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Forgotten Ellis Island: The Extraordinary Story of America's Immigrant Hospital
"How rare it is to find an absolutely fascinating story that has never been told," wrote noted historian Doris Kearns Goodwin about Forgotten Ellis Island. The book tells the lost story of the Ellis Island Immigrant Hospital that saved tens of thousands of lives as immigrants flooded onto Ellis Island a century ago. It was here that the germs of the world converged. The hospital was both welcoming and foreboding to those too sick to enter the country. Those nursed to health were allowed to become citizens. Those deemed feeble of body or mind were deported. Three short decades after it opened, the Ellis Island Hospital was all but abandoned. As America began shutting its border to all but a favored few, the hospital fell into disuse and decay and then into emptiness, its medical wards left open only to the salt air of the New York Harbor. For two years, author Lorie Conway filmed exclusive video of the abandoned hospital buildings for the companion film (also available on Amazon Video Direct) to this book. With many never-seen-before photographs and video, Forgotten Ellis Island tells the untold story of the hospital's immigrant patients, their families, and medical staff. "To those who went through it," said former patient John Henry Wilberding, "it was one of the most precious gifts you were given because when you were sick, you couldn't do anything about it. But here is a place that rescued you. That made you feel good that you were still being cared for and in a strange place thousands of miles away from home. People can never say that America isn't a place of compassion and understanding, because they certainly proved it there."Forgotten Ellis Island is a powerful tribute to the best and worst of America's dealings with its new citizens-to-be.
208 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2007
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October 12, 2018
The hospital on Ellis Island closed its doors in 1930 and sat there with the beds rusting, poison ivy climbing up its outside walls, along with loose asbestos and flaking lead paint. In 2014, it reopened as a museum.
For many people Ellis Island was a godsend, but for others it marked their death or separation from family members. Even ships were quarantined during cholera or flu epidemics, causing many more to die than would have as a result of this confinement. The separation of families occurred when one of the members was ill and taken to the hospital to either recover or die, or one of them was rejected and sent home, while the other remained.
The time came when racism “reared its ugly head,” as they say. A New York Times editorial stated, “We do not want and we ought to refuse to land all or any of these unclean Italians or Russian Hebrews. We have enough dirt, misery, crime, sickness, and death of our own without permitting any more to be thrust upon us.” They had their own list of “Shithole” countries, as the U.S. presiden calls them. These immigrants were called “the greatest evil that has confronted us in a century.” At one time Roosevelt said that we should open our doors to any able-bodied person, leaving out the weak and infirm.
Even those that they considered feeble-minded were sent back. IQ tests were given, and as a result discrimination increased. And this is where I started doing my own research, because this is when I got my “dander up.” This IQ test grew more sophisticated over the years, listing the different races and their IQs, putting the Nordics at the top and the blacks and brown skinned people at the bottom. It is used by White Supremacy groups to put down races. While it was debunked by scientists, it is still considered to be accurate by racists.
I have run up against this twice in the last two years. I had two women friends; both whom I could never have conceived of as having these beliefs. What I learned from them opened my own eyes to who they really were as people. And yet we had been friends for years. One conversation I had was two years ago, the last is just a few days old. Both of those conversations ended up in my ending our friendship. They didn’t mind it when I told them that their beliefs were from the white supremacy group. I came to the conclusion that being a white supremacist was okay, because when I told them that they were racists, they screamed that they were not. I learned quickly that they believed that you were not a racist if you were telling the truth about a race, and they were definitely not into checking out their own beliefs as to whether they were true or not, because they knew that they were right.
And this review may not have even ended up being about race if it had not been for my recent conversation with yet another ex friend, but then maybe it would have.
I read this book because I was interested in Ellis Island and had picked out a different one for our book group to read, one that the library had enough copies of. It was about a nurse at Ellis Island, and when I began reading it I found it to be a fluffy read, much like the book that I tried to read when I was a teenager that was one of the Cherry Ames books, I believe. The book they are reading is “A Fall of Marigolds” and is very popular, but I was not in the mood for a romance fluff novel, and maybe I was wrong about it, but another book group friend said that she decided to force herself to read it. And at this point I suggested to the members that the library had seveal on Ellis Island but only one of each.
So from here I also began reading books about the places where people were sent to live in New York after leaving Ellis Island, the tenements: Jews without Money was a very good book. The list of books that I bought is short, and I hope to get to them: The House on Henry Street, How the other Half Lives, and Out of Mulberry Street.
My great grandparents were at Ellis Island from Germany, and when thinking of my grandmother I wondered if any of her recipes came from them, all the ay from Germany. I have no idea, but I found a recipe from the Ellis Island Cookbook:
AEBEKAGE (DANISH APPLE CAKE)
3 cups bread crumbs
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
3 cups applesauce
1 cup whipping cream
2 tablespoons sugar
Red jelly for decoration
Brown crumbs in skillet with butter and sugar. Arrange crumb mixture and applesauce in alternate layers on a serving dish. Chill. Whip cream with 2 tablespoons sugar and put on top of cooled mixture. Decorate with dabs of red jelly.
For many people Ellis Island was a godsend, but for others it marked their death or separation from family members. Even ships were quarantined during cholera or flu epidemics, causing many more to die than would have as a result of this confinement. The separation of families occurred when one of the members was ill and taken to the hospital to either recover or die, or one of them was rejected and sent home, while the other remained.
The time came when racism “reared its ugly head,” as they say. A New York Times editorial stated, “We do not want and we ought to refuse to land all or any of these unclean Italians or Russian Hebrews. We have enough dirt, misery, crime, sickness, and death of our own without permitting any more to be thrust upon us.” They had their own list of “Shithole” countries, as the U.S. presiden calls them. These immigrants were called “the greatest evil that has confronted us in a century.” At one time Roosevelt said that we should open our doors to any able-bodied person, leaving out the weak and infirm.
Even those that they considered feeble-minded were sent back. IQ tests were given, and as a result discrimination increased. And this is where I started doing my own research, because this is when I got my “dander up.” This IQ test grew more sophisticated over the years, listing the different races and their IQs, putting the Nordics at the top and the blacks and brown skinned people at the bottom. It is used by White Supremacy groups to put down races. While it was debunked by scientists, it is still considered to be accurate by racists.
I have run up against this twice in the last two years. I had two women friends; both whom I could never have conceived of as having these beliefs. What I learned from them opened my own eyes to who they really were as people. And yet we had been friends for years. One conversation I had was two years ago, the last is just a few days old. Both of those conversations ended up in my ending our friendship. They didn’t mind it when I told them that their beliefs were from the white supremacy group. I came to the conclusion that being a white supremacist was okay, because when I told them that they were racists, they screamed that they were not. I learned quickly that they believed that you were not a racist if you were telling the truth about a race, and they were definitely not into checking out their own beliefs as to whether they were true or not, because they knew that they were right.
And this review may not have even ended up being about race if it had not been for my recent conversation with yet another ex friend, but then maybe it would have.
I read this book because I was interested in Ellis Island and had picked out a different one for our book group to read, one that the library had enough copies of. It was about a nurse at Ellis Island, and when I began reading it I found it to be a fluffy read, much like the book that I tried to read when I was a teenager that was one of the Cherry Ames books, I believe. The book they are reading is “A Fall of Marigolds” and is very popular, but I was not in the mood for a romance fluff novel, and maybe I was wrong about it, but another book group friend said that she decided to force herself to read it. And at this point I suggested to the members that the library had seveal on Ellis Island but only one of each.
So from here I also began reading books about the places where people were sent to live in New York after leaving Ellis Island, the tenements: Jews without Money was a very good book. The list of books that I bought is short, and I hope to get to them: The House on Henry Street, How the other Half Lives, and Out of Mulberry Street.
My great grandparents were at Ellis Island from Germany, and when thinking of my grandmother I wondered if any of her recipes came from them, all the ay from Germany. I have no idea, but I found a recipe from the Ellis Island Cookbook:
AEBEKAGE (DANISH APPLE CAKE)
3 cups bread crumbs
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
3 cups applesauce
1 cup whipping cream
2 tablespoons sugar
Red jelly for decoration
Brown crumbs in skillet with butter and sugar. Arrange crumb mixture and applesauce in alternate layers on a serving dish. Chill. Whip cream with 2 tablespoons sugar and put on top of cooled mixture. Decorate with dabs of red jelly.
March 14, 2019
3.75 stars
From the late 1800's into the early 1900's the hospital on Ellis Island was the most advanced hospital around. It was at it's busiest between 1902 and 1930. But by 1999 there had never been a book or film produced about it. Once the research was undertaken it was found that the patient records were no where to be found and few people were still alive to give a first hand detail.
Through years of research it was found that the immigration in the early 1900's is not vastly different from the immigration of today. The problems were very similar, the political outlook was similar and the rhetoric, news articles and cartoons similar.
This book tells how the island was built. Why it was built and now it was managed. It gives the process of medical detection and how it was dealt with. The separation of families, the refusal of family members and the deportation of those members. Many families were separated, never to be reunited, when one family member was refused admittance and sent back to their native land. If this was a child, one parent would accompany them and the other parent would take the rest of the family into New York.
There were many plagues brought in by immigrant families. Measles, scarlet fever, typhoid, tuberculosis, favus, trachoma and others. Those with mental illnesses, epilepsy, or downs syndrome were immediately refused. Often it was the simple fact that the person could not speak English that made them unsuitable and deemed a case of dementia, therefore refused entry to the US. Many suicides happened on the Island due to being refused admittance.
There are many many pictures in this book, which bring to life the processes used, the buildings then and now, and the lives of those hoping to start a future in their new world.
From the late 1800's into the early 1900's the hospital on Ellis Island was the most advanced hospital around. It was at it's busiest between 1902 and 1930. But by 1999 there had never been a book or film produced about it. Once the research was undertaken it was found that the patient records were no where to be found and few people were still alive to give a first hand detail.
Through years of research it was found that the immigration in the early 1900's is not vastly different from the immigration of today. The problems were very similar, the political outlook was similar and the rhetoric, news articles and cartoons similar.
This book tells how the island was built. Why it was built and now it was managed. It gives the process of medical detection and how it was dealt with. The separation of families, the refusal of family members and the deportation of those members. Many families were separated, never to be reunited, when one family member was refused admittance and sent back to their native land. If this was a child, one parent would accompany them and the other parent would take the rest of the family into New York.
There were many plagues brought in by immigrant families. Measles, scarlet fever, typhoid, tuberculosis, favus, trachoma and others. Those with mental illnesses, epilepsy, or downs syndrome were immediately refused. Often it was the simple fact that the person could not speak English that made them unsuitable and deemed a case of dementia, therefore refused entry to the US. Many suicides happened on the Island due to being refused admittance.
There are many many pictures in this book, which bring to life the processes used, the buildings then and now, and the lives of those hoping to start a future in their new world.
February 8, 2011
I used to think of Ellis Island as a port of entry or deportment not in terms of the site of a huge immigrant hospital. Book provides historical pictures, sad stories, survivor stories intertwined with snippets on US immigration policies and procedures. Built in 1900 and abandoned 30 years later with restoration begun to stabilize the site in 2000, many of the records were destroyed and/or are stored in an unknown federal facility. Somebody needs to get serious about doing an inventory of what's where. These records would be a genealogy goldmine.
February 15, 2008
This book is wonderful!...it really opens your eyes as to what immigrants went through in their journey to america...this book has more pictures than stories but it is great to see the shots of life back then and how archaic the medical procedures/treatments were...i think it sheds some light on the history of the island that the majority of people are not even aware of...
March 6, 2018
This book could have been 3.5-4 stars but the formatting, layout, and storytelling was terribly disjointed.
There were so many photographs (positive) but laid out horribly on the pages and then you had to find the descriptions on other pages, but in the context of the chapter the pictures didn't match the narrative. I still don't know what an image of this creepy-looking box was because I couldn't find a description or narrative to match it.
Where it was photograph-heavy there were glittering moments of clarity about the hospital itself but still disjointed in how it explained the layout, who went where, why, and for how long. The value of the book is in the photographs and sparks of interest around the hospital itself, not in the narrative nonfiction that it tried to be which is disappointing because the topic is fascinating and little-known as Conway does mention. Preservation is key, but I'd say it's not the best representation.
There were so many photographs (positive) but laid out horribly on the pages and then you had to find the descriptions on other pages, but in the context of the chapter the pictures didn't match the narrative. I still don't know what an image of this creepy-looking box was because I couldn't find a description or narrative to match it.
Where it was photograph-heavy there were glittering moments of clarity about the hospital itself but still disjointed in how it explained the layout, who went where, why, and for how long. The value of the book is in the photographs and sparks of interest around the hospital itself, not in the narrative nonfiction that it tried to be which is disappointing because the topic is fascinating and little-known as Conway does mention. Preservation is key, but I'd say it's not the best representation.
December 29, 2023
I received this book as a Christmas present. Fascinating to think about how the Ellis Island hospital complex shaped the American population, then and subsequently now. Heartbreaking for families who were turned away due to illness or disease after having spent their life savings to cross an ocean. Medical advancements have come very far in a short period, and many of the ailments immigrants arrived with then can be treated fairly easily today, particularly due to childhood vaccinations and antibiotics. Comparing immigration, politics, and medicine (and their interplay) then and now, especially amid the Covid-19 pandemic, would make for a very interesting exercise for students.
I watched the companion PBS documentary after reading and found it to be very similar to the book but with additional interviews from experts that provided more detail. Ready for my visit to Ellis Island next, one day soon (hopefully).
I watched the companion PBS documentary after reading and found it to be very similar to the book but with additional interviews from experts that provided more detail. Ready for my visit to Ellis Island next, one day soon (hopefully).
May 11, 2020
Well done story of the public health service hospitals on the Ellis Island complex. The treatment of immigrants showing physical illness was generally humane and professional. This was not so much the case for persons suspected of being mentally defective. I have an interest in the eugenics movement of the early 20th century and the shameful treatment of people who were deemed mentally deficient. This misguided policy certainly reached the matter of immigrants, especially those from countries considered, for racist motivations, to be undesirable and who were thought to be diluting the "Anglo-Saxon" stock of the nation. Amazing and sad to note that such prejudice against "others" persists still today.
February 4, 2023
I very much enjoyed this book. I’m a big history (medical field history especially) fan and this book definitely checked that box. I got to actually take the hard hat tour of the Contagious Disease Hospital when I visited Ellis Island in December ‘22 and picked this book up at that time. It was a great companion to that tour and information I learned from the tour guide. Actually being in the hospital was pretty powerful.
I appreciate that this author didn’t gloss over the hosptial’s/island’s uglier sides, while hitting the highs.
I do wish the photos had had some more information with them…but that might have been because there’s not much information known.
If you’re into history, healthcare & healthcare history, Public Health, immigration, politics…it’s a good read.
I appreciate that this author didn’t gloss over the hosptial’s/island’s uglier sides, while hitting the highs.
I do wish the photos had had some more information with them…but that might have been because there’s not much information known.
If you’re into history, healthcare & healthcare history, Public Health, immigration, politics…it’s a good read.
April 12, 2019
I came across this book at the library and was intrigued by the photographs and always having an interest in Ellis Island era history. I found the photographs to be wonderful quality and the short stories alongside them to be interesting. I learned parts of Ellis Island era that I did not know previously and learned about this time in American history. I do wish that there was a little more information but understand that so much of the history was lost. I just found some interesting stories to be short and sadly leaving me wanting to know more. A great resource with quality images and information otherwise
October 24, 2018
This was very interesting. It was a short read. Lots of good pictures. The biggest issue I have is the formatting. I read this on Kindle and it was a mess. For the most part, the text was okay, but the pictures and captions didn't line up at all. You'd see a picture and six pages later the caption would pop up. Definitely worth the read, but this is one that you have to actually get a hard copy of.
December 2, 2019
When Ellis Island was used as the primary port of entry for immigrants it was also one of the premier public hospitals in the nation. Because of the huge number of immigrants arriving, the hospital saw one of the greatest variety of diseases of anywhere in the world and provided state of the art care. Sadly, the buildings are in great disrepair now though efforts are underway to raise money for their restoration.
September 6, 2017
This book was very well written and informative. It allowed you to get into the lives of these immigrants and what they must have went through, as well as allowed you to see how far this country has gone with it's diagnosis practices, in both the medical field and the mental health field. It was worth the read with beautiful pictures.
July 12, 2018
The book was filled with photos.
It contained a little informative text in a few chapters.
It contained a little informative text in a few chapters.
October 17, 2019
Love the photographic story that is portrayed in this book. So many lives were touched on Ellis Island. A wonderful explanation of the history of Ellis Island.
November 10, 2019
It is a wonderful book of history about the Ellis Island but in particular the history of the hospitals , medical care on the Island. I loved it
November 27, 2023
Great information on Ellis Island Hospital’s and the immigrants that were taken care of there.
February 21, 2024
Very enlightening.
June 11, 2016
While there have been several books written about the immigration process and significance of the turn-of-the-century immigration station on Ellis Island, there has not been much research devoted solely to the hospitals and medical complex dating from the same time period on Ellis Island. Conway seized the opportunity and secured some exclusive permissions to document and investigate the abandoned/neglected/forgotten hospitals located on Ellis Island (she also created a a documentary by the same name). The book is relatively brief on text and heavy on historic and documentary photographs, which are stunningly beautiful and bring to life a now deserted island that used to be bustling with over a hundred medical personnel and thousands of immigrants passing through (a significant minority portion of whom were patients). The book is beautifully illustrated and the stories are selective but rich.
This will be an interesting read for those interested in immigration (a timely topic for Americans once again) or global health issues and pathology. Architecture plays a role in facilitating the scenes of history; there is much to learn about humans and policy from the built environment.
As I prepare to visit Ellis Island next week to further document pieces of the Contagious Diseases Hospital, this has been a useful orientation tool to the site and context of my project’s focus. In the next 3 months (including two week-long trips to New York to conduct fieldwork/research), I will be producing two Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) reports for the Contagious Diseases Hospital complex: one for the Administration Building and another for one of the Isolation Wards constructed from 1907-1908.
There are two primary medical complexes on Ellis Island: a main hospital—designed on a block plan scheme—built on reclaimed land (which came from subway excavation in Manhattan) known as Island 2 (of Ellis Island) and a Contagious Diseases Hospital built on what was Island 3 (the boat slip dividing Island 2 & 3 was filled in by the 1930s). There is but one island now, and the only remaining boat slip is between the Main Hospital and the Main Immigration Building (if you have visited the island in the past decade, then you have probably been inside the Main Immigration Building that is now a museum and immigration research center).
These two hospitals were built in part out of duty to protect Americans from contagious diseases carried by immigrants (overwhelmingly from Europe) and part out of empathy to assist ill immigrants in their recovery and preparation for becoming citizens. While the cost, $2 a day, at these facilities was not unreasonable, the poorest of immigrants either had to rely on the generosity of relatives already living in the United States or private immigration charities to receive services or face deportation. The medical screening at the Immigration Building could be traumatic, but the service at the hospitals was high quality. These medical facilities, constructed in the first decade of the twentieth century and opening in 1911 were state-of-the art for their time and staffed with relatively compassionate and exceptionally skilled doctors and nurses. Hospital highlights included a mattress autoclave (that used a high-pressured steaming process to sterilize entire mattresses), a refrigerator with a capacity for eight cadavers, an autopsy amphitheater used for medical education/investigation, and a sophisticated diagnostic laboratory (9). The Contagious Disease Hospital utilized the popular pavilion plan layout to optimize the amount of fresh air and sunlight patients of each ward could be exposed to and grouped them by ailment: measles, trachoma, scarlet fever, whooping cough, tuberculosis, diphtheria, favus, etc. These staggered wards branded off of a nearly 200-foot long central corridor.
This will be an interesting read for those interested in immigration (a timely topic for Americans once again) or global health issues and pathology. Architecture plays a role in facilitating the scenes of history; there is much to learn about humans and policy from the built environment.
As I prepare to visit Ellis Island next week to further document pieces of the Contagious Diseases Hospital, this has been a useful orientation tool to the site and context of my project’s focus. In the next 3 months (including two week-long trips to New York to conduct fieldwork/research), I will be producing two Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) reports for the Contagious Diseases Hospital complex: one for the Administration Building and another for one of the Isolation Wards constructed from 1907-1908.
There are two primary medical complexes on Ellis Island: a main hospital—designed on a block plan scheme—built on reclaimed land (which came from subway excavation in Manhattan) known as Island 2 (of Ellis Island) and a Contagious Diseases Hospital built on what was Island 3 (the boat slip dividing Island 2 & 3 was filled in by the 1930s). There is but one island now, and the only remaining boat slip is between the Main Hospital and the Main Immigration Building (if you have visited the island in the past decade, then you have probably been inside the Main Immigration Building that is now a museum and immigration research center).
These two hospitals were built in part out of duty to protect Americans from contagious diseases carried by immigrants (overwhelmingly from Europe) and part out of empathy to assist ill immigrants in their recovery and preparation for becoming citizens. While the cost, $2 a day, at these facilities was not unreasonable, the poorest of immigrants either had to rely on the generosity of relatives already living in the United States or private immigration charities to receive services or face deportation. The medical screening at the Immigration Building could be traumatic, but the service at the hospitals was high quality. These medical facilities, constructed in the first decade of the twentieth century and opening in 1911 were state-of-the art for their time and staffed with relatively compassionate and exceptionally skilled doctors and nurses. Hospital highlights included a mattress autoclave (that used a high-pressured steaming process to sterilize entire mattresses), a refrigerator with a capacity for eight cadavers, an autopsy amphitheater used for medical education/investigation, and a sophisticated diagnostic laboratory (9). The Contagious Disease Hospital utilized the popular pavilion plan layout to optimize the amount of fresh air and sunlight patients of each ward could be exposed to and grouped them by ailment: measles, trachoma, scarlet fever, whooping cough, tuberculosis, diphtheria, favus, etc. These staggered wards branded off of a nearly 200-foot long central corridor.
March 22, 2015
NON-FICTION
I have always thought of Ellis Island as just the place where immigrants entered America by boat. I never learned about the hospital there and all of the madness that occurred. It covers the whole evolution of the hospital. From constructing it, the procedures followed for each immigrant arriving, to the slow fading away of the facility. I loved learning about a different aspect of Ellis Island that I didn't know about. The book has many authentic pictures that are very neat and make the text come to life.
This would be an excellent book for Social Studies in a 4th or 5th grade classroom. I can imagine the students would love seeing the pictures just as much as I did! I think a neat activity to do with the students would be to divide them into groups and have them create skits depicting specific events in the book. It's important to stress to students that while it might be funny to see your classmate acting as someone else, these were real, horrible events that happened to people and they should be respectful of that.
Another activity that could go along with this book would be a research project on the diseases mentioned in the book. The Ellis Island hospital treated 17 different diseases, with a separate ward for each. Students could be divided into groups and assigned a disease to research and teach the class about.
The book mentioned a plethora of individuals by name and describes specifically what happened to them during their time at Ellis Island. I think it would be an interesting assignment to assign each student a person mentioned in the book and have them write from their perspective. For example, the book mentions an immigrant named Izie Friegal. He was a former tailor from Russia who immigrated to America with $22 in his pocket. He was deported back to Russia after being diagnosed as having "flat chest and malnutrition" and was said to be someone "likely to become a public charge". I think this would be good practice for students to practice their writing that portrays emotion. This was a very emotional time for immigrants and I think this would be an awesome assignment to go along with this book!
There was a movie made from this book so that could also be a fun option to do after reading the book.
I absolutely loved reading this book and learning about what has largely been forgotten about Ellis Island. I would definitely recommend reading this to upper elementary students. It's also a great book for all others older than upper elementary as well! I am a college student and thoroughly enjoyed this book. It's never too late to learn something new!
I have always thought of Ellis Island as just the place where immigrants entered America by boat. I never learned about the hospital there and all of the madness that occurred. It covers the whole evolution of the hospital. From constructing it, the procedures followed for each immigrant arriving, to the slow fading away of the facility. I loved learning about a different aspect of Ellis Island that I didn't know about. The book has many authentic pictures that are very neat and make the text come to life.
This would be an excellent book for Social Studies in a 4th or 5th grade classroom. I can imagine the students would love seeing the pictures just as much as I did! I think a neat activity to do with the students would be to divide them into groups and have them create skits depicting specific events in the book. It's important to stress to students that while it might be funny to see your classmate acting as someone else, these were real, horrible events that happened to people and they should be respectful of that.
Another activity that could go along with this book would be a research project on the diseases mentioned in the book. The Ellis Island hospital treated 17 different diseases, with a separate ward for each. Students could be divided into groups and assigned a disease to research and teach the class about.
The book mentioned a plethora of individuals by name and describes specifically what happened to them during their time at Ellis Island. I think it would be an interesting assignment to assign each student a person mentioned in the book and have them write from their perspective. For example, the book mentions an immigrant named Izie Friegal. He was a former tailor from Russia who immigrated to America with $22 in his pocket. He was deported back to Russia after being diagnosed as having "flat chest and malnutrition" and was said to be someone "likely to become a public charge". I think this would be good practice for students to practice their writing that portrays emotion. This was a very emotional time for immigrants and I think this would be an awesome assignment to go along with this book!
There was a movie made from this book so that could also be a fun option to do after reading the book.
I absolutely loved reading this book and learning about what has largely been forgotten about Ellis Island. I would definitely recommend reading this to upper elementary students. It's also a great book for all others older than upper elementary as well! I am a college student and thoroughly enjoyed this book. It's never too late to learn something new!
March 22, 2012
Interesting piece of Americana history. Tell how the Island(s)were formed and gives you a glimpse of what immigrants faced upon their arrival. With the advance of medicine, procedures and diagnosis are now considered archaic that were used. The language barrier and lack of female doctors was evidenced, in particular for women and children.
However, it wasn't known to me how much of a modern, actual hospital facility it was for its time. This was viewed as the gateway to America.
Snippets of stories and great photos.
However, it wasn't known to me how much of a modern, actual hospital facility it was for its time. This was viewed as the gateway to America.
Snippets of stories and great photos.
October 18, 2015
Fantastic account of the history of the hospital at Ellis Island. As a nurse, the history of medicine and nursing fascinates me, and I'm also the granddaughter of four immigrants who started their lives in this country at Ellis. I've been there several times and recently had the chance to do one of the new hard hat tours that leads small groups through some of the old hospital wards. Incredible tour, it brings the book to life even more so. Recommend the book, recommend the tour.
September 30, 2008
An excellent piece of American history. An easy read with haunting photos and some interesting case studies. I got through it in three days, even with a newborn, a four yr old, and a two year old.
April 23, 2010
With sparse text and many, many photographs this tells the story of the Hospital on Ellis Island. It was here that many immigrants were examined and then sent back or quarantined until they could be sent on into NY without danger to the city's population. Fascinating stuff.
January 23, 2014
This look at immigration at Ellis Island was such an interesting and new perspective. I enjoyed the multitude if primary sources and the full page photographs. I look forward to incorporating what I've learned into my curriculum.
July 10, 2014
For those really curious about their Ellis Island ancestors' experience, this is a must read. On a side note, I'd heard about the hooks and eye exams ~ my eyes have been itchy ever since I read this, the nightmare of trachoma ...
May 5, 2015
This book was full of interesting information, photos and quotes in a very readable format. It disavows the utopia idea that Ellis Island was a glorious point of entry for all immigrants. I read it in a day-devouring it.
January 10, 2016
I really enjoyed this book and learn so much about the hospital and Ellis Island and public health during that time. Very enlightening and I hope that the Park service is able to renovate the hospital as I would love to go and visit it.
June 5, 2015
Had to re-read it. This time as an homage to the Contagious Diseases Unit, an early 20th century precursor to infection prevention and control, to which I have given nearly 40 years.
December 15, 2015
Descriptive, informative and easy to read rendering of Ellis Island hospital, the immigrants' stories and medical history from the late 1800s thru the early 1920s.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews