GSBC Annual Meeting + Presentation
Ellis Island after “the Line:” What Happened Next?
Jim Peskin, Educator, Ellis Island and The Tenement Museum
Monday, November 16 @ 7pm
The Hermitage Meeting Room, ​335 North Franklin Turnpike, Ho-Ho-Kus, NJ 07423
Free and Open to the Public—All are Welcome | Refreshments Provided

Hundreds of pictures of Ellis Island show stoic immigrants anxiously awaiting the feared ”Line Inspection.” Terrified they would be excluded, aka deported; returned to the country they had used up all their worldly possessions to leave. As terrifying as the prospect was, very few arrivals were sent back. In fact, less than 2% of arrivals were ever sent back, which means 98% made it through Ellis Island in a few hours.

Join us as we explore the 98% who passed the medical examination by the doctors, survived the grilling of the Immigration officer, and continued their journey into the US. Where did they go next? How did they get there?

Jim Peskin was a Mentor/Educator for the Save Ellis Island Foundation leading Hard Hat tours of the abandoned hospital complex. His job included continuing to research the history of Ellis Island’s Hospitals. Currently he is an Educator at the Lower East Side Tenement Museum where he gives tours of the tenements and the surrounding neighborhood. In addition to his work as an Educator, Jim is also a volunteer researcher in the Ellis Island Archives.

Before his work at Ellis Island Jim had a 30-year career in the Theater as a director, dramaturg, administrator. He was an adjunct professor at Drew University where he taught Acting, Directing, and Theatre History. Since retiring from the Theater Jim has applied his theater skills to the discipline of Interpretation.