William Williams Documents Ellis Island Immigrants
William Williams Documents ELLIS ISLAND IMMIGRANTS by Rebecca Rowell Content Consultant Vincent J Cannato Associate Professor of History University of Massachusetts Boston Essential Library An Imprint of Abdo Publishing abdopublishing com DEFINING IMAGES
CHAPTER ONE Taking Charge President Theodore Roosevelt gave William Williams an important assignment when he appointed the lawyer commissioner of Ellis Island in 1902 make it respectable The Ellis Island facility the point of arrival for most immigrants to the United States was barely ten years old People were passing through the island by the thousands each day During Williams’s first week as commissioner more than 25,000 immigrants entered Ellis Island’s Great Hall for processing 1 The reputation of the immigration station a beacon of hope for those seeking a new life in the United States had become tarnished Employees mistreated new arrivals Many jobs at the facility were won through corrupt methods and immigration laws 5 The main building at Ellis Island was easily visible to immigrants as they approached the facility from the water
