Ellis Island
Ellis Island, in Upper New York Bay, was the gateway for over 12 million immigrants to the U.S. as the United States' busiest immigrant inspection station for over 60 years from 1892 until 1954. Ellis Island was opened January 1, 1892. The island was greatly expanded with land reclamation between 1892 and 1934. Before that, the much smaller original island was the site of Fort Gibson and later a naval magazine. The island was made part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument in 1965 and has hosted a museum of immigration since 1990.
Evelyn Ellis
Ellis directed "Horse Play" in 1937 and then put on the play "Little Woman" in 1938 with the junior department at the Negro Little Theatre. Her most notable work as a director as well as an actress is in the all-black production of "Tobacco Road" in 1950. She played the role of a starving mother which the "New York Times" singled out as “truthful elements that left a lasting impression”. Through her directing of a youth play and her creation of the drama school, Ellis was active in getting younger kids interested in the art of drama.Ellis made her last Broadway appearance in 1953 and ended her acting career in 1955 with her final film "Interrupted Melody". Two years later, she died from a heart ailment on June 5, 1958, at the age of 64. She was hospitalized from December 1957 until her death at the Variety Club’s Will Rogers Memorial Hospital in Saranac Lake, NY.