The predominantly Chinese immigrants who were detained at Angel Island were not welcomed in the United States. Held in cages for weeks, often months, individuals were subjected to rounds of interrogations to assess the legitimacy of their immigration applications. These interrogations were long, tiring, and stressful. Immigrants were made to recall minute details about their home and claimed relations—how many steps led up to your front door? Who lived in the third house in the second row of houses in your village? The interpreters for the proceedings may have not have spoken the particular dialect of the immigrant competently; most Chinese immigrants were from southern China at that time, many spoke Cantonese. It was difficult to pass the interrogations, and cases were appealed many times over before one could leave the island and enter the United States. Oftentimes, successful immigrants produced elaborate instruction manuals that coached fellow detainees in passing interrogations; if anyone was caught with these manuals, they would most likely be deported. Many of the detainees turned to poetry as expression—they spilled their emotions onto the very walls that contained them. Some of the poems are bitter and angry, others placid and contemplative; all, however, read with a heavy sadness.
By Crystal Thai
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