Ellis Island: The Dream of America
Ellis Island: The Dream of America is a work for actors and orchestra with projected images by American composer Peter Boyer, composed in 2001-02, commissioned by the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts in Hartford, Connecticut. The work combines first-person narrations of seven immigrants who entered the United States through Ellis Island between 1910 and 1940, selected by Boyer from the Ellis Island Oral History Project, with Boyer’s original orchestral music. The work has received over 170 performances by more than 75 orchestras. A recording of the work released on the Naxos record label was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Classical Contemporary Composition in the 48th annual Grammy Awards. In April 2017, performances by Pacific Symphony of "Ellis Island: The Dream of America" were filmed for broadcast on PBS’ "Great Performances" series in the 2017-18 broadcast season.
Port of Galveston immigration
The immigration station located in Galveston brought a vast number of immigrants into the Southwest of the United States while it was in operation from when it opened in 1906 until it closed. Although not as well known as the immigration station on Ellis Island, Galveston is probably best known for the influx of Jewish immigrants coming from Europe during this period, which is commonly referred to as the “Galveston Movement”. In addition, many have often described Galveston as The Ellis Island of the West” or a “Second Ellis Island.”(Silent Treatment, 65) However, immigrants from all over the world entered the United States through the Galveston immigration station, including those from Central and South America, Asia, and Europe. The flow of immigrants into the area also helped tourism to Galveston and thus, helped keep the city vibrant. Galveston was one of the largest cities in Texas until the hurricane of 1900 that devastated the city. 
The immigration station located in Galveston was built on Pelican Island. “When the federal government replaced state administrations in processing immigrants at the turn of the century, efforts began to redirect the flow of immigration from the Northeast to Texas. Pelican Island became federal property, and the government constructed an immigration center and quarantine station there." The quarantine center was brought to fruition, as it was for many other immigration stations, because of the basic idea that immigrants brought with them diseases that could be spread to the American people. After an outbreak of yellow fever, the quarantine station on Pelican Island was up and running to ensure the disease did not reach the United States population. The quarantine center was based on the example set by Ellis Island, however, was not as large or efficient as the station in New York. 
Although known as “The Ellis Island of the West”, Galveston did not have as many immigrants enter the United States through this port as there had been through Ellis Island. At a time, Galveston was one of the largest immigration stations in the west. "Between 1906 and 1914 nearly 50,000 immigrants arrived at Galveston, including Bohemians, Moravians, Galicians, Australians, Romanians, Swiss, English, Poles Italians, Dutch, and some 10,000 Jews."
Many immigrants entered the United States though the immigration station in Galveston, however, the most notable and the immigrant group that receives the most attention was the large Jewish population. Eventually, “between 1907 and 1914, approximately ten thousand Jews entered the United States through the port of Galveston, Texas.” (Silent Treatment, 65) There was a push for Jewish immigrants to enter the United States through Galveston instead of through the immigration station on Ellis Island in large part because “the vast majority of Jewish immigrants remained in the ghettos of New York “(Galveston: Ellis Island of the west, 4). Therefore, “a project of the Jewish Immigrants' Information Bureau in cooperation with the London-based Jewish Territorial Organization, Jewish philanthropists such as Jacob Schiff supported the Galveston Movement to stop the concentration of Jewish immigrants in the congested industrial cities of the northeastern United States by landing them in Texas instead of New York, and assisting them in finding jobs in the West. (Silent Treatment, 65)”Thus, there was a concentrated effort among the Jewish population to enter the United States through Galveston instead of Ellis Island. 
There were also concerns among the Jewish population that anti-Semitic actions were behind the rejections of Jewish immigrants from these port of entries into the United States and Galveston immigration officials were no exception.“When rejections for “poor physiques” rose dramatically in early 1910, an investigation by Henry Berman, manager of the Jewish Immigrants' Information Bureau, disclosed that Galveston medical examiner Dr. Corput had been making anti-Semitic remarks, including a promise to do everything in his power to exclude Jewish immigrants. There were not as many Jewish lobbyists groups located in the southwest, particularly in Texas, as there were in New York. Therefore, the Jewish clout had not been established for those immigrants entering through the port of Galveston.
The immigration station at Galveston was damaged by storms in 1915 and 1916. It was then moved to 21st Street. WW1 caused a great reduction to the number of immigrants entering in the Port of Galveston. The immigration center was eventually destroyed in 1972. However, the impact of the immigrants entering Texas and the American southwest, particularly the Jewish immigrant population, was due largely in part to the Galveston port.