20151220 - ellis island

Why the stories of Ellis Island matter today

Kate Torgovnick May

When artist JR started a project about the 1.2 million people held in limbo at the Ellis Island Immigrant Hospital in the early 20th century, he couldn’t help but notice ghosts of the present.

They stand in line, hands clasped in front of them or gripping the suitcases that contain their possessions. The women wear headscarves, the men thick coats, the children the travel-weary expressions of those who have come a very long way.
The photos could be of the refugees currently camped out between Greece and the Balkans, or of the 2,000 migrants living in temporary accommodations at Berlin’s Tempelhof Airport. But they aren’t. These are archival images of people at the Ellis Island Immigrant Hospital — its own special sort of limbo, where many were held or turned away from the opportunity of a new life. In the short film Ellis, TED Prize winner JR highlights the stories of the individuals who populated this hospital. Here’s a poignant look at images from the film and the art installation that inspired it.

Welcome to America

As immigrants passed through Ellis Island, doctors examined them and held them at the hospital if they were determined to have a communicable disease or to be in need of the “psychopathic ward.” Some 10% of the 12 million immigrants who arrived at Ellis Island between 1892 and 1954 ended up at the hospital — and some 120,000 people were turned away from the United States. While little documentation remains of who these people were, archive photos serve as witness. In 2014, JR pasted two dozen of these images throughout the hospital grounds. “I’m fascinated by the unique stories each person had in moving to America,” he says. “Everyone wants to have a better life and to give their children a better life than theirs. That resonates with people around the world.”

Patients of all ages

The seven children in this image aren’t wearing head coverings for religious reasons. They were treated at the Ellis Island Immigrant Hospital for favus, a scalp infection for which all members of a family should be treated simultaneously. Doctors at the hospital also treated patients for measles, heart disease, scarlet fever, trachoma and a host of other medical issues. At the height of immigration to the US, the Ellis Island Immigrant Hospital occupied multiple buildings and had about 750 beds. About 350 babies were born here, and 3,500 people died here.


 http://ideas.ted.com/gallery-why-the-stories-of-ellis-island-matter-today/
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellis_Island