Discusses the economic, social, and religious reasons why immigrants, predominantly from northern Europe, and then from eastern and southern Europe, came to the United States. Considers incidents of prejudice experienced by these immigrants as well as contributions made by those of immigrant background.

You're one of millions of immigrants leaving your home in the early 1900s to move to the United States. You're searching for a better life. Ellis Island, near New York City, is your first stop in your search for opportunity and freedom. Officials on the island have been processing immigrants there for decades, but not everyone gets through. If you pass the tests, you're on your way to a new life in the United States. If you don't, you may find yourself...

Ellis Island had been an obscure little island that barely held itself above high tide. Today it stands alongside Plymouth Rock in our nation's founding mythology as the place where many of our ancestors first touched American soil. Ellis Island's heyday--from 1892 to 1924--coincided with one of the greatest mass movements of individuals the world has ever seen, with some twelve million immigrants inspected at its gates. Historian Vincent J. Cannato...