Photo Credit: Ellis Island, New York: Circa 1905 Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. 20540 LC-USZ62-37784

What is the American Dream?

The term was first used by James Truslow Adams in his book the Epic of America, written in 1931. He states:

"The American Dream is "that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position." (P.214-215) (4)

Between 1892 and 1924 during the greatest immigration to this country Ellis Island received 17 million people. "The immigrants disembarked with all of their belongings and they were tagged with a number that designated which ship they had traveled on. Many of these immigrants were steerage passengers, paying circa $35 a head" (5).  The steerage passengers had to more than prove to the immigration officials that they were not imbeciles, thieves or imposters. "Ellis Island became the Island of Tears, tears of sorrow for those who were sent back and tears of joy for those who stayed. Almost two-thirds of the immigrants made New York City their first American destination, the rest took the train and fanned out across the country." (5)

Not everyone who made the trip was allowed to stay. Those who arrived destitute, looking wretched and dressed like a pauper, were usually sent back to Europe, if there was no one in America willing to vouch for them--promising that the immigrants would not become a financial burden to their new country.

One of the first procedures that the immigrant had to confront was the examination by the medical doctor. The second test was to determine mental deficiency where those immigrants who showed no signs of mental or physical deficiencies were asked questions by the immigration inspectors in the native tongue of the immigrant. . The ones that were literate would whisper in the ear of a grandparent, parent, or person the answers to the questions. The immigrants had to stand the entire time, weaving in and out of the pipe rails, waiting for their turn to come, without a bench to sit on. It must have been very difficult for the older men and women. Later on, after many complaints from the immigrants, or a change in attitude by the immigration people, benches were provided.

For the immigrants suspected of being feeble in mind an X, would be marked on their clothes, which meant they had to take more tests. L was for lameness, CT for Trachoma, S for senility, H for heart, etc. The Italians who didn't have papers had tags hung on them with the letters W.O.P. (without papers) “Yiddish-speaking immigrants recall having their clothes marked with a mysterious circle. In Yiddish, a circle is a keikel. In the language of the bigot, the word became kike " (5)

Photo Credit: U.S. Inspectors Examining Eyes of Immigrants:  1913 Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. 20540 LC-USZ62-7386

Photo Credit: Immigrants Just Arrived From Foreign Countries: 1904 Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. 20540  LC-USZ62-15539

____________FOOTNOTES________________________________

(4) The Library of Congress: "What is the American Dream?"
http://online.sfsu.edu/~kferenz/syllabus/dreams/thedream.html

(5) The Chronicle Telegram, Elyria, Ohio "Ellis Island a Tale of Immigrants Who Came to the U.S. and Made New Lives. September 9, 1990.

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