118: “The Island of Hope and Tears:” Ellis Island

History That Doesn't Suck

ProfGregJackson

Education, History, Society & Culture

4.5 • 5.1K Ratings

🗓️ 29 August 2022

⏱️ 65 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

“That’s the light of freedom! Remember that. Freedom.” This is the story of 40% of modern America’s ancestors—this is the story of Ellis Island. Religious persecution. Economic devastation. Stifling political regimes. Whether fleeing for their lives or simply to improve them, Europeans—especially Eastern and Southern Europeans—are flocking to turn-of-the-century America. But no port is busier than New York City. The journey is no laughing matter. Many immigrants are traveling nearly penniless as they make their way to major port cities. They then endure the filth, stench, and overcrowding of steerage for two-weeks on the Atlantic, all with the hope that they’ll pass the health and legal inspections of Ellis Island. The vast majority will, but the fear of being turned away—of being separated from family members allowed in, or being sent back to Europe destitute–is terrifying. This is the Island of Hope … and the Island of Tears. This is Ellis Island. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:00.0	History that doesn't suck is a bi-weekly podcast delivering a legit, seriously researched
0:03.8	hard-hitting survey of American history through entertaining stories.
0:06.8	If you'd like to support HTTDS or enjoy bonus content, please consider giving at patreon.com
0:12.0	forward slash History that doesn't suck.
0:14.4	To keep up with HTTDS News, follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.
0:18.8	It's May 18th, 1903, and the SS Germania is steaming its way through a terrible storm
0:31.0	in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.
0:33.6	She's a sizable ship, more than able to weather the pounding rainfall and whole crashing
0:39.1	waves.
0:40.1	But it's another story for most of the passengers.
0:45.6	Arbilo Deck, down by the waterline, some 1400 Europeans, men, women and children, are
0:52.3	suffering through their transatlantic voyage and this storm in the most miserable conditions,
0:57.5	as steerage passengers.
0:59.8	Lacking individual cabins, they have no sense of privacy in a massive space that resembles
1:05.2	a dreary dormitory or barracks lined with metal bunks.
1:09.8	Ventilation, showers, even a fresh change of clothes, these are all rarely if ever known
1:15.4	luxuries in steerage.
1:17.5	Such conditions are why contagious deadly diseases spread so quickly down here.
1:22.2	But given the storm, it's the motion of the sea, not germs, that have fearful families
1:26.5	asking God for protection in their various languages.
1:30.4	Countless people in steerage are persistently beset with sea sickness, such as the case
1:35.2	for the Capra family.
	...

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