Angel Island State Park example essay topic

"Angel Island: ' Guardian Of The Western Gate' "– By " Angel Island: ' Guardian Of The Western Gate' "– By Valerie Natale Angel Island, with an area of 640 acres, is the largest island in the San Francisco Bay. It is a hilly and tree-covered place that has been used by Bay Area residents for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. The earliest known visitors to Angel Island were Mi wok Indians, who traveled there in reed boats in search of plants and animals. The island first entered recorded history in 1769, when it was sighted by members of a Spanish exploring expedition.

It received its name in 1775 from Don Juan Manuel Ayala, who explored and mapped the bay and the area around it. Until 1839 the island was used for many purposes, most notoriously as a meeting place for smugglers and pirates and as a dueling range. That year, in an attempt to banish the pirates and duelists, the Spanish governor of California granted Antonio Maria Osio a title to establish a cattle farm on the island. The plan worked, and Angel Island once again became a respectable place. (1) The island officially became a part of the United States in 1848, following the war between Mexico and the United States. Osio fought to retain his title to the island, but after a protracted legal battle, the Supreme Court declared it invalid.

In 1850 President Millard Fillmore declared Angel Island to be a United States military reserve. (2) This declaration marked the beginning of the island's association with the federal government and ended its other uses. In his declarations of war against the German and Austro-Hungarian Empires in 1917, President Wilson declared that "no alien enemy shall land in or enter the United States, except under such restrictions and at such places as the President may prescribe". (34) The declarations also stated that individuals who were not deemed to be threats to the United States– such as women and children– would be allowed to enter and reside in this country. However, Wilson also stated that all male citizens of belligerent countries who were over the age of fourteen– especially those who had been associated with the military– would "be liable to be apprehended, restrained, secured, and removed, as alien enemies". (35) This declaration resulted in the detention of a number of alien enemies– the great majority of whom were current or former members of the German or Austro-Hungarian military– for the duration of the war.

Some of these individuals were housed on Angel Island. In May of 1917, they numbered approximately 150 people. Enemy aliens were housed in the same barracks as the Chinese and other immigration detainees, although all of the various groups were separated by ethnic origin. Like the Asian detainees, the prisoners of war were evidently not very happy with their conditions of detention. In a May 1917 letter of complaint to the district director of immigration for the San Francisco area, they expressed their discontent with the sanitary conditions at the station. Specifically, they complained of inadequate toilet and bathing facilities and of uncleanliness in the kitchen and dining areas.

Furthermore, they complained that fifty men were housed in a single room, ventilation in the rooms was poor, and no drinking water was available in them. Finally, as were the Chinese men, they were allowed to exercise only two to three hours a day. The Germans requested some alleviation of their conditions. (36) The outcome of the complaint is unknown, but the prisoners did spend the remainder of the war on Angel Island.

Fire Safety at the Immigration Station Although Deaconess Maurer and the Chinese self-governing society provided a great deal of relief to the detainees on Angel Island, they were not able to overcome certain shortcomings at the station, the most serious of which was the condition of the buildings. Debates over sanitary and fire safety conditions at the Immigration Station began shortly after it opened in 1910 and continued until a fire destroyed it in 1940. A complaint about fire safety at the station lodged with the secretary of labor in 1915 criticized the station as being insufficiently fireproof. The writer suggested that the station be closed and its officials and occupants be removed "to fireproof, sanitary buildings situated on the mainland". (37) Furthermore, overcrowding and a lack of isolation facilities in the hospital exacerbated the spread of disease, and complaints about epidemics were made to the commissioner of immigration in Washington as early as 1915. (38) In 1920 an epidemic of meningitis broke out at the station; its cause was attributed to the unsanitary conditions still prevailing there.

In 1923 another report was made to the immigration commissioner. This report criticized fire safety standards as being quite inadequate and stated that the administration building was "without proper fire protection". The detention building was without "any fire protection at all", and as for the hospital building, "in the case of fire, there would be a serious loss of life". (39) Similar criticisms were made of almost every building at the station, even of the fire hoses and the water supply for them. Indeed, several small fires did break out over the years. While no deaths or significant loss of property resulted from these fires, the warnings they made went unheeded, and significant improvements were not made to the station.

On the evening of August 12, 1940, a fire broke out in the administration building. Soldiers from Fort McDowell rushed to the scene, where they assisted the detainees in dousing the blaze. No one was injured, but the building was completely destroyed. A board of inquiry, after interviewing everyone who may have had information about the fire, determined that it had not been set deliberately. However, deliberate or not, the fire finally demonstrated that the immigration station was dangerously unsafe and that it was no longer able to fulfill the purpose for which it had been constructed. The detainees and officials of the station were moved to San Francisco, and arrangements were made for the U.S. Army to take over its grounds.

A skeleton crew remained at the station until early 1941, when the army officially assumed control. After making some improvements to the structures there, the station was again used, during World War II, to house enemy aliens. World War II Enemy aliens were defined as citizens of Germany and other Axis countries. Current and former members of the military were especially considered to be alien enemies, and many were arrested and detained. During this war, however, Angel Island was merely a temporary holding camp for prisoners, who were sent to permanent quarters in various places around the West. Many of them stayed on the island only for a few weeks.

One group of Germans, for example, was the crew of the SS Columbus, a German merchant marine ship scuttled off the U.S. coast in 1940. Faced with choosing between fleeing to the British ship that sunk them and an American ship nearby, the crew of the Columbus chose the Americans. In so doing, they became the guests of the U.S. government rather than the prisoners of the British government. They retained this status until December 1941, when war between the United States and Germany was officially declared.

The crew of the Columbus was moved to New Mexico, where they sat out the war in a special facility near Roswell. (40) The arrival of World War II also brought an end to the Chinese exclusion laws. The United States, as an ally of China against Japan, no longer desired to exclude its allies, and the laws were repealed in 1943. Angel Island was a busy place throughout the course of World War II. Tens of thousands of recruits passed through Fort McDowell on the way to duty overseas. In fact, the Overseas Discharge and Replacement Depot at Fort McDowell was the largest such establishment in the United States.

When the war was over, thousands of soldiers again passed through Fort McDowell as they returned from duty in the Pacific region. In 1945 a sixty-foot sign directed at returning soldiers was erected: "Welcome Home, Well Done". The soldiers continued to return until 1946, when their numbers were reduced to nearly zero. At this time, the army closed Fort McDowell and withdrew from the island, declaring it to be surplus territory. The area that had been the quarantine station was turned over to the state of California for use as a parkland in 1954. The next year, however, the military returned to Angel Island, in order to fight the cold war.

A missile site was completed in 1955, and Nike missiles were installed on the western shore of the island. In 1958 more of Angel Island was given to California for use as a state park. The missiles remained there until 1962, when they had become obsolete. At this time, the rest of the island was given to the state of California.

Today the California Department of Parks and Recreation maintains Angel Island State Park. The island, which has been designated a National Historical Landmark, is a popular destination for tourists and residents alike, who travel by ferry or private boat to dock at the former quarantine station. In a tour around the island, visitors can share a historical journey from the nineteenth centre to the present. Tours of Angel Island are led by docents trained by the Angel Island Association (AIA), an organization that works to commemorate the island's heritage. During the tour, visitors see Civil War-era buildings at Camp Reynolds and the former Nike missile sites of the 1950's. The men's detention quarters at the immigration station are open to the public; some of the poetry written by detainees seventy-five years ago is still visible on the walls of this building.

Finally, a small museum at the former quarantine station tells Angel Island's story in pictures, artifacts, and words. The Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation (ISF) also works to preserve the island's history, focusing on Asian immigration. Both the ISF and the AIA played a significant role in getting the island named a National Historical Landmark. Today Angel Island is no longer the "Guardian of the Western Gate". Instead, as a state park and National Historical Landmark, it has a new mission to welcome all visitors and tell the stories of its former visitors and the place they hold in American history. NOTES This article has been written as part of a project sponsored by Congressman Tom Lantos to commemorate the history of Angel Island.

Many thanks are due to Mrs. Annette Lantos, Iswari Espa? a, and to Congressman Lantos's staff. Thanks are also due to Waverly Lowell, Neil Thomsen, Dan Neal and, and the rest of the staff of the National Archives-Pacific Region, without whose assistance this essay would not have been written. The Angel Island Association may be reached at 415-435-3522. The Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation may be reached at 330 Townsend Street, San Francisco, CA 94107.1. Maj. Oscar W. Koch, U.S. Cavalry, "Fort McDowell– Grand Hotel, U.S.A. ", Nov. 19, 1939, file no. 12030/1-1, Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, Record Group 85, National Archives and Records Administration-Pacific Region (San Francisco) (hereinafter, records in NARA-Pacific Region (SF) will be cited as RG, NAPS); fact sheet, Sept. 1, 1972, Ephemera Box 66, Headquarters of the Sixth United States Army, Office of the Chief, Public Affairs, Presidio of San Francisco, California, Archives of the Presidio of San Francisco.

2. Koch, "Fort McDowell", Nov. 19, 1939, file no. 12030/1-1, RG 85, NAPS. 3. Fact sheet, Sept. 1, 1972, Ephemera Box 66, Archives of the Presidio of San Francisco. 4.

Fact sheet, Sept. 1, 1972, Ephemera Box 66, Archives of the Presidio of San Francisco; Koch", Fort McDowell", Nov. 19, 1939, file no. 12030/1-1, RG 85, NAPS. 5. Fact sheet, Sept. 6.

Annual Report of the Commissioner General of Immigration, 1928 (hereinafter cited as 1928 Annual Report). 7. Ibid. 8. Wayne Biddle, A Field Guide to Germs (1995), p. 35.9. Hugh S. Cumming, Passed Assistant Surgeon in command of the quarantine station, to U.S. Surgeon General, July 1, 1903, Bound books, book 1 "Letters to the Surgeon from the medical officer in charge, July 1, 1903-March 1, 1926", Records of the Public Health Service, 1912-1968, RG 90, NAPS.

10. Such eng Chan, Asian Americans: An Interpretive History (1991), p. 28.11. Edward L. Haff, District Director for San Francisco District INS, to Ted Rein dollar, May 14, 1936, file 12030/1, RG 85, NAPS. 12. U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Immigration, Treaty, Laws, and Rules Governing the Admission of Chinese, Rules of May 1, 1917 (3d ed., October 1920), p. 6.13. Ibid., p. 9.14. Ibid., p. 10.15.

Ibid., pp. 15, 17.16. "Partnership book in Chinese, captured by customs inspectors on the premises of the fictitious firm operating under the name of Quong Fat Cheung, at No. 30 Waverly Place, San Francisco, Cal". RG 85, NAPS. 17. Ibid. 18.

Ibid. 19. Lee Yat, witness, to Clarkson Dye, investigator, statement made during Densmore investigation, May 11, 1917, folder no. 12016/1076-3, RG 85, NAPS. 20. Lee You, merchant and husband of Chin Shee, during interrogation, folder no. 15502/5-6, RG 85, NAPS. 21.

Translation of Chinese letter intended for Tom Quon Sook and Tom Quon Poy, May 15, 1917, file no. 54184/138// 10126/1076, RG 85, NAPS. 22. Coaching letter for Tom Quon Sook, ibid. 23. W.J. Armstrong, employee at immigration station, statement to investigators during Densmore investigation, Feb. 13, 1917, folder 12016/1076-1, RG 85, NAPS.

24. "Fugitive caught", Oakland Tribune, Dec. 17, 1917, folder no. 12016/1076, RG 85, NAPS. 25. Robert T. Fergusson, employee at immigration station, statement to investigators during Densmore investigation, Feb. 13, 1917, RG 85, NAPS. 26. Densmore investigation, file nos. 12016/1076-7 and 12016/1076-9, RG 85, NAPS.

27. Informational description of the Angel Island Immigration Station, ca. 1930's, folder no. 12030/1-1, RG 85, NAPS. 28. Ronald Tamaki, Strangers from a Different Shore: A History of Asian Americans (1989), p. 237.29.

Luther C. Steward, Acting Commissioner, Immigration Service San Francisco, to Commissioner General, Immigration Service Washington, D.C., Dec 19, 1910, RG 85, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, DC; quoted in Shih-Shan Henry Tsai, The Chinese Experience in America (1986), p. 100.30. Angel Island, published by "Immigrants All... Americans All" and The Portfolio Project, Inc. (1989). 31. Ibid.

A collection of poetry written on the walls of the detention barracks on Angel Island has been compiled in the book Island: Poetry and History of Immigrants Detained on Angel Island, 1910-1940, ed. Him Mark Lai, Genny Lim, and Judy Yung (1986). 32. Edward Haff to the Commissioner of the INS, Jan. 21, 1935, folder 12030/24, RG 85, NAPS.

33. Ibid. 34. Woodrow Wilson, Declaration of War between the United States and the German Empire, Apr. 6, 1917; Declaration of War between the United States and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Dec. 7, 1917, copy in folder no. 12016/1106, RG 85, NAPS.

35. Ibid. 36. Capt. E. Dei mat, ex. SS Holsatia, et al., to Mr. White, District Commissioner for the INS, May 15, 1917, folder "Alien enemies: Sample no. 56", RG 85, NAPS. 37.

Commissioner General of Immigration to the Secretary of the Department of Labor, July 15, 1915, folder no. 12030/22, RG 85, NAPS. 38. W.C. Billings, Surgeon, US PHS, to the Commissioner of Immigration, July 20, 1915, folder no. 12030/23, RG 85, NAPS. 39. Capt. C.J. Cullen to John Nagle, Immigration Commissioner, Mar. 28, 1923, folder no. 12030/24, RG 85, NAPS. 40. John Joel Cullen, "A Troublesome Presence: World War II Internment of German Sailors in New Mexico", Prologue: Quarterly of the National Archives and Records Administration 28 (Winter 1996): 279-295. from Prologue: Quarterly of the National Archives and Records Administration.

Summer 1998, vol. 30, no. 2.? 1998 by Valerie Natale. Online Source 399.