Ellis Island — History Reading Comprehension Lesson

Reading Passage

Ellis Island

Ellis Island sits in New York Harbor, about a mile from the Statue of Liberty and about a mile from the shores of both New Jersey and Manhattan. For over sixty years, it served as the main entry point for immigrants coming to the United States from Europe and beyond. Between 1892 and 1954, more than 12 million immigrants passed through Ellis Island — one of the most remarkable migrations in human history. Today, approximately 40 percent of Americans can trace at least one ancestor through Ellis Island. It is both a museum and a symbol of the immigrant experience that helped build the United States.

Before Ellis Island opened, immigrants arriving by ship were processed at a facility called Castle Garden at the tip of Manhattan. As immigrant numbers surged in the late 19th century — driven by poverty, political upheaval, and famine in Southern and Eastern Europe — a larger, more organized facility was needed. The federal government built a processing station on Ellis Island, which opened on January 1, 1892. The first immigrant processed was Annie Moore, a 15-year-old girl from County Cork, Ireland, who arrived with her two younger brothers to join their parents in New York.

The experience of passing through Ellis Island was exhausting, frightening, and — for most — relatively brief. Immigrants who arrived in first or second class were examined aboard ship and rarely had to go to the island. Those traveling in steerage (third class) — the vast majority — were brought by ferry to the main building, where they carried their luggage up a steep staircase while doctors watched for signs of illness or physical weakness. In the Great Hall, they waited in long lines, answered questions from inspectors about their occupation, finances, and destination, and had their papers checked. For about 80 percent of immigrants, the whole process took three to five hours.

About 2 percent of immigrants — roughly 250,000 people over the entire period — were turned away and sent back to their home countries. Those detained for medical or legal reasons were held in the island’s dormitories, sometimes for days or weeks. Immigrants who were sick were treated in the island’s hospital. The most feared mark was a chalk letter ‘X’ drawn on a person’s coat — a sign that inspectors suspected a mental health problem, which could result in deportation. For many, Ellis Island represented both the fulfillment of a dream and the terror that it could be denied.

The wave of mass immigration slowed dramatically after Congress passed restrictive immigration laws in 1921 and 1924, which set strict national quotas. Ellis Island continued to operate, processing smaller numbers, and was used as a detention center during World War II. It officially closed on November 12, 1954. After years of neglect, it was restored and reopened as a museum in 1990. Today the Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration honors the millions who passed through its doors — people from Italy, Poland, Russia, Hungary, Greece, Ireland, and dozens of other countries who came seeking freedom, opportunity, and a new life in America.

Printable Worksheet

More Reading Worksheets

Explore our full library of history and reading comprehension worksheets.