Above is a group of immigrants awaiting medical examination at Ellis Island. The examinations would make or break their future in America. C. 1880-1920
Above is a newspaper article from C. 1902 that states how a Russian native who recently arrived to America looking for steady labor was instantly killed in a mining incident on his first day on the job. With a surge of unskilled laborers there was little opportunity for steady jobs other than mining.
Men standing in the mine C. 1900 example of labor conditions for immigrants.
In the first picture the entrance of the building confirms to me that the picture was taken at Ellis island since I have been there. The artist seems to have wanted to capture a the essence of the immigrants arriving. He did not want them to pose so to make it look more natural and captivate true emotions, even though they were looking at the camera. Even though this picture captures the immigrants maybe arriving at Ellis Island it does not capture what they go through while inside.
In the last picture the artist wanted to show a job of an immigrant. the kinds of job they got and the condition in which they had to work in. many immigrants could only get mining jobs because it was what was available for them.