#63. Angel Island, My Gift to America
From 1910-1940, the former US Immigration Station at Angel Island was used to detain, interrogate, and process over 1,00,000 persons from 80 different countries. The majority of these immigrants were from Asia and the Pacific due to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and other laws that were passed by the US to try to restrict Asian and Pacific Island immigration. Today, the exhibits in the former detention barracks remind us that compared to the European immigrants who came through Ellis Island in New York, the immigrants who were detained on Angel Island faced longer periods of detention, more invasive medical examinations, and more intensive interrogations. On the 2nd floor of the site’s former hospital building, visitors also can view the Opening Doors exhibit. This exhibits celebrates the strengths, resiliencies, and gifts and contributions that immigrants from all around the world have made to our country.