By Margie Lew

The Society held its semi-annual dinner on Saturday, May 6, at the Golden Dragon Restaurant.” Angel Island — Past and Present” was the subject of an excellent presentation by Mr. Philip Choy, San Francisco architect and member of the Chinese Historical Society of America.

Angel Island,,located in San Francisco. Bay, has had a rather varied history, beginning with Spain’s colonization in California. Following Gaspar de Portola’s expedition to California in November 1769, Don Juan de Ayala was sent by the Spanish Viceroy in 177 5 to chart the San Francisco bay and surrounding area. On discovering the island, Ayala named it “Isla de Los Angeles” literally interpreted as the “Island of the Angels”. Later, it was anglicized to “Angel Island”.

After California became the 31st state in 1850, the Island was used for various purposes, first as a military reservation before and during the Civil War. In the Spanish American War (1899), Angel Island was a quarantine station for returning soldiers. In 1900, it was used as a processing center for soldiers being sent to the Philippines. On January 21, 1910, the immigration station was opened. Angel Island thus became the detention center for the processing of Chinese and other immigrants entering, the United States between 1910 and 1941.

The federal government’s original purpose for the island was to process Europeans coming to the West Coast by way of the Panama Canal. However, the Island was used mainly to administer the highly discriminatory Chinese Exclusion Acts (1882 to 1943) which were passed by the government with the express intent of limiting the admission of Chinese into the United States. The 1934 report by the Commission of Immigration and Naturalization belatedly admitted that extra-legal practices were used in the execution of the exclusion laws by the following means:

  • arrests without warrant
  • imprisonment without a hearing
  • raids on assemblages
  • physical abuse
  • “third degree” methods of interrogation

Thus, in retrospect, it can be noted that life on Angel Island was no “bed of roses”. Treatment of the immigrants was arbitrary, at best. Many of them felt as if they were prisoners, as indeed they were, being forced to stay in an area enclosed by high wire fences. The food was poorly prepared and unappetizing; living quarters were crowded; medical treatment was inadequate. Added to this were the hours of loneliness and boredom, the incessant interrogations, and the humiliation of physical examinations by the “foreign white doctors”. For some immigrants, the period of detention was brief and uncomplicated; for many others it was harsh, unbearable, and seemingly hopeless and long-lasting, sometimes for as long as three or four years. Small wonder that a number of suicides were contemplated, some even being carried out to their heart-breaking endings.

For decades following the dosing of the immigration center, the detention barracks on the island remained in a state of disrepair. Still vividly alive, however, is the calligraphy carved on the barracks walls, translated into poems which bear mute evidence of the human trauma suffered and emotional outrage endured by the occupants of this prison-like place, who wanted nothing more than an opportunity for a better life in a free land. Over a hundred of these poems have been recorded for posterity. The following two were translated by Genny Lim, a published poet and well known television personality in the San Francisco Bay area.

Random Thoughts At Night

In the quiet of night I heard the faint shrieking of wind
And out of this landscape of visions and shadows a poem grew.
The floating clouds, the fog, darkens the sky.
The moon shines faintly as the insects chirp.
Grief and bitterness are sent by heaven.
A lonely shadow sits, leaning by a window.

Written by Yee of Toishan

Detained in this wooden house for several tens of days
Because of the American exclusion laws.
It’s a pity heroes have no place to exercise their prowess.
Waiting for news of my release, I am ready to snap my whip and gallop.
All of my kinsmen and housemates will be happy for me.
But don’t envy this Western grandeur, this imposing facade
For behind the jade carvings, there still lies a cage.

An Unknown Immigrant

Recognizing the historical significance of these poems and the historical value of Angel Island itself, a group of citizens petitioned the California State Legislature in 1975 to preserve the immigration station as a national historical monument. As a result of the group’s persistence and perseverance, a significant amount of funds was authorized by the State for the restoration of the barracks and buildings. At long last, permanent recognition will be given to the thousands of Chinese immigrants who became the unwilling occupants of Angel Island, the stopping-place of a gone-and-almost-forgotten era.

(Editor’s note: Mr. Choy was designated by the State of California as the architect for the restoration of Angel Island, in recognition of his expertise as an architect and lecturer on Chinese American history. Construction on the project is now under way and should be completed by late spring of 1979.)