law. Apart from those brides whose paperwork was of questionable authenticity or whose new mates failed to respond to the Immigration Service, most brides were never detained on the island. In fact, most non-Chinese were allowed to land immediately, and only their paperwork spent time on Angel Island. However, some groups were detained, notably the "enemy aliens" detained during the two world wars.

In his declarations of war against the German and Austro-Hungarian Empires in 1917, President Wilson declared that "no alien enemy shall land in or enter the United States, except under such restrictions and at such places as the President may prescribe." The declarations also stated that individuals who were not deemed to be threats to the United Statessuch as women and children-would be allowed to enter and reside in this country. However, Wilson also stated that all male citizens of belligerent countries who were over the age of fourteen-especially those who had been associated with the military-would "be liable to be apprehended, restrained, secured, and removed, as alien enemies.""" This declaration resulted in the detention of a number of alien enemiesthe great majority of whom were current or former members of the German or AustroHungarian military-for the duration of the war. Some of these individuals were housed on Angel Island. In May of 1917, they numbered approximately 150 people.

Enemy aliens were housed in the same barracks as the Chinese and other immigration detainees, although all of the various groups were separated by ethnic origin. Like the Asian detainees, the prisoners of war were evidently not very happy with their conditions of detention. In a May 1917 letter of complaint to the district director of immigration for the San Francisco area, they expressed their discontent with the sanitary conditions at the station. Specifically, they complained of inadequate toilet and bathing facilities and of uncleanliness in the kitchen and dining areas. Furthermore, they complained that fifty men were housed in a single room, ventilation in the rooms was poor, and no drinking water was available in them. Finally, as were the Chinese men, they were allowed to exercise

isolation facilities in the hospital exacerbated the spread of disease, and complaints about epidemics were made to the commissioner of immigration in Washington as early as 1915. In 1920 an epidemic of meningitis broke out at the station; its cause was attributed to the unsanitary conditions still prevailing there.

In 1923 another report was made to the immigration commissioner. This report criticized fire safety standards as being quite inadequate and stated that the administration building was "without proper fire protection." The detention building was without “any fire protection at all,” and as for the hospital building, “in the case of fire, there would be a serious loss of life."39 Similar criticisms were made of almost every building at the station, even of the fire hoses and the water supply for them. Indeed, several small fires did break out over the years. While no deaths or significant loss of property resulted from these fires, the warnings they made went unheeded, and significant improvements were not made to the station.

On the evening of August 12, 1940, a fire broke out in the administration building. Soldiers from Fort McDowell rushed to the scene, where they assisted the detainees in dousing the blaze. No one was injured, but the building was completely destroyed. A board of inquiry, after interviewing everyone who may have had information about the fire, determined that it had not been set deliberately. However, deliberate or not, the fire finally demonstrated that the immigration station was dangerously unsafe and that it was no longer able to fulfill the purpose for which it had been constructed. The detainees and officials of the station were moved to San Francisco, and arrangements were made for the U.S. Army to take over its grounds. A skeleton crew remained at the station until early 1941, when the army officially assumed control. After making some improvements to the structures there, the station was again used, during World War II, to house enemy aliens.

World War II

Enemy aliens were defined as citizens of Germany and other Axis countries. Current and former members of the military were

especially considered to be alien enemies,

and many were arrested and detained. During this war, however, Angel Island was merely a temporary holding camp for prisoners, who were sent to permanent quarters in various places around the West. Many of them stayed on the island only for a few weeks. One group of Germans, for example, was the crew of the SS Columbus, a German merchant marine ship scuttled off the U.S. coast in 1940. Faced with choosing between fleeing to the British ship that sunk them and an American ship nearby, the crew of the Columbus chose the Americans. In so doing, they became the guests of the U.S. government rather than the prisoners of the British government. They retained this status until December 1941, when war between the United States and Germany was officially declared. The crew of the Columbus was moved to New Mexico, where they sat out the war in a special facility near Roswell.

40

The arrival of World War II also brought an end to the Chinese exclusion laws. The United States, as an ally of China against Japan, no longer desired to exclude its allies, and the laws were repealed in 1943.

Angel Island was a busy place throughout the course of World War II. Tens of thousands of recruits passed through Fort McDowell on the way to duty overseas. In fact, the Overseas Discharge and Replacement Depot at Fort McDowell was the largest such establishment in the United States. When the war was over, thousands of soldiers again passed through Fort McDowell as they returned from duty in the Pacific region. In 1945 a sixty-foot sign directed at returning soldiers was erected: "Welcome Home, Well Done." The soldiers continued to return until 1946, when their numbers were reduced to nearly zero. At this time, the army closed Fort McDowell and withdrew from the island, declaring it to be surplus territory.

The area that had been the quarantine station was turned over to the State of California for use as a parkland in 1954. The next year, however, the military returned to Angel Island, in order to fight the cold war. A missile site was completed in 1955, and Nike missiles were installed on the western shore of the island. In 1958 more of Angel

Island was given to California for use as a state park. The missiles remained there until 1962, when they had become obsolete. At this time, the rest of the island was given to the state of California.

Today the California Department of Parks and Recreation maintains Angel Island State Park. The island, which has been designated a National Historical Landmark, is a popular destination for tourists and residents alike, who travel by ferry or private boat to dock at the former quarantine station. In a tour around the island, visitors can share a historical journey from the nineteenth centry to the present. Tours of Angel Island are led by docents trained by the Angel Island Association (AIA), an organization that works to commemorate the island's heritage. During the tour, visitors see Civil War-era buildings at Camp Reynolds and the former Nike missile sites of the 1950s. The men's detention quarters at the immigration station are open to the public; some of the poetry written by detainees seventy-five years ago is still visible on the walls of this building. Finally, a small museum at the former quarantine station tells Angel Island's story in pictures, artifacts, and words. The Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation (ISF) also works to preserve the island's history, focusing on Asian immigration. Both the ISF and the AIA played a significant role in getting the island named a National Historical Landmark.

Today Angel Island is no longer the "Guardian of the Western Gate." Instead, as a state park and National Historical Landmark, it has a new mission to welcome all new visitors and tell the stories of its former visitors and the place they hold in American history.

© 1998 by Valerie Natale

This article has been written as part of a project sponsored by Congressman Tom Lantos to commemorate the history of Angel Island. Many thanks are due to Mrs. Annette Lantos, Iswari España, and to Congressman Lantos's staff. Thanks are also due to Waverly Lowell, Neil Thomsen, Dan Nealand, and the rest of the staff of the National Archives-Pacific Region, without whose assistance this essay would not have been written. The Angel Island Association may be reached at 415-435-3522 or on the Internet at http://www.angelisland.org. The Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation may be reached at 330 Townsend Street, San Francisco, CA 94107, or on the Internet at http://www.a- better.com/angel/island.htm.

1

Maj. Oscar W. Koch, U.S. Cavalry, “Fort McDowell—Grand Hotel, U.S.A.," Nov. 19, 1939, file no. 12030/1-1, Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, Record Group 85, National Archives and Records Administration-Pacific Region (San Francisco) (hereinafter, records in NARA-Pacific Region (SF) will be cited as RG ____, NAPS); fact sheet, Sept. 1, 1972, Ephemera Box 66, Headquarters of the Sixth United States Army, Office of the Chief, Public Affairs, Presidio of San Francisco, California, Archives of the Presidio of San Francisco.

2 Koch, "Fort McDowell," Nov. 19, 1939, file no. 12030/1-1, RG 85, NAPS.

'Fact sheet, Sept. 1, 1972, Ephemera Box 66, Archives of the Presidio of San Francisco.

4

Fact sheet, Sept. 1, 1972, Ephemera Box 66, Archives of the Presidio of San Francisco; Koch, "Fort McDowell," Nov. 19, 1939, file no. 12030/1-1, RG 85, NAPS.

'Fact sheet, Sept. 1, 1972, Ephemera Box 66, Archives of the Presidio of San Francisco; Koch, "Fort McDowell," Nov. 19, 1939, file no. 12030/1-1, RG 85, NAPS.

6 Annual Report of the Commissioner General of Immigration, 1928 (hereinafter cited as 1928 Annual Report).

'Ibid.

8 Wayne Biddle, A Field Guide to Germs (1995), p. 35.

9

Hugh S. Cumming, Passed Assistant Surgeon in command of the quarantine station, to U.S. Surgeon General, July 1, 1903, Bound books, book 1 "Letters to the Surgeon from the medical officer in charge, July 1, 1903-March 1, 1926," Records of the Public Health Service, 1912-1968, RG 90, NAPS.

10 Sucheng Chan, Asian Americans: An Interpretive History (1991), p. 28. "Edward L. Haff, District Director for San Francisco District INS, to Ted Reindollar, May 14, 1936, file 12030/1, RG 85, NAPS

12 U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Immigration, Treaty, Laws, and Rules Governing the Admission of Chinese, Rules of May 1, 1917 (3d ed., October 1920), p. 6.

13 Ibid., p. 9.

"Ibid., p. 10.

15 Ibid., pp. 15, 17.

16 “Partnership book in Chinese,captured by customs inspectors on the premises of the fictitious firm operating under the name of Quong Fat Cheung, at No. 30 Waverly Place, San Francisco, Cal.” RG 85, NAPS.

1 Ibid.

18 Ibid.

19 Lee Yat, witness, to Clarkson Dye, investigator, statement made during Densmore investigation, May 11, 1917, folder no. 12016/10763, RG 85, NAPS.

20 Lee Youk, merchant and husband of Chin Shee, during interrogation, folder no. 15502/5-6, RG 85, NAPS.

21 Translation of Chinese letter intended for Tom Quon Sook and Tom Quon Poy, May 15, 1917, file no. 54184/138// 10126/1076, RG 85, NAPS

22

Coaching letter for Tom Quon Sook, ibid.

25 W. J. Armstrong, employee at immigration station, statement to investigators during Densmore investigation, Feb. 13, 1917, folder 12016/1076-1, RG 85, NAPS

24 "Fugitive caught," Oakland Tribune, Dec. 17, 1917, folder no. 12016/1076, RG 85, NAPS

"Robert T. Fergusson, employee at immigration station, statement to investigators during Densmore investigation, Feb. 13, 1917, RG 85, NAPS

26 Densmore investigation, file nos. 12016/1076-7 and 12016/10769, RG 85, NAPS

" Informational description of the Angel Island Immigration Station, ca. 1930s, folder no. 12030/1-1, RG 85, NAPS

28 Ronald Takaki, Strangers from a Different Shore: A History of Asian Americans (1989), p. 237.

"Luther C. Steward, Acting Commissioner, Immigration Service San Francisco, to Commissioner General, Immigration Service Washington, D.C., Dec 19, 1910, RG 85, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, DC; quoted in Shih-Shan Henry Tsai, The Chinese Experience in America (1986), p. 100.

30 Angel Island, published by “Immigrants All...Americans All" and The Portfolio Project, Inc. (1989).

"Ibid. A collection of poetry written on the walls of the detention barracks on Angel Island has been compiled in the book Island: Poetry and History of Immigrants Detained on Angel Island, 19101940, ed. Him Mark Lai, Genny Lim, and Judy Yung (1986).

32 Edward Haff to the Commissioner of the INS, Jan. 21, 1935, folder 12030/24, RG 85, NAPS.

36

Capt. E. Deimat, ex. SS Holsatia, et al., to Mr. White, District Commissioner for the INS, May 15, 1917, folder “Alien enemies: Sample no. 56," RG 85, NAPS.

* Commissioner General of Immigration to the Secretary of the Department of Labor, July 15, 1915, folder no. 12030/22, RG 85, NAPS. 38 W. C. Billings, Surgeon, USPHS, to the Commissioner of Immigration, July 20, 1915, folder no. 12030/23, RG 85, NAPS

In 1921

1921 Sallie Lindsey, the home demonstration agent of the Arkansas Agricultural Extension Service for St. Francis County, filed her annual report to the state headquarters in Little Rock. She reported that, with the county superintendent of education, she "visited the Gum Grove School-a rural school taught four months of the year by an ignorant teacher. In this school," she continued, "there were sixty dirty, poorly nourished children and a teacher who looked no better than the poorest child." Describing the school building, she wrote: "The building was fifteen feet square and contained only three little windows . . . Teacher and children were suffering from malnutrition and well developed cases of itch. Yet they

had not even known that the disease was curable."1 Itch referred to hookworm, which caused the stunted and pinched appearance associated with many of the southern poor. Lindsey also described her efforts on behalf of the residents at Hill School, about seventeen miles from Forrest City. She

had organized a club of rural women there, which in conjunction with the County Charity Board, had "sent sick people to hospitals, bought cork legs for cripples, clothed and fed the poor and unfortunate, buried the dead, and assisted in all humanitarian work possible."2

Lindsey's annual report exemplifies the records of the Arkansas Extension Service held at the National Archives and Records Administration

Southwest Region in Fort Worth, Texas. Measuring 155 linear feet, the 487 archives boxes of folders that are part of Record Group 33, the official records of the federal Extension Service, consist of the annual reports of each Extension agent in Arkansas for both the Men's and Women's Divisions. Most of the Extension Service records are held in the Washington, D.C., area, but these records are a rich source of information on rural life in Arkansas's seventy-five counties for 1911-1966 because agents had to file a narrative and statistical report of their year's work, and in the course of reporting on their specific duties, they frequently incorporated information about the socioeconomic conditions of their counties. These reports also furnish an opportunity to observe the development of Arkansas agriculture, parts of which were remote and primitive in the early twentieth century, into contemporary modern farming. Reports from the Women's Division allow researchers to observe changes in home life, for just as farming practices improved with the help of Extension Service agents, home management practices also improved under the guidance of women home demonstration agents.3

ABOVE: Farmers are ensiling Bermuda grass on the Diamond Grove Farm. Sixty pounds of black strap molasses could be mixed from each ton of silage. S. D. Bates was the county agent for Sebastian County in 1947.

The arrangement of these records provides a real convenience for researchers. Not only are they arranged into the Men's and Women's Divisions, but they are arranged chronologically in yearly segments and by district: Northeast, Northwest, Southeast, and Southwest. In 1957 a Northcentral District was added. Within each box the districts are clearly designated, and the narrative and statistical segments are separated within each folder. This combination of indexing means that annual reports can be located by year, by district and county, by the Men's or Women's Division, and by narrative or statistical information.

Still another valuable dimension of these records are the annual reports on "Negro Work." The Extension Service had a separate program for rural blacks in the state, and the reports filed by black agents were generally, though not always, kept in separate boxes. Work on behalf of African American farmers started in the Men's Division in

1915 and the following year in the Women's Division. There was no difference in the types of services offered to African Americans; they received identical demonstrations on farm and home operations. Resources for blacks, however, were always skimpy. There were always fewer black agents, and they worked with less, even though they, too, received an enthusiastic welcome from their rural recipients. In 1964 separate reports on "Negro Work" stopped with the passage of the Civil Rights Act.

The nature of Arkansas's terrain and hence its farming dictated the organization of the service's activities by district. In the eastern half of the state, the Mississippi Alluvial Plain or Delta, cotton was the predominant crop, and it was there that the worst socioeconomic conditions of the rural population were found. Delta sharecroppers, sometimes regarded as "America's peasants," lived in a state of penury unsurpassed anywhere in the