Ellis Island
Between 1905 and 1914, an average of one million immigrants per year arrived in the United States. Immigration officials reviewed about 5,000 immigrants per day during peak times at Ellis Island. Two-thirds of those individuals emigrated from eastern, southern and central Europe. The peak year for immigration at Ellis Island was 1907, with 1,004,756 immigrants processed. The all-time daily high occurred on April 17, 1907, when 11,747 immigrants arrived. After the Immigration Act of 1924 was passed, which greatly restricted immigration and allowed processing at overseas embassies, the only immigrants to pass through the station were those who had problems with their immigration paperwork, displaced persons, and war refugees. Today, over 100 million Americans—about one-third to 40% of the population of the United States—can trace their ancestry to immigrants who arrived in America at Ellis Island before dispersing to points all over the country.
Ellis Island (miniseries)
Ellis Island is a television miniseries, filmed in the United Kingdom, broadcast in three parts in 1984 on the CBS television network. The screenplay was co-written by Fred Mustard Stewart, adapted from his 1983 novel of the same title. The series tells the story of several immigrants from the late 19th century until the early 1910s, trying to achieve the American Dream and arriving on Ellis Island, hoping for a better life. "Ellis Island" highlighted numerous important events which occurred up to and during World War I, and many of the characters are based on real persons, such as Irving Berlin. The series marks the final appearance of Richard Burton, and was dedicated to his memory.
In 1907 Jacob Rubinstein, a Russian Jew leaves his village after it is attacked by cossacks and his father, the local Rabbi, is murdered. While he was fleeing he is shot in the leg by the same cossack who killed his father. Jacob though, scares the cossack's horse, causing the horse to throw the cossack off. Jacob takes his revenge, shoots the cossack and takes the horse. He arrives in Hamburg, Germany, with the aim of emigrating to America. Even after selling the horse he is still short of the cost of a steerage class ticket. Depressed, Jacob walks around Hamburg docks and is persuaded into a brothel after hearing piano music. When inside, he meets an African American called Roscoe Haines, the piano player. Jacob is impressed by the Ragtime that Roscoe is playing and asks if he can try to play. Jacob is, to Roscoe's surprise very good at it. Roscoe organises a collection from everyone inside the brothel to raise the money Jacob needs for his ticket. Roscoe also tells Jacob to go and see a music publisher called Abe Shulman when he gets to New York City.