As I listened to the recorded stories and viewed artifacts of the many immigrants who passed through Ellis Island, I thought about my ancestors and the great journeys that they made to find freedom and opportunity in America long ago. While I have made a lot of journeys in my own life, I cannot imagine what it must have been like to leave your homeland for a new and strange country.
I know that the great migration of immigrants is a complicated story, one full of triumphs as well as tears as some were welcomed with open arms while others were sent back home. As we see this complicated story play out again in our modern America, I think about all the new families hoping to come America and become a part of our great “melting pot.” I hope to always welcome them with open arms so that someday their future generations will look back and appreciate the journey that they took to find freedom.
After touring Ellis Island, we visited the Statue of Liberty and the words inscribed at the base of Lady Liberty still ring true today. Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!