Freedman, Russell. Angel Island: Gateway to Cold Mountain. 2013. 81p. ISBN 978-0-547-90378-1. 979.4 FRE on the library shelves.
Most Americans are familiar with Ellis Island, the gateway through which most immigrants entered the United States in the first decades of the 20th century. Angel Island, in San Francisco Bay, was the receiving station for immigrants coming from Asia. But unlike Europeans arriving on the East Coast who spent at most a few days before being allowed in the country, Chinese, Japanese, and other Asians could spend months in detention, awaiting a decision on whether they would be allowed in. Restrictions on Chinese immigration prevented many from entering.
While on Angel Island, they carved poems in the walls of the detention center, leaving evidence of their stay. Threatened with demolition, the immigration station was ultimately saved and turned into a state park and the station itself was conserved just as it looked in the 1940s.
A thorough history of the misery of Angel Island, along with gorgeous photos and poems, this book is an inspiring look at a slice of American history too often ignored in the history books.
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