Danelle Simonelli
Member
Regarding the History Channel documentary, it's been a while since I saw it, but the museum does show an excerpt from it, so my impression is that it was pretty good. (Don't take this as any kind of official endorsement; everything I say to you here I say in my personal capacity.)
Unfortunately, ethnicity was a big deal in Ellis Island's day. The first decades of the 20th century were the heyday of eugenics, the theory that some ethnic groups are inherently superior and others are inferior. What ended the Ellis Island era in the mid-1920s was the U.S. establishing its first quotas limiting the number of immigrants -- and not just the total number, but picking and choosing which groups merit large numbers and which should be severely restricted. To implement the quotas, the U.S. established the visa system, meaning that from the mid-twenties on, immigrants would be inspected and do their paperwork getting a visa before they travelled, instead of coming to Ellis to be inspected upon arrival.
A Titanic-related corollary of all this is the treatment of Chinese survivors of the sinking. Way before quotas, the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was the first big restriction of immigration to the U.S. While all other Titanic survivors were given a free pass to land without going through inspection, the Chinese crewmen who'd been "deadheading" on Titanic en route to their next job were kept overnight on Carpathia and then escorted to their next ship, to ensure they wouldn't sneak into the U.S. in defiance of the Exclusion Act.
Nowadays in the U.S., there's sometimes debate over whether people should be what some call "hyphenated Americans". Some feel one should celebrate one's ancestry, while others feel one should become fully American, with no divided loyalties. Obviously, it's up to each person to decide how to self-identify.
This thread now covers a lot of ground, not all related to Mr. Hilliard. I'm happy to expand on any of these topics in whatever forum is appropriate, if people wish further details. I belong to the Titanic International Society and have done a lot of research about immigrants on the ship and how U.S. authorities treated the survivors.
Unfortunately, ethnicity was a big deal in Ellis Island's day. The first decades of the 20th century were the heyday of eugenics, the theory that some ethnic groups are inherently superior and others are inferior. What ended the Ellis Island era in the mid-1920s was the U.S. establishing its first quotas limiting the number of immigrants -- and not just the total number, but picking and choosing which groups merit large numbers and which should be severely restricted. To implement the quotas, the U.S. established the visa system, meaning that from the mid-twenties on, immigrants would be inspected and do their paperwork getting a visa before they travelled, instead of coming to Ellis to be inspected upon arrival.
A Titanic-related corollary of all this is the treatment of Chinese survivors of the sinking. Way before quotas, the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was the first big restriction of immigration to the U.S. While all other Titanic survivors were given a free pass to land without going through inspection, the Chinese crewmen who'd been "deadheading" on Titanic en route to their next job were kept overnight on Carpathia and then escorted to their next ship, to ensure they wouldn't sneak into the U.S. in defiance of the Exclusion Act.
Nowadays in the U.S., there's sometimes debate over whether people should be what some call "hyphenated Americans". Some feel one should celebrate one's ancestry, while others feel one should become fully American, with no divided loyalties. Obviously, it's up to each person to decide how to self-identify.
This thread now covers a lot of ground, not all related to Mr. Hilliard. I'm happy to expand on any of these topics in whatever forum is appropriate, if people wish further details. I belong to the Titanic International Society and have done a lot of research about immigrants on the ship and how U.S. authorities treated the survivors.
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