“I never saw such a big building [Ellis Island] – the size of it. I think the size of it got to me. According to the houses I left in my town, this was like a whole city in one, in one building. It was an enormous thing to see, I tell you. I almost felt smaller than I am to see that beautiful [building], it looked beautiful. My basket, my little basket, that’s all I had with me. There was hardly any things. My mother gave me the sorrah [kind of sandwich], and I had one change of clothes. That’s what I brought from Europe.”

 

Celia Adler

Russia

Arrived in 1914 – age 12

Objective:

Students will read and listen to excerpts of oral histories of immigrant’s experiences coming to Ellis Island. They will look at images of steamer ships and Ellis Island and make collaged illustrations of these accounts.

Resources:

• Ellis Island (First Facts: American Symbols) Capstone Press (2004)
• http://www.ellisisland.org/ (image gallery of Ellis Island)
• I Was Dreaming to Come to America: Memories from the Ellis Island Oral History Project. Selected and Illustrated by Veronica Lawlor. Puffin Books (1995)
• Postcard images from 1890-1915
• Memories of Immigration Supplimentary Video

Activities:

• Students will view images of steamer ships and Ellis Island from the era when it was most active. (see supplimentary video)
• The instructor will read several accounts from, I Was Dreaming to Come America: Memories from Ellis Island Oral History Project, and show how Lawlor has chosen to illustrate the text.
• Students will take turns reading aloud the rest of the accounts without viewing the illustrations.
• Using decorative papers, students will make collaged illustrations of an immigrant’s account of their choice.