Spot check fo graf heads yo

Often called the Ellis Island of the West Coast, Angel Island was designed to handle the overflow of unwanted Chinese after the Exclusion Act passed in 1882. Immigrants from China were detained and interrogated anywhere from two months to, in some cases, two years, before being processed or denied.




While people were stuck there, some detainees carved poetry into the walls. (Above, Chinese. Below, Punjuabi.) The San Francisco landmark also handled a good flow of Japanese picture brides, as well as Russia, Korea, the Philippines, and other countries off the Pacific Rim.



Angel Island is in midst of restoration, and is battling in an online contest to win a grant of $100,000 from the American Express/National Trust for Preservation online contest. You can help preserve this important piece of American history and artifact of Asian-American toiling by voting at the Partners in Preservation site...