Immigrants boarded packets or sailing ships in the 1800s with billowed sails, slowly replaced with steamships by early 1900s. Travelers were issued areas of the ship by cost of boarding passes. Ocean weather caused anxiety, sickness, and close quarters, with poorest people in the bottom portion of the packet. Black bread was a staple for their journey before arriving weeks later in a New York port. From there ferries took families to Ellis Island for inspection before entering their new homeland.
“In the decade after the American Revolution, about 5,000 people immigrated to the United States every year. By the early 1900s, that many arrived at Ellis Island each day, with a record 11,747 on April 17, 1907. All told, some 12 million immigrants came through Ellis Island.”
Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island Immigration Museum: Statue of Liberty National Monument, New Jersey/New York
I 29.21:El 5/2
OCLC#46462215
