Central Park

Central Park

Letter on Display in Tiffany's

The World Trade Centre (Ground Zero)

Freedom Tower

The building rises to 1,368 feet (417 m), the height of the original World Trade Center north tower, and its antenna rises to the symbolic height of 1,776 feet (541 m). This height refers to 1776, the year in which the United States Declaration of Independence was signed.

"Reflecting Absence"pool with names of those who perished. The Ocular "dove" sculpture is in the background

Fireman's Memorial Plaque

Manhattan

Liberty Island and Ellis Island

Ellis Island and Lady Liberty Island

Ellis Island evokes a mixture of emotions. On the one hand this was, for so many families the entrance to the Promised Land. They'd come with just a few treasured belongings and hearts filled with optimism and fond hopes of a better future for themselves and their children. Many had left behind parents or siblings whom they knew they might never see again, and had endured a long and cramped voyage from Europe, Britain, Ireland and other distant countries. Standing in long queues for hours, and sometimes days, they were questioned, examined and finally, if they passed muster in terms of health, occupation and finances, they were released to find their future in a new and different world.

It was a hard scrabble existence during the first few years for many. Some barely spoke English, others had little or no working experience. Yet life in the USA was preferable to living conditions in their countries of origin. In the galleries of the National Museum of Immigration on Ellis Island, the photographs depict families struggling to make a living: men, women and children working long hours (some sewing garments at home) in factories, mills, mines and sweat shops. For others, however, America was indeed a land of boundless opportunity— determination, persistence and hard work opened doors to undreamed of wealth and success. Burgeoning commerce, flourishing financial institutions and political offices beckoned ambitious newcomers, as did professional careers in the field of law, medicine and education.

But, then things began to change. The flood of immigrants aroused dismay and apprehension and eventually the government established quotas and stringent standards for admission into the country. The more things change, the more they remain the same as the old saying goes, and the limitations imposed were overtly racial, favouring as they did, Anglo Saxon ideals.

The National Museum of Immigration, Ellis Island	The Great Hall (where arrivals were processed)
Boys at work in the Indiana Glass Works in 1908	Mrs Bagtaglia, Tony 12 and Tessie 7 stitching men's trousers for which they were paid 2 to 3 cents.
Combined bath and laundry in a tenement sink - NYC 1910 The faces of new American citizens

Liberty Island

Entitled "Liberty Enlightening the World" the Statue of Liberty, a gift from France, was unveiled in 1886.

Lady Liberty is more than just a figurehead. She is a symbol of the hopes and aspirations of millions of immigrants and citizens of America. For many she is at the very heart of America and the embodiment of patriotism, duty and the ideals of freedom and democracy. One cannot but be impressed at the sight of her soaring against the sky, beacon held aloft for all the world to see.

Yet there is an irony in the words of Emma Lazarus's poem "The New Colossus" that are famously associated with Lady Liberty: "Give me your tired, your poor. Bring me 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."

Tell that to the desperate lines of refugees fleeing poverty and seeking asylum in Trump's America today.

Manhattan seen from Liberty Island

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