Ellis Island is a sand strip in front of Manhattan's skyscrapers, not too far from Statue of Liberty.
The island was sold to New York city from Samuel Ellis for the price of 10,000 $ of that time, and it became in 1892 the center of a Federal Bureau of Immigration's station.
From 1892 to 1954- when the station for immigrant finally closed, over 12 milions of people -the 70% of the migratory flux to United States in that period- acrossed the island.
40% of actual USA population' origins, in fact, has roots in one of the persons who passed through Ellis Island's Registry Room.

Many kinds of testimoniances left from these persons are now in the three-floors museum of Main Building.
There, there are hundreds of photos, about 2000 oral testimoniances collected among immigrants and island's personal since 1973 and lots of objects of that age ( luggages, dresses, letters, naval tickets...).

When immigrants arrived on the island, a label with identification numbers were pasted on them; then they were taken on the luggage room and then to the second floor,in the Registry Room, where they met doctors and inspectors.
Doctors check them searching,first of all, for symptoms of some illness, some of the ones, such as epilepsy, tuberculosis, many kinds of foolish, and the trachoma ( a contagious eyes-infection which caused cecity and often the death and that was
almost unknown in America),didn't allow legal access  in U.S.A.
People who were considered needing other check'ups were signed with letters written with chalk on their back( "PG" for pregnant women, "K" for hernia, "x"for mental illness... ) and they were sent to the island's hospital or to the hospitals of Manhattan or of Brooklyn.

Unfit people were take back from the same ship that carried them up to there. That ship was obliged to take them back until the departure harbor.
People who passed medical inspection were questioned by inspectors helped by translators.

After interrogatory the ones who were accepted, finally went downstairs from " separation stairs", and only from that moment they could take different ways and destiny.