Introduction

Welcome students! By viewing this blog, you are going to take a virtual tour of Angel Island. At most of the stops on this field trip, there will be a time to reflect on your learnings by writing in a journal. Angel Island is very beautiful and interesting and I hope you all listen up and pay attention to all that you will learn because after this virtual field trip, I will assign a paper having to do with this topic. This island is very important in the history of Chinese immigration in California during the time between 1910-1940. Angel Island is located in the San Francisco Bay and is actually the largest island in the whole bay area. A brief history includes this:

From 1910-1940, Chinese immigrants were detained and interrogated at Angel Island immigration station in San Francisco Bay. U.S. officials hoped to deport as many as possible by asking obscure questions about Chinese villages and family histories that immigrants would have trouble answering correctly.

Immigrants were detained weeks, months, sometimes even years. Word got back to China about the prolonged questioning, so people would try to mentally prepare before even crossing the Pacific Ocean.

A 1940 fire destroyed the Angel Island administration building, so the U.S. government abandoned the immigration station. The so-called "Chinese Exclusion Acts" eventually were repealed. Over the years, Chinese have settled in every U.S. city.

Many years have passed. But many Chinese still recall the hardships of detention.

**Students** Enjoy the virtual experience!