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If Your Name Was Changed at Ellis Island Vocabulary

Page history last edited by Amanda Nelson 13 years, 1 month ago

 

If Your Name Was Changed at Ellis Island:  

 

Vocabulary

 

 Tier One Vocabulary Words: 

Word: Definition: Book Reference:
Catastrophe  A sudden violent change in the earth's surface; a cataclysm.  Some people left because of a catastrophe like an earthquake or famine. p.12
Contagious diseases-

  *Measles, scarlet fever,

  diphtheria, Cholera,

  Typhus, yellow fever, smallpox, trachoma, Favus

 capable of being transmitted by bodily contact with an infected person or object 

Typhus-"the deadly disease typhus" p.23 "ship fever" p.29

Trachoma-"very contagious eye disease" p.37 "led to blindness" p.50 

Favus-a scalp and nail disease" p.39 
Discrimination Treatment or consideration based on class or category rather than individual merit; partiality or prejudice And the Jews, having escaped the pogroms and other discrimination in Russia and eastern Europe, had no safe place to return to. p.66
Disinfected  To cleanse so as to destroy or prevent the growth of disease-carrying microorganisms: disinfect a wound.  The doctors vaccinated and disinfected all passengers. p.23 
Legal Inspectors
  1. One who is appointed or employed to inspect something.A police officer ranking next below superintendent.
  2.  An officer with general investigative powers within a civil, military, or other organization. 
 Millions of newcomers passed through its gates and were examined by doctors and legal inspectors. p.8 
Migration 
  1.  The act or an instance of migrating.
  2. A group migrating together.
 It was the greatest human migration in history. p.7 
Nationality The status of belonging to a particular nation by origin, birth, or naturalization.  Each immigrant was assigned a number, and the ship's captain listed everyone's nationality, age, sex, destination, and occupation. p.23 
Port
  1.  A place on a waterway with facilities for loading and unloading ships.
  2. A city or town on a waterway with such facilities.
    1. The waterfront district of a city.
  3. A place along a coast that gives ships and boats protection from storms and rough water; a harbor.
  4. A port of entry.
 Some entered through other east coast ports in Boston, Philadelphia, or Baltimore. p.10
Prejudice
  1. An adverse judgment or opinion formed beforehand or without knowledge or examination of the facts.
  2. A preconceived preference or idea.
  3. The act or state of holding unreasonable preconceived judgments or convictions
 There was tremendous prejudice against Asian immigrants - Chinese and Japanese - particularly in California, where most of them had settled. p.69
Vaccinated  To inoculate with a vaccine in order to produce immunity to an infectious disease, such as diphtheria or typhus.  The doctors vaccinated and disinfected all passengers. p.23 
Vetoed
  1.  To prevent (a legislative bill) from becoming law by exercising the power of veto.
  2. To forbid or prohibit authoritatively.
 In 1952, President Harry S. Truman vetoed a law that would have let people from northern Europe enter more easily than other immigrants. p.68

 

 Tier Two Vocabulary Words: 

Word: Definition: Book Reference:
Deported  To expel from a country. Synonym: banish.  Some were allowed to enter the United States right away, some were detained, and some were deported (rejected and sent back). p.8 
Detained  To keep in custody or temporary confinement.   Some were allowed to enter the United States right away, some were detained (held for awhile), and some were deported. p.8 
Dictator  An absolute ruler.    Others, who had fought to overthrow their country's dictator, lost, and the had to flee. p.13
Ellis Island  An island of Upper New York Bay southwest of Manhattan. It was the chief immigration station of the United States from 1892 to 1943.  For these immigrants, America was their destination, Ellis Island the first stop. p.7
Epidemic An outbreak of a contagious disease that spreads rapidly and widely.    A deadly flu epidemic in Turkey, for example, drove many people from their homes. p.13
Famine 
  1.  A drastic, wide-reaching food shortage.
  2. Severe hunger; starvation.
 Some people left because of a catastrophe like an earthquake or famine. p.12 
Feebleminded
  1.  Deficient in intelligence.
  2. Showing a lack of intelligent consideration and thought.
 They wanted to be certain that you were not "feebleminded" p.40 
Grievance
  1.  An actual or supposed circumstance regarded as just cause for complaint.
  2. A complaint or protestation based on such a circumstance. Synonym: injustice.
  3. Indignation or resentment stemming from a feeling of having been wronged.
 In the Declaration, the colonists lists their grievances - what angered them- about King George III and the British parliament. p.67 
Homestead act An act passed by Congress in 1862 promising ownership of a 160-acre tract of public land to a citizen or head of a family who had resided on and cultivated the land for five years after the initial claim.  In 1862, the U.S. government passed a law called the Homestead Act. p.15 
Immigrant  A person who leaves one country to settle permanently in another.  America has always been a nation of immigrants-people who have moved to the United States from other countries. p.6
Manifest A list of cargo or passengers carried on a ship or plane.    The ship companies also had to prepare a manifest-a list of information about everybody on board the ship. p.23
Massacre  The act or an instance of killing a large number of humans indiscriminately and cruelly.    In the late 1800s and early 1900s, thousands of Russian Jews were killed in terrible pogroms, which were massacres often organized by the government and sometimes even by churches. p.12 
Persecution  The act or practice of persecuting on the basis of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or beliefs that differ from those of the persecutor. More than 2 million Jews left Russia and eastern Europe because of these pogroms, as well as other kinds of religious persecution. p.12 
Public charge A person who is in economic distress and is supported at government expense. The United States immigration law said that a person could not come into the country if he or she would become a "public charge." p.40
Steerage The section of a passenger ship, originally near the rudder, providing the cheapest passenger accommodations.
 Only the poor who traveled in third class or steerage -the cheapest way to travel- were taken to Ellis Island. p.10

 

 Tier Three Vocabulary Words:

Word: Definition: Book Reference:
Alien Contract Labor Law  In 1885- prohibited the importation and migration of foreigners and aliens under contract or agreement to perform labor in the United States, its territories, and the District of Columbia.  In 1885 the U.S. congress passed a law that said employers could not make contracts-agreements-with immigrants to bring them to America, promising them jobs. p.47
Chinese Exclusion Act  Policy of prohibiting immigration of Chinese laborers to the United States; initiated in 1882.  Then in 1882, the government passed the Chinese Exclusion Act. p.69
Internment Camps A large detention center created for political opponents, enemy aliens, people with mental illness, people of specific ethnic or religious groups, civilian inhabitants of a critical war-zone, or other groups of people, usually during a war.  President Roosevelt ordered most Japanese in America to be put in prison areas called internment camps. p.70
Naturalization Act of 1870 Provided only for the naturalization of whites and persons of “African descent” and continued to exclude Asians and Native Americans from citizenship. In 1870 the U.S. Congress passed a law that said only white people and people of African descent could become citizens. p.69
Pogroms  An organized, often officially encouraged massacre or persecution of a minority group, especially one conducted against Jews.  In the late 1800s and early 1900s, thousands of Russian Jews were killed in terrible pogroms, which were massacres often organized by the government and sometimes churches. p.12

 

References: Yahoo! Kids - Dictionary, Fact Monster - Dictionary

 

 

 


 

Comments (1)

ann.thier@st.bemidjistate.edu said

at 3:25 pm on Mar 1, 2011

Links work good
The definitions seem like they are directly from the dictionary not at a very simple accessible level.

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