Attachments: Faces and Stories From America’s Gates
Lawrence F. O’Brien Gallery, National Archives, Washington, D.C.; June 15-September 4 • www.archives.gov/nae/
Beyond the National Archives’ glorious rotunda, with its crowd-drawing displays of our founding documents, lies a revealing new exhibit that distills the complex stories of some two dozen immigrants. Visitors enter through a gate in an 8-by-25-foot reproduction of a photo of the Angel Island Immigration Station, the debarkation point in San Francisco Bay for millions of arrivals from Asia. The exhibit’s curators cleverly used documentation “attached” to government immigration forms— especially photographs and letters— to flesh out the experiences of newcomers arriving here between 1880 and 1951. Arranged by themes (Entering, Leaving, Staying), the exhibit offers surprising and ironic takes on America’s shifting immigration policies. For example, Chinese exclusion laws produced a rich trove of pictures—because, for years, only Chinese immigrants were required to carry government-issued photo ID. And since “crimes of moral turpitude” (an elastic category) could get immigrants tossed onto the next boat home, deportation records carefully noted all distinguishing physical characteristics, including hat and shoe size: These would help immigration agents identify deportees trying to sneak back in. “Attachments” reminds us that despite Emma Lazarus’ brave lines on the Statue of Liberty’s pedestal, “the huddled masses yearning to breathe free” in America have always faced an uncertain road.
Originally published in the August 2012 issue of American History. To subscribe, click here.
