STORY OF ANGEL ISLAND IMMIGRATION STATION TO BE TOLD ON SUNDAY, SEPT. 19

Authors Erica Lee and Judy Yung will provide the historic framework to the story of Angel Island, which was the gateway for immigrants from Asia to enter the United States before World War II in a public program set for Sunday, September 19, beginning at 2 p.m. at the Japanese American National Museum in Little Tokyo.

Lee and Yung wrote the book, Angel Island: Immigrant Gateway to America. Their research revealed that over one-half million people came through Angel Island between 1910 and 1940. Their work included studying immigration records, oral histories, and inscriptions on the barrack walls, and from this, they relay stories of Chinese "paper sons", Japanese picture brides, Korean refugee students, Filipino repatriates and Jewish and Russian refugees. The book was released on the 100th anniversary of the Angel Island Immigration Station.

While described as the "Ellis Island of the Pacific", Angel Island differed in that it was designed to detain and even exclude immigrants from Asia from entering the country. What Lee and Yung reveal in their book is how America’s immigration policies and discriminatory treatment of immigrants, depending on their background and country of origin, played out so clearly at Angel Island. People were segregated by race and gender with the express purpose of unequal treatment.

More than just statistics, Lee and Yung focus on the individual stories of immigrants caught in a wildly erratic system. Individuals like Masayuki "Jim" Ariki, a kibei (born in America, raised in Japan), found himself trapped between worlds with little relief. Similarly, a Chinese woman named Lee Puey You, attempting to enter the country as someone else’s daughter, was held on Angel Island for a year before being sent back to China. A “paper marriage” with an abusive husband also failed to gain her entry, but almost 20 years later, Lee Puey You finally was able to enter the United States.

Beyond providing the history of this historic site, the authors are helping to bring Angel Island back into public view as a National Historic Trust Landmark. Yung and Lee are dedicating the proceeds of their book to benefit the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation. Both authors can trace their family history through Angel Island.