by Fan1 on December 22, 2011
This October marked the 125th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty. To commemorate the event, a ceremony swore in 125 immigrants from 46 countries. They are all now United States citizens!
The statue was first dedicated in 1886… if you do the math, that is 125 years ago. Since then, the Status has welcomed millions of new immigrants to America.
The special event was marked by comments by Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar. He told the newly sworn Americans on Friday that diversity strengthens the nation.
Our Lady Liberty also received a high-tech uplift. Five webcams attached to the torch held high in New York harbor will offer vistas impossible to be seen by the public in nearly a century. How cool. You will no longer have to climb all those stairs only to find you really can’t get to the tip top top of the torch!
Read the full article here.
by writer on April 13, 2011
How many of you have thought recently of when, or whether your ancestors immigrated through New York harbor? Did they come through Ellis Island? Was the Statue of Liberty one of the first things they saw?
I was excited to hear my parents tell how my grandmother came through Ellis Island in 1911 as a young child of 12. She was always proud that her mother and siblings and she did not have to mingle with the steerage class passengers, because they has crossed the ocean in the more expensive cabins. Such better off immigrants were given expedited treatment on Ellis Island, sometimes almost just ‘waved through’.
Immigration was easier in those days, wasn’t it? I like to think of my grandmother pulling up to Ellis Island on her steamer and looking at the Statue of Liberty. What were the thoughts going through her child’s heart and head then?
