Immigration

Greetings! Yeh, no…That’s not working. I’ll stick with the old hello.

You see, I was stuck in the middle of nowhere, and then suddenly a nice man from New Mexico showed up and helped me along the road. Good thing I can speak SpanishJ.
So here we are again. I’m in New Mexico no, in a beautiful hotel. It is so comfy an relaxing here. It is more flowers and sand here than you could imagine! Well, I did some research, and went to several museums yesterday. The books and pictures there says a lot about all that have happened here! However, the main point in this post is immigration. Stick up with me you kind people back home! This will be a short one.

Did you know that Norwegian farmers and families were boarding huge ships to the USA? Well they did! They were looking for a better life in a different country where they thought that they could get one. The main reasons were economic problems, pursuit for more money, and pursuit for more happiness than they could get home in Norway, higher education and so on. It was often young men and women in an age of 18-25 years who did this. They were hoping for a better life on “the other side”. In addition, many people got it to. They started their own farms, built their own houses and grew plants and grain, so that they could earn some money. If we all think back to that time (1825 to 1960). Would you leave all behind? Leave family, house and land just to start all over again in another country with another language, and meet many new people you’d never met before? That sounds very crazy! Crazy people! But I would have done it J Just not alone. There were terrible conditions on the boats, and to be squeezed alone is not one of my options. I would rather be squeezed with my brother or best friend than alone. Moving on again (also a word you’re familiar with now).

As you may know, the immigrants are the ones who move in to another country, and the emigrants move out from one. There’s a difference. There were not only crazy Norwegians who left their home you know? There were many crazy people from all over the world! The news of a better life grew fast, and soon everyone knew about the amazing opportunities in America. Soon almost everyone wanted to emigrate too. There were people from England, Germany, Russia, Scotland, Irishmen, and Austria-Hungary. Oh the list is long. It

was many people, okay J. In 1840-1920, the biggest stream of immigrants came to America. It was

Excited immigrants seeing The Statue of Liberty

somewhere around 37 million people! Oh holy s***! That’s many people! (Sorry for bad language). Poor, poor America get’s too many immigrants…Sigh, I wish all good luck. Even though I know that America is perfectly fine in this moment, because I’m here J. Just had to say that. On the steamboat there were often over 3000 passengers. It was also 1^st class, second class and third class. The people in third class were at the bottom of the ship, and when the arrival came, the first two classes got to go fast off and on to New York ground, but the third class had to be inspected for diseases and sickness first. It could take hours, even days before they finally got to Ellis Island.

The Statue of Libery in the front. Ellis Island in the back.

Ellie’s Island. Heard of it? I’ve honestly not heard a bit. Just some small pieces in class…But I had to search for more info. Don’t blame me! Here we go:
Ellie’s Island is an island outside New York, in upper New York Bay. Weird…I thought that Ellis Island was that small island outside of New York. That island with the Statue of Liberty on. (Paying attention in class much?)
On this island, immigrants were checked and cured for diseases. They got numbered tags on their chest, and they left all of their baggage in a big room before they went inside. (I want a numbered tag! Please!??? J). Then, after the coast was clear, the immigrant could safely put their foot on the ground in New York. Not everyone wanted to live there, so many people moved to different places. Even to California where there was gold (I’ve heard). And there were 70-80% Norwegian people that moved back home with all their experience. Well. At least you now know a little bit more about Ellis Island. Did you learn something? I did! I learned a lot, and I think these museums are really spectacular and exciting.

I’ll keep going to all these spectacular places in Santa Fe! Hope you’ll keep reading my blog!
And one, two, three:
We writes next time!

Lots of hugs from Ingrid Kristine <3J

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_immigration_to_the_United_States

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_to_the_United_States

http://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/USAs_historie_(1865%E2%80%931918)#Immigrasjon

http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/immigration/tour/stop5.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellis_Island