Board index Other Travel Angel Island Immigration Station Detention Center

Travel

Angel Island Immigration Station Detention Center

andrys
 
Posts: 2701

Angel Island Immigration Station Detention Center

Post Sat Apr 11, 2009 4:48 pm


Not your usual travel destination, but the tours have been filled for weekdays until September.

When the Chinese Exclusionary Act was put into place in 1882 and revised several times,
the Immigration Station was designed (say the national park authorities) to keep Chinese from
coming into the U.S. to stay. The immigration station was active from 1910-1940.

The site was restored (at a cost of $16 million) to serve as living history and, after many years,
reopened on Feb. 16, with full access given to the detention barracks for the first time,
with recreations of some of the rooms and furnishings and its unhappy history.

The place is most known for the discovery (at the time of planned demolition) of
writings and carvings on the wall by frustrated and often depressed immigrants who were
kept there for weeks or months and up to two years while being threatened with deportation.
The carvings were filled with putty and painted over 6 or 7 times, by staff. Walls that talk.
Or, perhaps, the U.S.'s first message boards.

The gallery is mainly a set of reference links for those who are interested in the history of
the place and some photos I took of how it looks, on April 4, showing the crowding together
of narrow bunkbeds 3 levels high and only about 2 ft distance across on the other sides.

The opening was mid-Feb and the full public tours began April 1, 2009.
It's received so much interest from young people that the guided tours are fully booked
from April until September on weekdays. There are available slots on the weekends though,
as of today.

The full gallery is at Angel Island detention center

Image

Image

Image

Image

Board index Other Travel Angel Island Immigration Station Detention Center

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests