On January 1 1892 Annie Moore,,, 15 a year old Irish girl and her two brothers became the first immigrants to enter the. USA through the immigration station on Ellis Island in New York. For the next, sixty-two years more than 12 million immigrants. Followed Annie "s footsteps until the station closed in 1954.Although Ellis Island became known as the "Island of tears," most immigrants only spent a few hours there and only, about. Two percent of immigrants were rejected for either medical or legal reasons. Medical exams lasted a few seconds and the,, Immigration inspectors list of twenty-nine questions was well-known to the new arrivals. Wealthier passengers on the transatlantic. Ships didn "t even have to go to, Ellis Island but passed the time in their comfortable cabins before arriving in New, York. While first - and second-class passengers enjoyed the passage across the Atlantic on the upper decks conditions for, the. Third class of "steerage" passengers in the stuffy lower decks were terrible. Some ships carried as many as 2000 steerage. Passengers in crowded and dirty condition. In the early days the journey took six weeks although that, was cut to two weeks. By the mid-1950s. To pass the time immigrants cards sang, played, danced and, talked. Some even practiced answering the. Inspectors" questions and spent, hours learning the new language. Today the descendants of the Ellis Island immigrants make. Up around 40 percent of the total population of, the USA and Ellis Island has become a national symbol of mass immigration. In the search of the American Dream.
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