Edward Tepporn: Angel Island Immigration Station – The “Other” Island

Honoring AAPI Heritage Month, the Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) is proud to partner with Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation (AIISF) for an in-depth conversation on the history of Angel Island, led by AIISF’s Executive Director Edward Tepporn. The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island are often the two places that come to mind when thinking about immigration to the US. Yet, many are not aware that from 1910 to 1940, a section of Angel Island (in the San Francisco Bay) was also used to process, interrogate, and detain over 500,000 immigrants who came from 80 different countries. While often referred to as the “Ellis Island of the West”, the former U.S. Immigration Station at Angel Island was created to enforce the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and other immigration policies created to restrict immigration from Asia and the Pacific. Join Edward Tepporn, Executive Director for the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation (AIISF), for this presentation and discussion. AIISF is the primary nonprofit organization that has worked in partnership with California State Parks to preserve the site’s buildings and helped to secure the site’s recognition in 1997 as a National Historic Landmark.