August 11, 2006
Angel Island Poems
Historical Background
The Angel Island Poems are a group of more than 135 poems written by Chi
nese immigrants detained between the years of 1910 and 1930 at the immigration detention center on Angel Island, located in the San Francisco bay (Lai 8). The poems were discovered in 1970 by park ranger Alexander Weiss who noticed the calligraphy on the walls of the abandoned detention center. Through Weiss’s efforts along with those of Paul Chow and the Angel Island Immigration Station Historical Advisory Committee (AIISHAC), the dilapidated barracks was saved from demolition and special legislation was passed granting $250,000 to preserve and restore the barracks (“Immigration Station”). Written mostly by Cantonese villagers trying to immigrate to the United States, these poems express the hope, despair and frustration of detainees awaiting the outcomes of medical examinations and immigration paperwork.
Modeled after New York’s Ellis Island, Angel Island was the point of entry for the majority of the approximately 175,000 Chinese immigrant
s who came to America between 1910 and 1940 (Lai 8). The Chinese began immigrating to California during the Gold Rush and soon found work in many other fields: they worked to build the transcontinental railroads, helped develop the shrimp and abalone fisheries and worked in California’s growing agricultural sector. From the years of the Gold Rush onwards, Chinese workers were discriminated against because they were accused of taking menial, low-paying jobs away from white workers. Anti-Chinese sentiments increased during the economic downturn of the 1870s, leading to the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act. Under the Exclusion Act, the first law prohibiting a certain ethnic group from immigration to the U.S., only government officials, merchants, students, teachers, visitors as well as those claiming U.S. citizenship were now admitted (Lai 12).
The poems found on the walls of the detention center drew on the Chinese tradi
tion of tibishi writing (literally “writing on the wall”), a form of travel writing with a history of political dissent. Traditionally, the tibishi artist was a traveler who wrote his observations about a place on the doors, windows, rafters or walls of the inns or roadside pavilions in which he stayed (Huang 9). This form of wall-writing allowed the author to create a kind of alternate history-of-place which often contradicted the sanctioned history of the current government (Huang 6). In other words, tibishi is a form of Chinese political graffiti. The Angel Island poets drew on this rich tradition in order to critique what they felt to be their unjust treatment at the hands of the U.S. immigration authorities. The poems of frustration, hope and despair written on the walls of the detention center were directed towards future detainees who would be housed in the same barracks and undergo the same interrogations and humiliations that they had experienced.
 Watch Angel Island video |
| Requires Quicktime. |
This video, produced by KQED Asian Education Initiative, provides a brief history of the Angel Island Poems and their discovery by park ranger Alexander Weiss.
Video streaming also available at: www.kqed.org/angelisland/video/
Works Cited
Huang, Yunte. “Angel Island and the Poetics of Error.” UbuWeb Papers. 8 Aug 2006.
“Immigration Station.” Angel Island State Park. Angel Island Association. 8 Aug 2006. 
Angel Island Web Resources:
KQED Education Initiatives Organization Website
This multimedia site includes lesson plans, a movie about the island, sound clips of poems and photos.
Angel Island Organization
This site, which is associated with the California Department of Parks and Recreation, includes a history of the island, photos and an Angel Island Webcam.
Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation (AIISF)
This site includes historical background, phots and information about how to get involved with the foundation.
Oral History Site by Lydia Lum
This site, created by Lydia Lum, is an ongoing oral history project collected from former Angel Island detainees. It includes photos and interviews.