Sujet Anglais LV2 — Terminale — Polynésie — Bac 2018

DOCUMENT 1 Did Ellis Island Officials Really Change the Names of Immigrants? On the 125th anniversary of the famous portal to the U.S., history shows inspectors were not the ones changing people’s names. One hundred twenty-five years ago, the nation’s first federal immigration station opened on Ellis Island in New York Harbor, built to handle the throngs who were 5 coming to America during the late 19th century to escape famine, war and poverty. They hoped to settle in a promised land that was opening its doors to many, especially those capable of doing manual labor. But even though many may have had unusual names—at least to an English speaker—it is a persistent myth that Ellis Island inspectors altered birth names of the weary immigrants. 10 [...] More commonly, immigrants themselves would change their names, either to sound more American, or to melt into the immigrant community, where they were going to live, says Sutton1. If name changes happened with any frequency on Ellis Island, it was not noted in any contemporaneous newspaper accounts or in recollections from inspectors, Sutton says. 15 It is also unlikely a foreign name would flummox2 an Ellis Island inspector. From 1892 to 1924, “one-third of all immigrant inspectors were themselves foreign-born, and all immigrant inspectors spoke an average of three languages,” says the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. [...] The lack of detailed records in many cases means that immigrants’ descendants 20 often build their own stories about their names, sometimes holding Ellis Island inspectors responsible, says the immigration service. That could be because for some, Ellis Island was a scary and hostile place, Urban3 says. Many migrants came from repressive regimes, where men in uniform were to be feared. At the island, uniformed officers marked immigrants’ clothing with letters 25 signifying disease, or separated migrants from children or relatives for medical treatments or further questioning. “It could be terrifying,” he says. But, he says, he believes that dehumanization—including a disregard of names— was “not a prevalent or overwhelming part of the culture” at Ellis Island. While the process could be cold, “it didn’t mean you didn’t have inspectors who treated people 30 very kindly and compassionately,” Urban says. Alicia Ault, www.smithsonian.com, December 28, 2016 1Philip Sutton, a librarian in the Milstein Division of United States History, Local History and Genealogy, at the New York Public Library. 2 flummox = to be a problem