Immigrants at Ellis Island in 1908

Immigrants at Ellis Island in 1908

This image of men, women, and children at Ellis Island in 1908 portrays the first-hand experience of newly arriving immigrants. Their clothing appears to be clean, in good condition, average, and not fancy. It seems the clothing is representative of lower to middle class people with the females wearing skirts and dresses and an occasional coat. The males are wearing knickers and slacks and some have coats. A few men and boys are wearing Cossak-style hats, woolen caps,snow hats, and a beret. The individuals are squished and huddled together, implying crowded conditions at the processing building. Some might be related because they have their arms on another. Many immigrants have somber and unhappy looks or blank stares on their faces, reflecting numbness, tiredness, discomfort, and bewilderment. Only a few have a slight smile or smirk. Their experience may have been filled with apprehensiveness and uncertainty for the future without family and friends, a job, and place to live in American along with the prospect of a new culture and language. Others may be joining newly Americanized family members and therefore, are nervous about rekindling these relationships.
Yekl's/Jake's wife, Gitl, and son, Yossele, also arrived at Ellis Island and probably looked like the photo's immigrants. They were weary and uncertain about their future after not having seen Jake for three years. Jake saw them in the distance "and his heart sunk at the sight of his wife's uncouth and un-American appearance....slovenly dressed in a brown jacket and skirt of grotesque cut, and her hair was concealed under a voluminous wig of a pitch-black hue" (34). Gitl and Jake's embrace and kiss exhibited estrangement and repulsion on Jake's part from her steerage smell. Yossel, who was too young to remember his father from three years ago, kicked him. Gitl "was overcome with a feeling akin to awe. She, too, could not...realize this stylish young man--shaved and dressed...as some young nobleman--was...her own Yekl....and she was...mentally scanning the Yekl of three years before... and felt like crying to the image to come back" (36). The mutual discomfort after years of separation was natural and represents two distinct worlds. Gitl was full of the Russian culture, dress, and temperament and Jake was well along in the assimilation process with clothing, language, and culture. Obvious future conflicts were foreshadowed for the relationship because of the dichotomy of lifestyles and outlooks between the husband and wife.

National Archives

"Ellis Island 1908." The Bowery Boys: New York City History. N.p. 31 July 2009. Web. 28 Oct. 2015.
http://www.boweryboyshistory.com/tag/ellis-island

1908

Gary Guy