigration officials were convinced he was hiding something. So they had an immigration raid. They descended upon this restaurant where he was working. The text of the report described the immigration officers coming in through one door and watching him run out the back. And you can open it up. Theres no money in there anymore but you can open it up and it had his business cards, notes and photographs. You can imagine that he left in a hurry and the fear that he had at that time. Arrest in deportations. It is what chinese call living under the shadow of exclus. Always fearing they would be found out feceven if they were so consequences might have allowed them to enter the country but it had lots of different consequences. Their faiths were held in the hands of immigration officials. This is a photograph we had done in the 1930s. You can pick out that there is one asian female employee. She was probably a matron in the womens barracks and then three asian interpreters. By the 1930s interpreters could be asian. When the Immigration Bureau first began it was against the law to hire anyone who was nonwhite, even if the job was interpreted. It was believed in the 1880s and 1890s with the interpreters who were nonasian trying to interpret very difficult languages and dialects not and some of them didnt know all of them very well. So we have immigration officials and we have interviews in the book that detail that they felt it was a difficult situation. They tried to give the benefit of the doubt. One of the first things that chinese immigrants had to face was the medical exam. What do you remember from the family histories, the interviews, the poems . What are some of the thing that is former detainees talk about in terms of the medical exam . They said that it was very humiliating they had to undress in front of everybody and they felt like they were being pointed out, they thought it was a specifically made disease for only chinese immigrants. Yeah. So humiliation, that this was not something that was usual in china to strip down not only naked in front of the doctor but to undress in a group. There were certain diseases that were deemed excludable. The diseases that all immigration officials were looking for were contagious diseases, dangerous contagious diseases that one could pass to another, right . These diseases that were being tested for here at angel island were also these pair sidic diseases like when you travel somewhere or drink water or Food Poisoning or other things. That could be easily cured. They were not contagious but were used specifically to include immigrants particularly from asia. So youve got to medical exams and you have these interrogations that could last a couple of hours. They could last two to three days. They could last even longer. The typical length was just a few days. But there are some immigration where if you count the number of questions it numbers up to a thousand questions. So this is a scan of one of these just one page of one interrogation. You can see that it goes boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Whats your name . Have you been married . Where were you born . These single spaced questions and answers are about six pages long. So i want to do a little exercise with you. I will put these questions up. I want you to raise your hands if you think that you can answer these questions. And then i want you to keep your hands up if you can keep on answering these questions but put them down as soon as you think you have reached a question that you probably cannot answer, that you dont have the true and detailed answer. Okay. You guys ready . All right. What is your name . Good. How old are you . What are your parents names and what are their ages . Okay. Easy so far, right . When were they married . Do you have any brothers or sisters . You can raise it up again if you think you can answer this one with. What are their names and ages . Okay. Whats the name of your village . So in this case, how about the name of your hometown. How many houses are on your street . Okay. Who lives in the third house on the left hand side of your street and list all names and ages. Okay. Jeremy is getting into the village . Or home city . And, it doesnt go. How many steps lead up to your house . Youre all out. No one is coming into the country. How many windows does your house have . Not only this, you would have to know the answer, but then your sister or father would also have to say the exact same thing, right . How many windows does your house have . How many clocks are in your house . How many chickens does your neighbor own . What happens if one of them dies between when you got on the boat and then arrived in the u. S. . How far is it from your village to the nearest hill . When were the windows put into your house . Okay. So i need two volunteers. I want someone to be the harsh immigration official. And someone to be fong hoi kung who was applying for admission as the son of a native or u. S. Citizen in 1918. Who wants to be my harsh immigration official . Okay. Tyler is the immigration official. Who is going to be fong hoi kung . I need someone sitting close by to tyler. Great. Okay, so you go first. Youre the immigration official. Which direction does the front of your house face . Face west. Your alleged father has indicated that his house is in how chung village faces east. How do you explain it . I know the sun rises in the front and sets in the back. My mother told us and also the how tong villages face west. Cannot you figure this matter out for yourself . I really dont know directions. How many rooms in all are there on the ground floor of your house . Three. I mean, there is a parlor, two bedrooms and a kitchen. There are five rooms in all downstairs. The two bedrooms are together side by side and are between the parlor and the kitchen. Do you wish us to understand you would forget how many bedrooms are in a house where you claim to have lived 17 years . Yes. I forgot about it. Do you visit thor is car ra market with your father when he was last in china . No. Why not . If you really are his son . Good job. [ applause ] so fong hoi kung is under pressure, and maybe he miss remembers. Maybe he trips up, but he changes, and this is the exact record from the stenographers note. The stenographer is noting changes or coughs or Something Like that, so this kind of this is kind of a typical back and forth, but if i was fong hoi kung, id be nervous, scared, and perhaps by the end of this a little angry. So we know from oral histories and others that these interrogations were terrifying, and this is a quote. Some of you have read the story. This is a picture of her on her wedding. She was detained on angel island in 1922. And she told interviewers that one woman was questioned all day, and then deported. She told me they asked her about life in china, that chickens, and the neighbors and the direction the house faced. How would i know all that . I was scared. So what this translated to, these long interrogations, calling back and forth of witnesses, waiting for people to come from San Francisco or oakland or sometimes from the interior, idaho coming to San Francisco to give testimony was that the detentions were quite long. This is the only photograph that we have of what the barracks looked like inside around 1910. Extremely crowded conditions between 200 and 300 men were housed at any time in the barracks. Women were detained elsewhere on the second floor of the Administration Building. And on average, their stay was two to three weeks. They are let out for one hour a day, and this is what they have. So thats why theres, your cot is your living space. This is another quote from lee puey, yo. She was detained for 20 months. One of the things about chinese immigration during this time period was they were very active in challenging their denials. They hired lawyers and they would take their cases up through court and repute the case all the way up to the supreme court, and she talks about how she must have cried a bowl full of tears on angel island. How does this compare, ellis island to angel island . We know theres around 12 million who come through ellis island during its period of operation from 1891 to 1952. That 20 of all immigrant arrivals are detained. So those are the women and children who are arriving to join their husbands. They need to wait until their husbands and fathers come and retrieve them. Or those who are being tested for those contagious diseases. So 20 are detained. But its not for long. Detention time is one to two days on average. In the end, 98 are admitted. We think of ellis island as more of a Processing Center going through. The numbers are much different. Just half a million come through angel island. So the scale is quite different. But we see the differences right away, too, with the detention. 20 on ellis island, 60 of all immigrant arrivals are detained on angel island. Instead of counting Detention Times in one to two days, they count them in weeks, months, and years. The longest Detention Time is 756 days. 93 of chinese are admitted. So thats much higher than one would expect, but its only after these long detentions and after really lengthy legal battles that are, of course, expensive as well. We know so much about the island experience because of these poems that have been preserved, and this one is the bestpreserved poem. The author must have carved it over and over again, and this one fits with many of the things that you all have written about already. From now on, im departing far from this building, all of my fellow villagers are rejoicing with me. Dont say that everything within is westernstyled. Even if it is built of jade, it has turned into a cage. Immigration officials thought that the detainees were just writing graffiti on the walls. They would paint over and over and over. But these two guys copied more than 100 poems into their notebooks in the 1930s when they were detained. Its because of those poems that weve been able to preserve so many. Ive chosen three, and id like three volunteers to help me help us read them and also help us think about what they mean. So who would like to be the first one to read this poem . Yes. Thank you. There are tens of thousands of poems composed on these walls. They are all cries of complaint and sadness. The day i am rid of this prison and attain success, i must remember that this chapter once existed. In my daily needs i must be frugal. Needless extravagance leads youth to ruin. All my compatriots should be mindful. Once you have small gains, return home early. Thank you. What are some of the messages here . Theres a couple, at least. I concentrated on this poem within my response and compared it to another experience. Something that i thought was interesting is that within this poem, it reflects i must remember that this chapter once existed. I think this is contradicting to most of the experiences at angel island because it was to detrimental. Im sure its something you would want to forget, where here they had a humility where its something that she came out of it strong and was like this is a chapter i need to remember because its going to help me be a strong woman and provide for myself and my family in such a difficult era in the United States. I thought that was interesting. Good. Even though it might be an experience that they would like to forget, that the multitude of these expressions on these walls, the tens of thousands of poems, the complaints and sadness that i must, that we must remember that this chapter once existed. What about the second half . In my daily needs, i must be frugal. Once you have some small gains, return home early. What is this immigrants plan . Yes, tyler. I see a link to maybe referencing the extravagance of american lifestyle and in contrast to this persons homeland back in asia, and his plan may be to probably return once they can establish themselves and make some money. Yeah. So not to stay. But to return. And probably that this experience on angel island has helped them convince themselves that the United States is not a welcoming place. So once you earn enough, return home early. Okay. Who would like to read this one . Thank you. Imprisoned in the wooden building day after day, my freedom withheld. How can i bear to talk about it . I look to see whos happy. They only sit quietly. The days are long and the bowl empty. My sad mood is not dispelled. The nights are long and the pillow cold. Who can pity my loneliness. Why not just return home and learn to plow the fields . Thank you. What are some of the messages here in the first stanza. The detention and center of angel island, just the environment was bleak, and the long detentions and environment caused a lot of the detainees to become emotionally depressed and probably chronically depressed judging by the counts of suicides and many questions why they came in the first place. Mmhm, which goes right into the second stanza too. After experiencing such loneliness and sorrow, why not just give up and learn to plow the fields. Coming with lots of hope to the United States, this experience changing them, and causing this loneliness, despair, so much so that he cannot bear to talk about it. And really questioning why they came to the United States in the first place. Okay. Last poem. Last volunteer. Clasped hands in parting with my brothers and classmates because of the mount, crossing the american ocean. How was i to know the western barbarians had lost their hearts. They mistreat us chinese. It is not enough after being interrogated and investigated several times. We also have to have our chest examined while naked. Our countrymen suffer this treatment all because our countrys power cannot yet expand. If there comes a day when china will be united, i would surely cut out the heart and bowels of the western barbarian. A little more complicated than the other ones and a little bit more passionate. What are some out messages here . It illustrates immigration as a necessary process. It definitely gives testament to the notion that immigrants come out of necessity, that they dont choose to come simply for fun, and he references political instability in his country as to why theyre here. And yeah. Political instability and global inequalities, right . Our countrymen suffer this treatment all because our countrys power cannot yet expand. So one of the things that i think is interesting about this one, first of all, is it is more pointedly angry, resentful, and threatening of violence than many of the others. And it explicitly pits, at least in this case, the chinese against the socalled western barbarians. Its important that he, and these are all poems that have been recovered from the mens barracks. We know theyre male. Hes using the term barbarian, because that is what they had been called themselves. That is what the americans were calling the chinese. Uncivilized barbarians. By putting this back on the americans, its even more pointed. And then this last line, if there comes a day when china will be united, i will surely cut out the heart and bowels of the western barbarian. So quite a strong statement there. The history of immigration on angel island, one chapter ends in 1940. Theres a fire. This is the barracks of the women, where they would be, and for the next 30 years, the place is abandoned, and its actually scheduled to be demolished, and this is what the mens barracks looks like in the 1970s. So in many ways, it was history that was lost. It was lost because detainees themselves did not want to remember it. They were they identified this era, this period of immigration in their lives as being under the shadow of exclusion. They didnt talk about their experiences even to their own families, so there are many family histories that youve read where the children are saying we were told never to use our real name, or i didnt even know that yon was not my real name until x, y, and z. And one of the leaders who helped to preserve the angel island immigration station talked about how whenever he brought up the words angel island to his family, he would hear dont talk about it. Also, in the 1960s, immigration history was not yet a recognizable field. The immigrant was not yet studied. And this history was not wellpreserved. But through the efforts of Many Community activists and discoveries, we first were able to discovery, preserve the poems because a california state park ranger found these poems when he was going through the barracks. He told his professor about it, a biology professor whose mother just happened to have been a detainee on angel island, and that professor told other faculty at sf states newly created asianamerican studies department. They were inspired to study the poems, preserve them, do the oral histories. So the three authors of the book youre reading were not professional historians. One was an engineer. One was a poet. One was a librarian at the San Francisco china town branch. They took it upon themselves to conduct oral histories to translate the poems. This is what the book looked like when it was First Published in 1980. Publishers, publishing houses did not want to publish it, so they selfpublished it 35 years ago. And what they found was that this history that preserving and recovering this history served as a type of catharsis for the chinese american community. It openly aired these dark secrets. It allowed people to understand that they didnt experience this on their own, that there were others who experienced this history of racial exclusion and undocumented immigration. It helped to feel like they could let this go, that it wasnt all their fault, that it was part of a larger history, a larger pattern of discrimination. It helped legitimize the angel island experience. And it allowed immigrant detainees to feel like they didnt have to be ashamed anymore. Judy young talks about this early period in the 70s. She would find people to interview and they would politely say no, i dont want to talk about it. Now there are so many people who want to tell judy their stories that she cannot keep up with them. Its become a whole new type of experience. And its not just for the chinese american community, but its been recognized as important for all americans. In 1998, the angel island immigration station became a national landmark, and the rationale behind that comes from the Community Organization that helped to put this movement forward, and they said in their proposal, angel island, the angel island immigration station presents the first, the only, and the best opportunity to fully interpret the history of asian immigration to the United States. This is our plymouth rock, our valley forge, our alamo, our statue of liberty, our Lincoln Memorial all rolled into one. In the same way that ellis island has been enshrined as a National Monument to commemorate european immigration to america, angel island should be recognized and declared a Historic National landmark. This is the photograph of that signing and at that ceremony in 1998. There was a massive effort since then to raise money, to restore the buildings. So this is the mens detention barracks thats been fully restored and was turned into a museum. On the footprint of where the Administration Building sat is now an open space, but exhibits like an interrogation table with photographs. Theyve restored the interior of the mens barracks as well. This is what it looked like at its reopening in 2009. And there are now documentaries that help to explain the preservation of poems, the preservation process, and the new discoveries that have been found. In the years since the efforts, there have been 200 poems that have been rediscovered. Theres been hundreds of inscriptions in many different languages, including german, english, spanish, japanese, and theres also been carvings, illustrations, carvings that have been restored. Theres also been new research. In a new addition of island with new family histories and new poems, and another book on angel island that looks at a broad range of immigration through the immigration station as well. So all of this has led to what some could interpret as a closing of the chapter on this history of angel island immigration. In 2012, a group of Community Activists lobbied for the passage of a statement of regret in 2012. A statement of regret that congress regretted the chinese exclusion laws. And specifically, the statement of regret acknowledged, thats important that its not on apology. Its a statement of regret. It acknowledges that the chinese exclusion acts, quote, resulted in the persecution and political alienation of persons of chinese desce descent, unfairly limited their civil rights, legitimized discrimination and induced trauma that persists in the Chinese Community today. This has been an important landmark event type of reconciliation. This public acknowledgment that chinese exclusion happened, that it was detd detrimental, that it did not coincide with our political beliefs and that this was an important transformation in that history. Id also want us to question whether its really time to close that chapter. Does a simple statement of regret help us put it into the dust bin of history, let us forget about what happened . Move on . Think about other immigrant histories, happier stories . What are the lessons of angel island today in there are Diverse Groups of immigrants who came through the immigration station. Not all of them were detained. Not all of them might have had this experience of wanting to cut out the bowels of the western barbarian, but many of them did. And while we often point to, say, ellis island and the celebratory history of immigration and our making of a nation of immigrants, i would argue that this other history, this darker history of immigration through angel island perhaps has even more resonance with our contemporary world today. The poems describe frustration, disappointment, anger, resentment of the immigrant experience. And it helps us to confront americas history of discrimination in restriction and immigration laws. And as we know, this is not a story that we can just safely leave to the early 20th century. These are two photos and headlines that were taken from the news just this past summer when Central American refugees, many of them, most of them children or mothers, were coming across the border to the United States for asylum. And for many weeks, we did not know what conditions these young immigrant detainees were being housed in but a few weeks into it, we were able to find and get some sneak peeks, some pictures. This is just one photograph of the processing facility in brownsville, texas. It can be argued that were in a current state of immigration detention crisis. So let me just read off a couple of numbers for you. In 2011, the department of Homeland Security held a recordbreaking 429,000 immigrants in over 250 facilities across the country. So 429,000 people, immigrants were detained in 2011. That translates into about 33,400 beds a day. Advocates argue that the majority of detentions are not actually necessary. So, remember that detentions in ellis island were about one to two days. Angel island, as hard as they were, averaged in the two to three weeks. Today incarceration periods range from 37 days to 10 months. So we have 300,000 immigrants who were detained in angel island over 30 years compared to in 2011 alone, this is the most recent statistics, 429,000 in one year. So, its been 50 years since weve passed comprehensive immigration reform. Were recognizing or honoring the 50th anniversary of the 1965 immigration act and its clear from the headlines that i showed at the beginning that were in a current debate over immigration about which there does not seem to be any easy solution. So how do we connect this to angel island, then . I would argue that angel island represents the best and the worst of americas immigration history. There are many, many immigrant families, including my own, who can trace their roots back to angel island and have made it through the educational system and can now celebrate generations of being in the United States. But there are many others for which that detention experience best mirrors this other side of immigration that were also experiencing today. So i want to end by reading from the organization that dedicates itself to the preservation and education about immigration through angel island and through the Pacific Coast in general. It collects and preserves the rich stories of immigrants both through angel island and elsewhere. And also does a lot of education and outreach. And it says in their Mission Statement that angel island reminds us of the complicated history of immigration in america. It serves as a symbol of our willingness to learn from our past, to ensure that our nation keeps its promise of liberty and freedom. And if you want to learn more, you can go to the angel island website. It has an amazing range and archive of immigrant voices, many of which are based on the collection of family histories and poems in the book that weve read, but also there are many coming in every day. Thank you so much. Thats it for today. And well see you next time. Lectures in history focusing on colleges and classrooms. American history tv in prime time begins at 8 00 p. M. Eastern. Also coming up thursday, book tv in prime time looks at authors on the Summer Reading list of congress. And reuters editor at large in do i make myself clear. Cspan cities tour is in spokane washington with our Comcast Cable partners as we explore that citys rich history and literary scene. Saturday at 3 00 p. M. Eastern, book tv features the history and Economic Development of spokane. Spokane was built from the money from the money district. Had the gold rush in 1883. That led to a silver strike. It was one of the largest producing silver areas in the United States. And a lot of the mansions and big buildings are all built from the mining lanes. And the life of one of the nations most significant environmental leaders. Local author james hunt talks about his book restless fires, young john muir. On sunday at 2 00 p. M. Eastern, American History tv features the story of expo 74, one of the first environmentally themed worlds fairs. Spokane was the smallest city in the world ever to host a worlds fair. It was the first environmental world fair, the first fair to use the environment as a theme. It follow ed i believe 1972 was the very first earth day. There was a great consciousness around the world about environmentalism. It became the theme of expo 74. Well also visit the childhood home of spokane native bing crosby. Saturday at 7 30 p. M. Eastern on book tv. And sunday at 2 00 p. M. On American History tv on cspan three. Cspan, where history unfolds daily. In 1979, cspan was created as a Public Service by americas Cable Television companies and is brought to you today by your cable or satellite provider. Youre watching American History tv on cspan 3. Well continue our look at the American West in just a minute. Tonight well focus on the 1950s wi join us right here on c span 3. Sunday night we take a look at anthony clarks book the last campaign. Every single comment ive received has been one of either two topics, how angry people are to learn whats happening or how blabb flabbergasted they are to learn whats happening. I havent received any kind of mild, i read it and its okay. Why are they angry. We have these president ial libraries that are created to house records and the records wont be open for 100 years. Instead were paying for celebration and legacy building. Sunday night at 8 00 eastern on cspan. Up next we look at the federal government in the American West in the 20th century. The university of colorado boulders patricia limerick