When I visited this great port-of-entry for some 22 million immigrants, I was profoundly moved by a new appreciation for the powerful promise of American freedom. The dream of a better life for themselves and their families prompted so many to attempt the perilous voyage. Seasick and heartsick, packed into the holds of overcrowded ships, our parents and grandparents bid farewell to the world they had known and headed bravely into an unknowable future.

For them, Ellis Island, neighboring The Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor, represented the commencement of that future.

-- Thomas Kinkade