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Today, the Wall of Honor at Ellis Island in New York Harbor is a place where immigrants’ names are inscribed at their families’ request, for a small payment. The immigration station’s main building can be seen in the background.

Other English colonists were “pulled,” drawn by the prospect of rich and spacious lands for farming. African Americans do not fit into either of these cate- gories, of course. They were effectively abducted from their homes and brought here unwillingly as slaves. By the end of the 19th century, increasing num- bers of immigrants were flooding in from eastern Europe, where Jews in particular were finding life

Ellis Island and the height of immigration (1890–1920)

C ustoms and B order P rotection

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