Friday, April 13, 2007

Ellis Island

On my recent trip to NYC, I made the pilgrimage to Ellis Island. For anyone who hasn't been there, I can highly recommend it. It was poignant, it was educational, and more importantly, it renewed my realization that we are so blessed to live in this country.

Can you image the hardships our ancestors endured to become Americans? As I was viewing the displays (which may I say, were extremely well done), my empathetic side took over. I could visualize leaving behind my family, my country, my language - and then getting off the boat at Ellis Island with nothing but what I could carry. Would I pass the medical exam, and even more importantly, would my children be deemed healthy. Think about the terror that question would create for a mother. But thousands of people went through that process and became productive members of society. And those folks were our ancestors. Let's give them a round of applause for their tenacity and bravery.

As an author, I could see that the plot possibilities were limitless. So, if you're ever in New York - take the Ellis Island trip. Ann

Ann DeFee
Georgia On His Mind - August 2007 - Harlequin American Romance
Summer After Summer - September 2007 - Harlequin Everlasting Love
The Perfect Tree - November 2007 - Harlequin American Christmas anthology
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1 comment:

Trish Milburn said...

I visited Ellis Island during my first trip to New York when the RWA Conference was there in 2003. I spent most of a day there going through all the displays. Even though my ancestors came to America before the Ellis Island years, it was still a poignant, deeply affecting experience. The atrocities many of the people were fleeing in Europe, and the tales of how once families arrived they could still be split apart if some of them passed the physicals and some didn't -- it was enough to make a visitor cry. I still want to go back, particularly after they get the older parts refurbished and opened to the public.

9:50 PM

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