Breakfast University: The History of Ellis Island. What's Fact and What's Fiction

It has been estimated that some 40 percent of Americans have at least one ancestor who entered through Ellis Island – the total is more than 12 million.  Today it  is one of the nation’s most popular historical landmarks and a symbol of the American immigration experience. This lecture will move beyond the myths and nostalgia that sometimes cloud our understanding of this important historical site and give a behind-the-scenes historical look at the operations of Ellis Island during its heyday in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Professor Cannato will discuss the types of immigrants who passed through Ellis Island and describe the process of inspection they encountered there. In our own time, immigration has once again become a hot-button issue. This lecture will give participants much-needed historical perspective in understanding how America dealt with mass immigration in the past.

Vincent Cannato is a professor of history at the University of Massachusetts Boston, where he teaches courses on 20th century American history, urban history, immigration history, and baseball history. He is the author of American Passage: The History of Ellis Island and has also written for numerous publications, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post.