On Sunday, July 24, 2016, C-100 members and their families joined a private tour of the Angel Island Immigration Station. The historical tour was hosted by C-100 members Buck Gee and Larry Low and gave attendees an educational and moving perspective of what Chinese immigration to the West Coast was like when the station was running in the early 1900’s.
After the passing of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, Chinese immigration to the U.S. was greatly limited. Like Ellis Island in New York, Angel Island served as an Immigration processing center; however the immigrant experiences on both islands were vastly different, as the ones who went through Angel Island in California were segregated on the basis of nationality or race.
Attendees of the tour were given the opportunity to walk through the old immigration barracks, station quarters, and the newly renovated hospital, which will be turned into the Angel Island State Park Center for Pacific Coast Immigration, helping visitors relive the powerful legacy of America’s immigrants.
This Angel Island tour allowed participants to reflect on the hardships that their ancestors went through to get to the U.S. It was certainly a day to be remembered.
This event was attended by C-100 members Milton Chang and family, Weili Dai and husband Sehat, Buck Gee, Larry Low, Anna Mok, Jerry Yang and family, Linda Tsao Yang, and APAPA Founder & Chair C.C. Yin.
Group picture in front of the old entrance dock of the immigration station
Learning about the different nationalities of people who entered the U.S. through Angel Island (Photo by Jerry Yang)
Barracks at Angel Island Immigration Station (Photo by Jerry Yang)
Chinese poetry graphic engraved into the wall in the barracks (Photo by Jerry Yang)
Group picture on the way back to the ferry dock
