Uncovering the U.S. Immigration Station at Angel Island: Constructing the History of Angel Island through Documentary

Abstract

This paper traces the historiography of Angel Island Immigration Station (AIIS) focusing on three cinematic documentaries which seek to explain the history of AIIS: Carved in Silence produced in 1988 by Felicia Lowe, Discovering Angel Island: The Story behind the Poems produced in 2004 by National Asian Americans Telecommunication Association (NAATA) in partnership with KQED and Angel Island Immigration Station Tour produced in 2010 by Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation (AIISF) as an official guide to the National Historic Landmark. Produced in different decades, the three documentaries interestingly provide expanding history of the Center. This paper also intends to compare these documentaries to the most comprehensive and recent history by Erika Lee and Judy Yung in "Angel Island: Immigrant Gateway to America" published in 2010 to understand how the construction of the history of the Center keeps expanding.

This study employs Jack C. Ellis and Betsy A. McLane’s theory on documentary to read the subjects, purposes, forms, production methods and particular experience provided by the three documentaries which seek to explain and convince the U.S. public the importance of the history of Angel Island. According to Ellis and McLane, documentary can be read in terms of subjects: purposes, viewpoints, or approaches; forms; production methods and techniques; and sort of experience they offer audience.

The lack of information and research dealing with the presence of non-Chinese immigrants in AIIS is a major problem. The long journey of the recognition of the more comprehensive history of AIIS is still shadowed by its trigger, the discovery of the Chinese calligraphy. People and organizations concerned with the reconstruction of the history are still dominated by those related to Chinese community. The historical factor of Chinese exclusion era, from 1882 to 1943, and the fact that seventy-five percents of immigrants arriving at Angel Island were Chinese are the main reasons why the presence of Chinese immigrant has become the main theme on the discussion of the history of AIIS.