Inglewood eighth-graders immigrate through Ellis Island

Imagine that you made the heart-wrenching decision to leave your family and hometown behind, give up your job, sell all that you had to afford passage on a steam ship and start over in a completely different country across the ocean. You spent weeks cooped up among hundreds of other third-class passengers, watching people around you die of disease, and fearing shipwreck during terrifying storms.

Finally you arrive at your destination — you can see New York City across the harbor. But your hardships are far from over. First you have to pass a medical examination, and you hope you can hide that cough you’ve had for weeks. Then you must answer a series of questions barked at you in a language you barely understand, knowing that one suspicious wrong answer could ruin everything you’ve worked for. Before you’ve even set foot in your new city, your new home, you might be sent back from where you came.

This is the experience that the eighth-graders of Sammamish’s Inglewood Middle School underwent on Sept. 18, when the school library transformed into Ellis Island. For the fourth year in a row, the simulation gave students a firsthand look at what many of their ancestors went through a hundred years ago.

The event not only kicked off the students’ unit on immigration in their language arts/social studies class, but also coincided with Welcoming Week, the national, 10-day long celebration of immigrants that is recognized by the communities of Sammamish and Issaquah.

From the late 19th century through the first half of the 20th century, over 12 million immigrants had to pass through the rigorous port of entry at Ellis Island, New York before they could realize their dream of starting a new life in America.

The eighth-graders lined up and entered the library, each bearing a name card giving a bit of information about the immigrant they were playing. First they were sent to the medical examination (at the library front desk), where they had to demonstrate that they were healthy through actions such as breathing deeply and walking a few paces.

Next, they had to line up at the legal documentation table, where they had to answer questions about where they were from and what they were planning to do in America.

The catch? Everything that was being said to the eighth-grade immigrants was in a language other than English. Inglewood sent a shout-out to parent and community volunteers who could speak another language and had them ask the students the questions in the language they could speak — which ranged from Farsi to Cantonese to German to Danish.

“The idea is that we want them to understand that sense of not really knowing what is going on,” said Grant Greenman, Inglewood librarian. “We’re trying to give them the emotional experience” of being in a new place and not understanding the language.

Students tried as best they could to answer the questions through hand gestures and a few broken words. Some of the legal questions they tried to answer were serious in nature, such as “Have you ever been to jail?” or “Did you pay for your voyage?” If their answers seemed unsure or cast doubt on their character in any way — even if this was due to a language barrier — they were sent to the legal detention area until further notice.

Language arts/social studies teacher Joanna Guiler explained that immigrants detained on legal grounds were made to stay in dormitories “similar to the conditions in steerage” while they waited for a legal hearing before a board of special inquiry.

Those who did not pass the medical test had to go to the quarantine area, where they were separated from the other passengers.

“It was weird. I felt very confused about where I was going and what was going to happen to me,” eighth-grader Jack Andrews said. “One thing that I thought was sad was that when I was sent to ‘medical quarantine,’ everyone else who was ‘sick’ was there as well, and so all the sickness infected everyone who was there.”

Passengers deemed not healthy enough to enter the United States, Guiler said, were “sent to a hospital on the island for what could be days or weeks.” Sometimes entire families had to wait to enter their new land because of one sick family member.

“We do our best as teachers to create some of the same concerns and potential anxiety immigrants faced as they were pursuing their dreams of coming to America,” she said.

The students playing first- and second-class passengers had a very different experience. Unlike their peers in steerage, they did not have to go through medical and legal questioning. Instead, they went straight to the comfortable seats of the ferry to New York (a set of cushy library couches).

The teachers explained that this was because immigrants with enough money to afford more luxurious tickets were assumed to be the ideal kind of people the U.S. wanted.

“Everything was easy for me to go through (in first class), but as I looked around, I saw confusion on other immigrants’ faces as officers randomly directed them in different languages,” eighth-grader Grace Thompson said. “Lots of family members were assessed differently and got separated.”

The idea behind the exercise was to give students not only an up close history lesson, but also to increase their appreciation for the people who came to America looking for a new life.

Guiler pointed out that many of the students at Inglewood are immigrants themselves, and had the modern equivalent of the Ellis Island experience just a few years ago.

“We want there to be an understanding about the many steps immigrants had to take historically as well as presently,” she said. “We hope to instill a sense of empathy and compassion for immigrants to have come to our country throughout history, as well as the many immigrants and hopeful immigrants here today.”

“I learned how hard it was,” said Inglewood eighth-grader Neelum Jawanda. “You can’t take immigration for granted. It was sad to see good people be declined.”

A student immigrant performs an eye test (conducted in Danish) at the medical examination area. This test would have been done to check for trachoma, a contagious eye disease from southern Europe. Nicole Jennings/staff photo

The great hall at Ellis Island (pictured in 2011), which would have been filled with immigrants in the early 20th century. Nicole Jennings/staff photo

The third-class immigrants in quarantine (behind the books) are separated from the first- and second-class passengers who were allowed to go straight to the New York ferry without undergoing medical or legal questioning. Nicole Jennings/staff photo

An immigrant with questionable health is stopped from moving on to legal questioning and sent to quarantine. Nicole Jennings/staff photo

Student immigrants attempt to answer legal questions, such as why they came to America and if they have jobs awaiting them; the entire process is conducted in German. Nicole Jennings/staff photo