Angel Island is now a designated National Historic Landmark and you can take a ferry to see the poetry of Chinese immigrants scrawled in the walls of the immigration station, some over a hundred years old.
Between 1910 and 1940, More than half a million people from 80 different countries entered the US through the immigration station on Angel Island. But after World War Two, the station was shut down and neglected. Today, visitors to the island can sign up for guided walking tours to see recreated living conditions for the roughly 300,000 detainees that were held for weeks, months, and sometimes years. And all that is thanks to one man who uncovered the island's historical significance.
This story originally aired in 2005 and it aired in the April 3, 2024 episode of Crosscurrents.
Former Ranger Alex Weiss passed away in October 2014. He lived long enough to witness the hundredth anniversary of the opening of the immigration station, when President Barack Obama declared every January 21st National Angel Island Day.
