Introduction
CD Rom>Maiden Voyage>Jack (Third Class Passenger)

Many steerage passengers on the Titanic were emigrants like Jack, hoping to find work and better lives in the USA and Canada. Once they had arrived at New York, they expected to be questioned and 'processed' by officials at Ellis Island before being sent on their way. Unfortunately, hundreds of emigrants bound for New York on the Titanic were to meet a very different end to their journey.

What was the purpose of Ellis Island?

The registration station on Ellis Island was built in 1892. Between 1892 and 1954 (when the registration station closed), over 20 million people were processed on their way to a new life in the United States of America. In 1907 11,747 new arrivals were processed at Ellis Island on just one day.

At first, the majority of immigrants came from Germany, Ireland, Britain, Scandinavia. Gradually, more and more Jews escaped from persecution in Russia and Eastern Europe and increasing numbers of Italians emigrated to escape poverty at home. Other new arrivals came from countries such as Greece, Armenia, Turkey, Syria, Africa and The West Indies. Many immigrants spoke little or no English. Some of the new arrivals were not able to read and write in any language (5% of all the emigrants from Britain were not literate). Although some of the immigration officers could speak a range of languages, many immigrants could neither understand what was spoken to them, nor read the signs posted around the station.

What happened to the new arrivals?

Around one third of all the newly arrived immigrants set up home in New York City. The rest travelled elsewhere throughout America. Immigrants of all races and nationalities lived packed together in poor tenement houses in area such as Lower Manhatten. Look at the Lower Eastside Tenement Museum to see some of the tenants who lived at 97, Orchard Street between the years of 1870 and 1915 and to learn about where they came from, what they did to earn a living, what they ate and their health problems.

http://www.wnet.org/tenement/logcabin.html

How did Ellis Island Change in the 20th Century?

After 1914 and the outbreak of the first world war America was less welcoming to immigrants from all over the world. Between 1914 -18 the station became a detention centre. During the 1920s, fewer and fewer immigrants were allowed to set up home in the United States. Immigrants were assessed in their home countries and Ellis Island became a place of detention for immigrants being sent back to their home countries.

Why did people leave their countries to begin a new life in the United States?

People moved to the United States from all over the world for many different reasons. Sometimes hunger and poverty made them leave home and try to find a better life across the sea. In 1845 the potato harvest failed in Ireland and many Irish people were starving, one and a half million Irish people left Ireland to begin again in new countries at this time. Many Italians left home after the vineyards and olive groves began to fail.

Some had to leave their homes as they were not free to follow their religion; many Jewish people came to America for this reason. Others came to find a better life. There were many new jobs in America, and as the railroads spread, new towns grew up
Railway and shipping agents advertised the new country very cleverly promising land and work and new chances. Look at the White Star Line posters enticing Europeans to begin new lives in Canada and America.

http://www.russborough.com/antique_prints/posters/canada_immigration_posters.html

Many industrialised cities in Europe were becoming overcrowded and emigrants were very excited by the make money and have land and space. The United States of America seemed to many travellers to be a land of freedom and opportunity.

What were early immigrant ships like?

CD Rom>Maiden Voyage>Jack: Third Class Passenger

Conditions in steerage were often very bad. Many travellers must have believed the adverts from the shipping companies promising 'a six day trip on a fine ship including a plentiful supply of food'. Some travellers packed their own food and tried to make it last. Often the sea was rough, the voyage was slow and the food became worse and worse as the journey went on.

Below deck conditions were very crowded; often hundreds of people were in spaces only six or eight feet high. Men, women and children were separated by blankets hanging down the centre of the room. Many people were seasick, and it was difficult for passengers to wash. Steerage accommodation was smelly, noisy and overcrowded. On calm days, children could play on the deck and adults could get some fresh air; but in bad weather the hatch to the deck was locked to make sure that no one was washed overboard. It was often difficult to get fresh water in steerage and so in stormy weather people must have felt seasick, frightened, trapped and thirsty.

What difference did steamships make on journeys for immigrants?

CD Rom: Building the Titanic>Floating Hotels

Not everyone was allowed to stay. Some people were considered unsuitable or too poor to set up home. Between 1891and 1892, 2142 people were sent back to their home countries. If passengers were too poor to pay their fares, the steamship companies like the White Star line had to carry them free of charge.

Other new arrivals were detained for a while at Ellis Island. Women and children travelling alone were often not allowed to leave the island until a relative collected them. Other travellers who did not have enough money or were sick had to stay for a while. The steamship companies had to pay for their food each day. In 1904 each person was charged 5 cents for breakfast, 11 cents for lunch and 8 cents for dinner.

In 1904 a typical menu was: breakfast, coffee bread and butter, lunch, beef stew, potatoes and bread and pickled herrings for Jewish immigrants; dinner was baked beans, prunes, bread and tea.

Most people were not detained on Ellis Island; they left soon after they arrived. Immigration officers worked twelve hour days and staff could process twelve thousand immigrants a day.

The very first person to go through Ellis Island in 1892 was a young Irish girl, Annie Moore. She was 15 years old and had left Ireland to begin a new life with her two brothers in America.

Activities for the Classroom

Drama

• Imagine you are Annie. How did you feel as you walked into the huge new building?

First class and second-class passengers did not have to go through Ellis Island. They were interviewed briefly on board ship before they were taken to the pier to disembark. Steerage passengers had to wait on the steamship until they were told to get on to the barge or ferry that would take them to Ellis Island.

• Why were these passengers treated differently?

Look at this account from an immigrant. The questions below could support a hot seating activity.

The boat anchored at mid-bay and they tendered us off the ship to Ellis Island... We got off the boat... you got your bag in your hand and went right into the building. Ah, that day there must have been five to six thousand people. Jammed ... it was August hot as a pistol and I'm wearing my long Johns and my heavy Irish tweed suit.

• Where might this person have travelled from?
• What might he have felt on that hot August day?
• What sounds might he have heard?
• He only had one bag. What might he have packed for the start of his new life in America?

The immigrants had medical and mental tests. Then they were asked a series of questions very rapidly at times the interview often lasted only two minutes. These questions included:

1. What is your name?
2. What is your age?
3. Are you married?
4. What is your job?
5. How much do you earn?
6. Can you read? Can you write?
7. What is your nationality?
8. What city are you from?
9. Where are you going?
10. Who paid for your ticket?
11. How much money do you have?
12. Have you ever been to the U.S.A?

Although some immigration officers could speak different languages, many new arrivals must have been confused by the speed of the process and the strangeness of the language.

Music

• Create a vocal composition based on the questions addressed to immigrants at Ellis Island. Immigrants must have been confused and distressed when bombarded by questions they may not have fully understood. We can try to recreate this through rhythmic speech. Repetition and the creation of overlapping vocal parts as question after question is added are central to creating the intended effect. Some simplification and paraphrasing of questions is advisable to create interesting and secure rhythms. Not all questions need be included.

• Questions one and two could be combined to create a steady foundation for more complex rhythms

  
  Name? Age? (slowly)

  Question 6 might take the form of a 'call and response' performed by two groups

  Group 1: Can you read?
  Group 2: Can you write?
  

• Add more complex rhythms as children become increasingly confident: e.g

  Have you ever been to the USA?

• Add a percussive accompaniment to suggest officials stamping official papers accepting or rejecting immigrants.

This activity could be further developed by asking the questions in a range of languages

Drama

• Look at the images of disembarkation and processing on Ellis Island in Shaun Tan's The Arrival. This could be used as a stimulus for writing or the start of a drama. How does Tan convey the feeling of powerlessness in his images?

Immigrants were told to leave any luggage in the baggage hall as they were assessed. This must have been a frightening experience for many people, especially those who did not speak English. In many families the men husbands, fathers, older brothers went ahead to start a new life. They sent for their families later when they were settled. Luggage was very important, especially for these men, not only did it hold important items, but personal objects such as photographs and pictures, to help people to feel close to home.

Visual Literacy

• Look at the pictures at the start of The Arrival by Shaun Tan.
• Describe the scene as the father packs his case to set sail. (narrative writing)

Ellis Island is now a museum telling the story of the men women and children who passed through it on their way to a new life. One display shows the luggage of the steerage passengers. Many steerage passengers had to walk to the ports taking only what they could carry with them.

• If you could only take one small case to start a whole new life, what would you pack?

Detective work

• Present the children with cases with different objects reflecting a range of cultures. These could include texts in different languages, currency, photographs of places, etc.
• Work out the origin of the immigrant from the evidence.

Poetry based on the magic box

• Think about the hopes for the future that children setting sail to start a new life might have had. These could be written individually and collated and presented as a group list poem.

'In this case I put my wishes for the future .....'

Art

Sandra Ramov is a Cuban artist who takes old, often battered, suitcases and paints inside the hopes and dreams of those crossing the sea to start a new life. In some cases, the pictures are full of hope; in others the images represent the harsh reality of immigrant life.

Sometimes, she creates suitcases out of wood or other materials in various shapes, reflecting the hopes or experiences of the owner.

• Children could create their own suitcases from cardboard boxes, as a visual documentary charting the dreams and the nightmares of Titanic's steerage passengers.

'A Case History', John King's installation in Liverpool's Hope Street, also provides an imaginative starting point for children's own work

http://www.hilaryburrage.name/hilary_burrage/2008/03/liverpools-hope-street-suitcases-a-case-history.html

References
Allen, L. (1992) Ellis Island New York: Evelyn Hill Group

Kotker, N. et al (1989) Ellis Island: Echoes from a Nation's Past New York: Aperture Foundation

www.ellisisland.org