Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2016 i Cobblestone American History and Current Events for Kids and Children

The Qing dynasty had ruled China for nearly 200 years, but it began to decline after Great Britain defeated China in the First Opium War (1839–1842). Corruption, natural disasters, oppressive taxes, and food shortages caused by overpopulation led to an exodus of people from Guangdong Province in southeast China. Many Chinese went to Southeast Asia. Others decided to journey to America, which they called Gam Saan (“Gold Mountain”), after gold was discovered in California in 1848. By 1852, as many as 25,000 Chinese had come to try their luck in the goldfields. Most of them were men who hoped to make their fortunes and return to their families in China. At first, the strangers from the Celestial Kingdom (as the popular press referred to China) were welcomed. The newspaper Alta…

Angel Island has been called the “Ellis Island of the West,” but it also is referred to as the “Guardian of the Western Gate.” Although it was modeled on New York’s famous immigration station, Angel Island Immigration Station did not offer the same welcome to newcomers. Federal laws had been passed to discourage or restrict immigration from Asian countries. Inspectors at Angel Island looked for reasons to reject the mostly Asian immigrants that came through the station. Most of the immigrants who ended up at Angel Island had traveled by ship across the Pacific Ocean. First- and second-class passengers and those returning from a visit abroad were usually questioned aboard the ship and allowed to disembark at a pier in San Francisco. Most third-class immigrants were transferred by ferry to…

Angel Island is the largest island in San Francisco Bay. It probably broke away from the mainland after the last Ice Age—about 10,000 years ago. The first Chinese immigrants arrived in San Francisco in 1848. The city’s Chinatown is the largest Chinatown outside of Asia and the oldest in North America. In the mid- to late 1700s, pirates and smugglers used Angel Island as a hideout during their travels up and down the Pacific Coast. From 1891 to 1946, any ship arriving in San Francisco that was suspected of carrying a contagious disease was sent to a quarantine station on Angel Island to be fumigated and disinfected. Another famous island in San Francisco Bay is Alcatraz Island. Nicknamed “The Rock,” it is known as the site for the Alcatraz Federal…

For the first half of the 1900s, Angel Island served as a place through which hundreds of thousands of people—soldiers and immigrants—were processed or detained. By 1946, however, the island was abandoned as an official processing site. And by December 1962, most of the island was turned over to the California State Park system. Since then, people have returned as visitors who appreciate the island’s natural beauty, plant life, and animal life. A short ferry ride brings visitors from the mainland to the island. The park’s attractions include four camping sites, nature hikes, biking trails, kayaking, and other boating activities. Since the island is about 1.2 square miles, it is easy to get around on foot, and tours of historic sites are popular. According to San Francisco Bay Sector Superintendent…

Angel Island’s role as an immigration station is just one part of its history. Consider this: In April 1775, militia groups in Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts, fired the first shots in the American Revolutionary War. In August 1775, a Spanish explorer arrived off the coast of California. He sailed into a large bay and anchored his ship in the cove of a large island. The Spanish crew explored the area and gathered information. The ship’s captain, Juan Manuel de Ayala, put Angel Island, Ayala Cove, and San Francisco Bay on the first maps. Angel Island appeared uninhabited by people when the Spanish arrived. By the early 1800s, however, Russian fur traders in search of sea otters had traveled far enough south to establish a storehouse there. In 1814, the British…

Most of the Chinese workers who came to the United States in the mid-1800s were men. Half of them were married, with wives, and sometimes children, who had been left behind in China. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 prohibited Chinese laborers from sending for their families to join them in the United States. But merchants and U.S. citizens were allowed to do so. So each time a member of those groups returned to China for a visit, they often reported the birth of a son or two to the immigration authorities when they came back. The claim created immigration slots, which could be used to bring another Chinese to America. In 1906, a major earthquake and fire destroyed much of San Francisco (BELOW), including the city’s Hall of Records.…

The majority of immigrants who passed through Angel Island Immigration Station in the early 20th century came from China and Japan, but large groups also came from a few other nations. A Russian Exodus Before the turn of the 20th century, Russian Jews began fleeing to America to escape pogroms that persecuted them for their religion and faith. Then, World War I (1914–1918) devastated Europe. As Russians dealt with the aftermath of that conflict, the Bolshevik Revolution overthrew the royal Romanov family, and a civil war began. Life in the Russian Empire became extremely difficult, and many Russians tried to escape the situation. Most of the immigrants who came in the 1920s were from the upper class—aristocrats, former imperial officers, and educated professionals. Known as “White Russians,” they did not…

More than any other country, the United States is a nation of immigrants. In search of land, jobs, political refuge, and religious freedom, millions of people from all over the world have looked to America to provide the opportunity for a better life. Immigrants have, in turn, helped to settle and build the United States, weaving together a rich diversity of cultures and people. But the path for all immigrants was not the same. Initially, there was plenty of room and opportunity for new settlers to the United States. By the late 1800s, however, difficult circumstances in other parts of the world led to larger waves of immigrants trying to enter the country. Competition grew between “native-born” Americans and newcomers for jobs and land. The open-door policy toward immigrants began…

The west wind ruffles my thin gauze clothing. On the hill sits a tall building with a room of wooden planks. I wish I could travel on a cloud far away, reunite with my wife and son. When the moonlight shines on me alone, the night seems even longer. At the head of the bed there is wine, and my heart is constantly drunk. There is no flower beneath my pillow, and my dreams are not sweet. To whom can I confide my innermost feelings? I rely solely on close friends to relieve my loneliness. I clasped hands in parting with my brothers and classmates. Because of the mouth, I hastened to cross the American ocean. How was I to know that the Western barbarians had lost their hearts and…

Gunner on the USS Monitor Calvin Corbett, age 8 San Diego, California Man-Made Marvels A Movement for Preservation and Conservation Time for the Olympics Write to us! Draw a picture or write a poem or short essay that connects to one of the above COBBLESTONE themes on which we currently are working. All contributions must be your own original work. Include your name and address and a note from a parent, guardian, or teacher acknowledging the originality of your work. We will include as many as we can in the upcoming issue to which your work relates.…

After Spanish explorer Juan Manuel de Ayala sailed his ship into San Francisco Bay in 1775, he named the large island in the bay Isla de Los Angeles (“Island of the Angels”). But don’t confuse the island with the city of Los Angeles at the other end of California! Ayala named it for the feast day (a saint’s day of remembrance in the Catholic Church) of Our Lady of the Angels. Her feast day is August 2, which was around the time that the Spanish arrived in the area. Answer to Dr. D’s Mystery Hero from page 45 : Tyrus Wong Picture Credits: front cover (T), 38–39 Aerial Archives/Alamy Stock Photo; front cover (B) Granger, NYC–all rights reserved; ii (all), 2–3 (T), 7 (BR), 8 (TR), 12 (T), 12–13,…