Why isn’t more known about the Immigration Station?
For years little was known about Angel Island Immigration Station. Former detainees did not share their stories of incarceration with their children, wanting to put their unpleasant experience behind them. Chinese immigrants who came under false names lived in fear of government retribution and even possible deportation. Until the ethnic studies movements in the late 1960s and early 1970s, where students demanded courses about their own history, Angel Island was largely ignored by historians. When the Station was “rediscovered” and saved from demolition in the 1970s, researchers started the process of conducting oral histories with detainees and translating the poems. Although we know much more about the Station today, we still hope to learn more about the experiences of those who were detained there. By interviewing additional people and looking through government records, scholars as well as family historians are providing new information about the experiences of those at Angel Islan
