On January 1, 1892, Ellis Island in New York Harbor opened as the United States' premier federal immigration station. The first immigrant to be processed was Annie Moore, a teenage girl from Ireland. Over the next 62 years, until its closure in 1954, Ellis Island processed nearly 12 million immigrants entering the United States. The station became a symbol of the American immigrant experience, serving as the gateway to a new life for millions and a site of both hope and fear.

Ellis Island has become a powerful symbol in American literature, representing the immigrant experience and the promise of America. It is a central setting and theme in countless memoirs, poems, and novels, including works by Jewish-American and Italian-American writers who chronicle the journey of their ancestors. The island and its history have inspired poetry that explores themes of arrival, identity, and the complex process of becoming an American.