Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation (AIISF), formerly known as the Immigration Station Foundation, is a California-based historical group dedicated to preserving the memory of California’s Angel Island Immigration Station. Located in San Francisco, the group owes its genesis to the discovery of poetry scrawled on the cell walls by detained Chinese migrants awaiting immigration processing between 1910 and 1940. The facilities have since been renovated, and some of its building reopened as a museum which is overseen by AIISF. ¹

Executive director Edward Tepporn wrote an article for the American Alliance of Museums in 2021 in which he stated that the museum was considering adding exhibits about immigration across the southern border of the United States. ²

Background

Angel Island Immigration Station was located just off the coast of California near San Francisco and operated from 1910 to 1940. It processed over 500,000 immigrants from 80 countries. Although most of the immigrants processed at Angel Island originated from east Asia, the station also processed immigrants from Australia, Russia, and Central and South America. ³

Legislation such as the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and its extension, the Geary Act of 1892, created an extra layer of difficulty for Chinese immigrants, who were separated from other nationalities, detained, and interrogated. ⁴

Following an administrative building fire in 1940, Angel Island Station was mostly closed, although its barracks were used to detain Japanese Americans from Hawaii after the 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor, and it was used as a site for processing prisoners of war. In 1954, Angel Island was designated a national park, although it was also used as a missile base though the 1960s. ⁵

Angel Island Immigration Station ceased operations for good following the end of World War II and was scheduled to be demolished in 1970 due to its dilapidated condition. ⁶

During this time, it was discovered that the walls of the detention barracks had been carved with poetry from detained Chinese immigrants. With public support from the Asian-American community of San Francisco, the site was declared a California Historical Landmark in 1970, and in 1974 the China Cove Historical Advisory Citizen’s committee was established to discuss the future of the site. In 1976, the California State Legislature awarded the group $250,000 for the preservation of the barracks as a museum. The Immigration Station Foundation was formed in 1983 to oversee operations of the museum and park space. In 1994, the Immigration Station Foundation changed its name to its current moniker, and in 2010 President Barack Obama declared January 21 as National Angel Island Day. ⁷

Since that time, AIISF boasts of having spent more than $40 million to refurbish and maintain Angel Island Station’s buildings.  Between 2005 and 2008, over $21 million was allocated to preserve and renovate the facility’s hospital building with grants coming from the California Cultural and Historical Endowment and from the federal Angel Island Immigration Station Hospital Preservation and Restoration Act. The museum features the poetry carved into the barracks’ walls as well as an archive of oral histories collected by AIISF. ⁸

Accessibility Problems

In December 2020, it was announced that Blue and Gold fleet services may no longer support ferry services to Angel Island. This proposed change comes as a result of decreased ferry traffic in the wake of government-imposed shutdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Blue and Gold is the sole provider of ferry services to Angel Island from San Francisco. ⁹

Although Blue and Gold Ferry has applied to the California Public Utilities Commission to cease servicing the island, supporters of AIISF have rallied to find a solution to enable access to continue. ¹⁰

Educational Tools

Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation makes available a set of resources for grade 3-12 teachers that want to educate students about California’s immigration history. Adapted to the California History Social Science Standards, the curriculum focuses on teaching the ideas of “inclusion and exclusion” and inequality through a series of roleplaying activities in which some students are deliberately treated unfairly. The activities include mock interrogations of students posing as immigrants, and the teacher is encouraged to engage the students in these activities at the beginning of the day, to take them by surprise. ¹¹

In one exercise, the teacher is instructed to hand out tickets to the students which designate them as “first-class” or “third-class.” The first-class students are allowed to have snacks and move freely throughout designated areas of the classroom. The third-class students are to be corralled into a cramped area designated by the teacher, given no snacks, and forced to remain standing there “as long as they seem to be able to handle the experience.” The students are then to journal about how the experience made them feel. ¹²

Leadership

Buck Gee is president of Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation. He is the former vice president of the Data Center Business Unit at tech conglomerate Cisco Systems, and former president and CEO of Andiamo Systems (acquired by Cisco in 2004). He is also a former professor at Stanford University and Howard University, teaching classes in computer engineering. ¹³

Edward Tepporn, executive director of AIISF, is the former executive director of the Asian & Pacific Islander Health Forum. ¹⁴ Since beginning work at AIISF, Tepporn has made efforts to correlate the experiences of Asian immigrants of the early 20^th century with immigrants crossing the southern border of the United States. ¹⁵

1. AIISF. “History.” AIISF Website. Undated. Accessed July 26, 2021.  https://www.aiisf.org/history
2.   Tepporn, Edward. “It is Time to Include AANHPIS in Museum Diversity Equity Accessibility and Inclusion Efforts.” American Alliance of Museums Website. April 21, 2021. Accessed July 26, 2021. https://www.aam-us.org/2021/04/21/it-is-time-to-include-aanhpis-in-museum-diversity-equity-accessibility-and-inclusion-efforts/
3.  AIISF. “History.” AIISF Website. Undated. Accessed July 26, 2021.  https://www.aiisf.org/history
4. History.com Editors. “Angel Island Immigration Station. History.com Website. April 20, 2021. Accessed July 26, 2021. https://www.history.com/topics/immigration/angel-island-immigration-station
5. Ca.gov. “Angel Island State Park. Ca.gov Website. Undated. Accessed July 26, 2021. https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=468
6. AIISF. “History.” AIISF Website. Undated. Accessed July 26, 2021.  https://www.aiisf.org/history
7. AIISF. “History.” AIISF Website. Undated. Accessed July 26, 2021.  https://www.aiisf.org/history
8. AIISF. “Immigrant Voices.” AIISF Website. Undated. Accessed July 26, 2021.  https://www.immigrant-voices.aiisf.org
9. “Ferry Service from Angel Island to SF May End Due to Declining Sales.”NBC Bay Area. December 19, 2020. Accessed July 26, 2021. https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/san-francisco/ferry-service-from-angel-island-to-sf-may-end-due-to-declining-sales/2427825/
10. Lee, Amber. “Push to Retain Ferry Service to Historic Angel Island a Dark Reminder of its History.” Fox KTVU. April 8, 2021. Accessed July 26, 2021. https://www.ktvu.com/news/push-to-retain-ferry-service-to-historic-angel-island-a-reminder-of-its-dark-history
11. AIISF. “Immigrant Journeys.” Squarespace.com Website. Undated. Accessed July 26, 2021. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5a81dadde9bfdff9a97b0da7/t/5a85d4b48165f56bd2ddeff4/1518720180921/Curriculum_Guide_Lesson_06.pdf
12. AIISF. “Immigrant Journeys.” Squarespace.com Website. Undated. Accessed July 26, 2021. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5a81dadde9bfdff9a97b0da7/t/5a85d4b48165f56bd2ddeff4/1518720180921/Curriculum_Guide_Lesson_06.pdf
13. AIISF. “Board and Staff.” AIISF Website. Undated. Accessed July 26, 2021.  https://www.aiisf.org/boardandstaff
14. Linkedin. “Edward Tepporn.” Linkedin Website. Undated. Accessed July 26, 2021. https://www.linkedin.com/in/edward-tepporn
15. Tepporn, Edward. “It is Time to Include AANHPIS in Museum Diversity Equity Accessibility and Inclusion Efforts.” American Alliance of Museums Website. April 21, 2021. Accessed July 26, 2021. https://www.aam-us.org/2021/04/21/it-is-time-to-include-aanhpis-in-museum-diversity-equity-accessibility-and-inclusion-efforts/