Something I really wanted to do for this class was explore Ellis Island, because there is just so much history planted under the soil of that piece of land. Every immigration book, and every immigrant walking around in New York City knows how important Ellis Island is to not just New York City, but America as a nation.  Its one thing to read about Ellis Island and to hear about it from other people, but its completely different to go there and get a feel of how the early immigrants felt. I know students have been there in the past, but the purpose probably wasn’t the same. We should learn as much as we can from Ellis Island, and really get to know the history that is available and accessible in New York City. One can always take a ride to the museum, and check out the tenements in photographs, but to be standing in a place where many immigrants of the nation first landed in America is a completely different feeling. This idea not only is related to the class, but is also a very researchable and historically important thing to explore. I can’t honestly think of a better place to be to research immigration of New York City other than the actual place where the earliest immigrants set their feet: Ellis Island of new york City. Ellis Island is just one of those special things of New York, that make people attracted to New York. Its something that makes us different, unlike Las Vegas, Dallas, Chicago, Los Angeles, and so many other cities who always think they have competition with New York City when they actually don’t. The point here is that Ellis Island is extremely important to immigrants, and their experiences there are the reasons and foundations for our nation’s progress and well being.

We should go to Ellis Island, and stay there for a few hours. The goal of the time we spend there should be to learn about the island as much as possible. Then, everyone should write about the things they saw, and if it has anything to do with something they saw earlier in their lives, with Ellis Island as a part of it. For example, I remember our class saw a small clip from the Godfather, in with the young boy landed at Ellis island and was left in that room all by himself. We should try to relate whatever we found on our trip to Ellis Island, and attempt to link the information to a book or movie we saw in our lives. Because at the end of the day, how are we so sure we learned anything at all if we fail to make connections? Just like we used Foner’s book to make connection with our neighborhood visits, I believe its best if we take some time to go to Ellis Island, and make some connection with either the books we are reading in class or anything else that we find interesting to relate to. I’m just saying.

Lubna Rahmani