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The Examination Hall on Ellis Island
This photo is of the main registry room or examination hall on Ellis Island. After the medical inspection immigrants were sent here to await legal questioning. The legal questioning was intended to establish social, moral, and economic fitness. The inspectors asked the immigrants questions about their names, ages, destinations, employment opportunities, and were made to show some money to prove they were not broke. As more and more laws were passed regarding who was and was not allowed to stay in the United States, the questions asked by inspectors became more complex. "Are you an anarchist?" was a common question. Others who were not welcome were the illiterate, diseased, anyone convicted of a crime concerning morals, and anyone who might have the potential to become financially dependent on the governement. The literacy test would weed out the illiterate immigrants, and the inspector would be responsible for deciding how much money was enough to show that they were not going to be dependent on the governement. The prior medical examinations would have already spotted the ones with diseases, so most of the immigrants that made it to the inspector's desk passed all the way onto American soil.
Novotny, Ann. Strangers at the Door. Riverside, Connecticut:
The Chatham Press, Inc., 1974.
For more information regarding Ellis Island see: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellis_island
The Examination Hall on Ellis Island
This photo is of the main registry room or examination hall on Ellis Island. After the medical inspection immigrants were sent here to await legal questioning. The legal questioning was intended to establish social, moral, and economic fitness. The inspectors asked the immigrants questions about their names, ages, destinations, employment opportunities, and were made to show some money to prove they were not broke. As more and more laws were passed regarding who was and was not allowed to stay in the United States, the questions asked by inspectors became more complex. "Are you an anarchist?" was a common question. Others who were not welcome were the illiterate, diseased, anyone convicted of a crime concerning morals, and anyone who might have the potential to become financially dependent on the governement. The literacy test would weed out the illiterate immigrants, and the inspector would be responsible for deciding how much money was enough to show that they were not going to be dependent on the governement. The prior medical examinations would have already spotted the ones with diseases, so most of the immigrants that made it to the inspector's desk passed all the way onto American soil.
Novotny, Ann. Strangers at the Door. Riverside, Connecticut:
The Chatham Press, Inc., 1974.
For more information regarding Ellis Island see: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellis_island