Course: WebQuest Ellis Island

1. Introduction

Remember, remember always, that all of us... are descended from immigrants and revolutionists.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Except for the minority of Native Americans everybody who lives in the United States is an immigrant or the descendant of an immigrant. Almost 40 percent of the population of the USA can trace their ancestry back to someone who came to the USA through Ellis Island. Why did those people come to the USA? What happened on Ellis Island? How were immigrants received?

You will learn the answers to these questions while you, an immigrant living around 1900, travel from your country of origin to the United States. You will leave your country, your family and your friends to start a new life in the "land of the free". How will the journey be? Will they let you in on Ellis Island? Will your life be better in the USA?

Before you start, we need some information about you.

YOU have to decide who you are:

- Where are you from?
- How old are you?
- Are you a man or a woman?
- What is your profession (Beruf)?
- Have you saved some money? How much (in $)?
- Are you going on your own?
- Do you have any relatives in the USA? Where do they live?
- Are you healthy?

Now, dear immigrant, prepare for the long journey ........  and go on to the Task section.