Records show first Somalis arrived on Ellis Island in 1914

[Grigori Rasputin]

On 14 March 1914, immigration inspectors at Ellis Island recorded the entry of a group of over 60 passengers from Northeast Africa that had just arrived on the S.S. Chicago from Le Havre, France. The group's size coupled with their exoticism would attract attention, including from Augustus Sherman who was prompted to organize the group for multiple photos. As it would turn out, capturing people's attention was perhaps the whole point of their migration to the United States, of which they received a great deal during their time in New York, San Francisco, and Chicago. However, they were neither immigrants, migrants, or tourists—categories far out of reach to ordinary Africans for decades to come—but rather non-immigrant aliens who's ethnicity and culture would be used as entertainment in choreographed public spectacles. For over one hundred years, the identity of this highly atypical group of arrivals at Ellis Island has remained stubbornly obscure and the story of their long year in the United States never fully told.

Issa Somali [1914]

 

[kurobecky08]

On 14 March 1914, immigration inspectors at Ellis Island recorded the entry of a group of over 60 passengers from Northeast Africa that had just arrived on the S.S. Chicago from Le Havre, France. The group's size coupled with their exoticism would attract attention, including from Augustus Sherman who was prompted to organize the group for multiple photos. As it would turn out, capturing people's attention was perhaps the whole point of their migration to the United States, of which they received a great deal during their time in New York, San Francisco, and Chicago. However, they were neither immigrants, migrants, or tourists—categories far out of reach to ordinary Africans for decades to come—but rather non-immigrant aliens who's ethnicity and culture would be used as entertainment in choreographed public spectacles. For over one hundred years, the identity of this highly atypical group of arrivals at Ellis Island has remained stubbornly obscure and the story of their long year in the United States never fully told.

Issa Somali [1914]

OMG, I’m live in Chicago. This makes me so happy. Thank you for sharing this. I posted on fb wall. I’m happy. Thank you, again.