151418

The History of Blood and Tears in San Francisco’s Angel Island

Angel Island in San Francisco Bay

Angel Island, located in the San Francisco Bay, was once used as a military fort and a processing station for immigrants awaiting deportation, a state park. Take U.S. Highway 101 out of San Francisco to the north, drive on California Highway 131 to the southeast for about half an hour, and then come to the ferry in the small town of Tiburon. From here, it takes about 20 minutes by boat to reach “Angel Island”.

Historical changes

Angel Island, where many Chinese who came to the United States in the early 1900s came ashore first. The old immigration station on the island was where the Chinese settled at that time. In the 1960s, due to the efforts of a Chinese, it was saved from being demolished. To this day, people can still see the blood and tears poems carved by the Chinese who were waiting here to enter the United States on the walls of this building.

According to the historical records of “Angel Island”, in 1848, the first Chinese arrived in California on the west coast of the United States. Seeing that more and more Chinese are coming here to “seek for gold”, the US Congress passed the “Chinese Exclusion Act” in 1882, which began to limit the number of Chinese who landed on the west coast of the United States. In 1910, “Angel Island” began to be used to imprison those Chinese who tried to enter the United States. According to statistics, about 175,000 Chinese have been imprisoned here successively.

This small island was a military base during the Cold War and two world wars between the United States and the Soviet Union. After the soldiers withdrew from the island, it was finally turned into a state park after a long-term struggle by a group of interested people. It is suitable for hiking, cycling and outings. Stepping on a bicycle calmly allows you to fully enjoy the tranquil and leisurely holiday atmosphere of the island. Ferries to Sausalito, Tiburon or Angel Island in Marin County will allow you to bring your bike with you.

Those who like a little bit of excitement can try to manipulate a canoe (Kayak) and enjoy the pleasure of rafting on the periphery of Angel Island. This activity is led by experienced people, and even inexperienced tourists can learn and sell.

Geographical location

“Angel Island” is small, about 188 hectares. The verdant island is like a huge emerald inlaid on the water of San Francisco Bay. In 1775, a Spanish navigator Ayala moored in the Bay Area, discovered and named it. “Angel Island”. During the American Civil War, the army camped here to protect the San Francisco Bay. By 1900, it became the Army’s “Fortress McDowell”, and many soldiers returning from the Spanish-American War were stranded here. 1910 The immigrant camp was established on “Angel Island” in 2009. Most of the people who wish to enter the United States from here are from Asia, and the majority of Chinese are Chinese.

Bloody tears

Before the closure of the Angel Island immigration station in 1940, the United States was the most ill-treatment of our compatriots. Therefore, people who were imprisoned here at that time thought that the most shameful thing in their life, they wanted to forget these painful experiences, and they were even more reluctant to talk about these past events with others. When it comes to the third and fourth generations, they don’t even know that their ancestors once had bitter tears on Angel Island, and immigrants from other Asian countries have a similar situation.

Later, most areas of Angel Island have been opened up as state parks. On weekends, tourists like crucian carp and tourist ferries are full of tourists to Angel Island. Only the former immigration station that originally imprisoned immigrants was divided into a separate area. Not yet open.

In 1970, Alexander Weiss, who had just been sent to Angel Island as a landscaper, was inspecting a dilapidated barracks (the former House 317) when he found thousands of pictures carved into the walls. In Chinese, I told the situation to George Araki, a biology professor at San Francisco State College. Dr. Araki’s mother also entered through Angel Island, so Araki took his family and his photographer friend Mark Takahashi to Angel Island and took pictures of the writing on the wall. The news of the engraving on the barracks on Angel Island was spread to the universities. After the Department of Asian American Studies, Asian Americans have organized groups to visit Angel Island to investigate the overall picture of the immigration station.

In the fall of 1974, a legislative group of Asian Americans set out to draft a proposal to repair the Angel Island barracks.

In order to preserve this historical relic, after various efforts, the State Court finally approved a grant of 250,000 yuan in 1976 for the cost of preserving the remains of the Angel Island Immigration Detention Center. And also organized the “Angel Island Immigration Advisory Committee” to collect and preserve relevant historical materials. More than 100 Chinese poems recorded by overseas Chinese history researchers were collected in “Angel Island Poetry Collection” and began to be compiled.

At noon on April 28, 1979, a memorial ceremony for the unveiling of the Angel Island Asian Immigrant Memorial was solemnly held. U.S. President Carter and New York lawyer Liu Deguang sent congratulations to the representatives and read out the announcement of the Asia-Pacific Heritage Week at the conference. More than 800 Asians, most of them Chinese, attended the historic ceremony.

The monument is made of 6,000 pounds of black granite. The granite stele was donated by the American friendly to China, Victor Berger. The stele is chiseled with a commemorative couplet cloud: Leaving Homes and Drifting Wooden House. , Pioneering business in Kinmen.

The inscription on the inscription was made by Mr. Chen Axiang, and was selected from 68 entries under the sponsorship of Jinshan Times.

During the unveiling ceremony of the monument, two old overseas Chinese who had been detained and imprisoned on Angel Island, Mr. Wang Huajin, 88, and Mrs. Zhao Pan, 83, unveiled the stele. Angel Island Immigration Station has become a key preserved historical relic today.