18401 - Ellis Island: Coming to America

Course Overview

After the Civil War, immigration to the United States changed. Immigrants from Germany, Ireland, Britain and Scandinavian countries dwindled to be replaced by those from Eastern Europe, Russia, Syria, Turkey, and Armenia. War, famine, and religious persecution drove them to leave their homes and seek new lives in the United States. In 1890, control of immigration was turned over to the federal government, and $75,000 was appropriated for construction of the first federal immigration station on Ellis Island. From 1892 to 1954, 12 million immigrants passed through the nation's busiest immigrant inspection station with 1900 to 1914 being the peak years. Immigrants would contribute names that are part of the American tapestry: Bruce Springstein, Colin Powell, Yogi Berra, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Irving Berlin, Charles Atlas, Cicely Tyson, and Martha Stewart. Learn the stories of Ellis Island and of those who shaped a “nation of immigrants.”