Immirgation Experiece When Coming to America
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Throughout the history of the United States, this country has expanded due to the arrival of immigrants during the early 1900s. With oppression and abuse in the dictator controlled countries, America had immigrants arriving in masses. Resulting from this, our country quickly became a melting pot of different races, nationalities, cultures, as well as backgrounds. Unlike today, immigrants were welcomed and desired in order to spur on our economy during the economic crisis of 1890-1940. Planning to travel to America, the voyage itself, as well as the arrival was a harsh phase for the unfortunate and vulnerable immigrants.
First, planning the trip to America was indeed a struggle for the poor immigrants. The reason for the journey to our country was to achieve a better lifestyle, other than their current one. Their current lifestyle comprised of police brutality, lack of government intervention with the public, as well as poverty. With abuse and oppression flooding their countries, it took a long period of time for the immigrants to accumulate enough money to pay for the ride on the ship to America. Our government did not want men and women sleeping on sidewalks in the city, so they required the immigrants to have at least fifty dollars to be able to pay for the trip, as well as some type of shelter. After amassing enough money, the immigrants quickly fled their countries.
Furthermore, life on the ship itself was harsh and severe for many. An example of a harsh condition on the ship would be the amount of people on the ship itself, with at least four thousand people just in the basement. The men, women, and children who wanted to breathe fresh air would sit on the top deck of the ship. Though they were escaping the amount of clutter in the basement, they faced the freezing cold weather on the deck. Another example of harsh conditions would be the tin plates, tin cups, forks, spoons, soup, and pieces of bread that the immigrants received while on the ship. Notice though, how they did not receive a knife utensil. The reason for this would be because they did not receive any type of food that needed to be cut. Though the food they were given was not of much substance, it was enough to get them through the trip.
Finally, the arrival on American land was a difficult experience for many, but later on became a fulfilling one. The processing at Ellis Island was an elongated procedure indeed. With a mass of immigrants being processed, many people had to stay either overnight, or even for a couple of days. Even after waiting for such a long period of time, some immigrants were denied entrance to America due to health problems and or criminal records. This obviously is a sad sight to see, but it was necessary to prevent disease from being able to infect our own population, as well as criminals from escaping justice. Some immigrants had thoughts of suicide after receiving news of being denied of entrance into America. Though this isnt