Unit uno Gateway to the U.S.A.
Perhaps no single monument in the USA is as famous as the Statue of Liberty. Standing on a small island in New York harbor, the crowned lady holding aloft in her right hand the torch of freedom and in her left hand a tablet which is incribed "July 4th, 1776," is a symbol of American democracy. She is colossal, she is 151 ft. high and the pedestal on which she stands is almost as much. An elevator takes visitors to the top of the pedestal, and another to the torch. The Statue of Liberty was a gift to the US from France in 1886, as a mark of friendship and also in memory of the aid France gave the Americans during the American Revolution.
For millions of immigrants, the Statue was their first sight of the promised land, and for a few it was also the last, as they sailed back home again to a desolate futur. About a mile from Liberty Island, there is another small island, called Ellis Island, which was looked upon with dread by the immigrants. For it was here that they had to wait their turn to be examined by doctors and officials. Most of the immigrants could not speak a word of English. But only 2 out of 100 immigrants was refused admission to New York City. Often the person refused turned out to be a grandmother or a weary, frightened girl mistakenly labeled "feeble - minded. " Sometimes husbands and wives were parted because one of them happened to have a bad cough and was suspected of having tuberculosis.
New York City was a bitter disillusionment to some immigrants. Far from being a city paved with gold, it was a city teeming with overcrowded, unhealthy and unsafe ghettos. The immigrants looked for earlier immigrants of their own nationality or religion. So Italian, Polish, Irish, Jewish neighborhoods grew up. Because they could not speak English, the new comers found it difficult to get work at once, and their living quarters were often slums.
However, they found in the USA opportunities of bettering themselves and of escaping from the tyranny which many of of them had suffered in their own countries. To that extent the Statue of Liberty did give them an honest welcome.
Today immigrants no longer have to endure the indignity of Ellis Island. The grim buildings were closed down in 1924[size=18][/size]
In 1976, Ellis Island became an historic monument.
Most immigrants from Europe now pass through New York City via Kennedy Airport. But for immigrants from Asia -- Koreans, Filipinos, Chinese -- the gateway to the USA is San Francisco, not New York City.