SOCIAL STUDIES – The following photos document immigration to Ellis Island. All photos are courtesy of the Library of Congress. Read our overview in the themes section on immigration.
Immigration Context
During the years between 1815 and 1921, more than 30 million people left their homelands to settle in the U.S., leaving behind religious persecution, famine, pogroms, and autocratic regimes. Primarily from northern and western Europe, emigrants traveled in noisy, crowded, often unventilated bunks below deck. By 1870, more than 90 percent of immigrants arriving to America came on steamships.
To learn more about immigration to Providence, check out our post on the Fabre Line.
Click here for more about immigration and disease.
Questions for Further Thought
- What were some of the leading factors for immigration to the United States?
- What can these images tell us about the people that came here?
Additional Resources
Check out this article on the 1,000 Marriageable Girls arriving to the United States.
Ellis Island Oral History Program – approximately 1900 interviews. The interviews include people from dozens of countries, former Immigration and Public Health Service employees, military personnel stationed at Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty as well as people detained at Ellis Island during World War II until it closed in 1954.
Education Standards
National Council for Social Studies
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