From 1910 to 1940, over half a million people sailed through the Golden Gate, hoping to start a new life in America. But they did not all disembark in San Francisco; instead, most were ferried across the bay to the Angel Island Immigration Station. For many, this was the real gateway to the United States. For others, it was a prison and their final destination, before being sent home. In this landmark book, historians Erika Lee and Judy Yung (both descendants of immigrants detained on the island) provide the first comprehensive history of the Angel Island Immigration Station. Drawing on extensive new research, including immigration records, oral histories, and inscriptions on the barrack walls, the authors produce a sweeping yet intensely personal history of Chinese "paper sons," Japanese picture brides, Korean students, South Asian political activists, Russian and Jewish refugees, Mexican families, Filipino repatriates, and many others from around the world. Their experiences on Angel Island reveal how America's discriminatory immigration policies changed the lives of immigrants and transformed the nation. A place of heartrending history and breathtaking beauty, the Angel Island Immigration Station is a National Historic Landmark, and like Ellis Island, it is recognized as one of the most important sites where America's immigration history was made. This fascinating history is ultimately about America itself and its complicated relationship to immigration, a story that continues today.

Written in a passionate and readable style, Gateway To America chronicles the historic New York/New Jersey triangle that was the window for America's immigration wave in the 19th and 20th centuries that also inspired some of our countries most popular tourism sites. Thus, unlike other guide books that cover Gateway landmarks, this book is the first comprehensive one to cover all the sites from a historical point of view, including the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Liberty State Park, Battery Park, World Trade Center, South Street Seaport and Governor's Island that make up the entire Gateway experience. Included is all the particular tourist information that one would want to know about each site. This book is based on the 1995 PBS documentary of the same name.

For millions of people, leaving home and coming to America meant giving up family and all things familiar. For more than sixty years, one site was the first place in America all new immigrants saw. Find out why Ellis Island holds such an important place in America's history.

Celebrates the grand reopening of one of America's greatest historical monuments by exploring the history of Ellis Island, from the days of its earliest immigrants to its recent restoration