For more information, contact Stephanie Ely, (937) 775-3232. 
March 31, 2006 “Ellis Island of the West” tells little-known stories of Chinese immigration to America 
Gateway to Gold Mountain: The Angel Island Immigration Experience, a traveling exhibition that tells the story of Chinese immigrants’ experience at Angel Island, will make its first stop in Ohio at Wright State University from April 9–June 30.
Angel Island, an immigration station in San Francisco Bay, was the entry point into the United States for more than 175,000 Chinese immigrants between 1910 and 1940 who arrived to find America far different than the land of opportunity many called “Gold Mountain.” Often referred to as the “Ellis Island of the West,” Angel Island is a critical part of the story of the development of the American West that is rarely remembered in history books today. “Wright State is honored to host this little-known but highly-moving and educational exhibit as the highlight of the university’s celebration of Asian Heritage Month,” said Mai Nguyen, director of the Asian/Hispanic/Native American Center, which is sponsoring the exhibit with support from the Ohio Humanities Council. Through historic photos, text, and poetry, the exhibit discusses the attitudes, hopes and fears of the Chinese immigrants who faced incredible discrimination upon entry in America. Visitors who attend will walk through a series of vignettes that represent a particular experience at the immigration station. Images of barbed wire fences, guard towers and locked doors set the scene. The poems carved by immigrants on the walls of the barracks of Angel Island tell the story of their despair and isolation. The exhibit, which is free and open to the public, will be held in Wright State’s Paul Laurence Dunbar Library, which is open Monday–Thursday, 7:30 a.m.–midnight; Friday, 7:30 a.m.–6 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.; and Sunday, 1 p.m.–midnight. Tours hosted by the Asian/Hispanic/Native American Center are available for students in grades 4–12 by reservation. Special Chinese cultural activities will be offered to families visiting the exhibit every Saturday and Sunday from 2–4 p.m. beginning May 6–7 and running through June 24–25. The Gateway to Gold Mountain: The Angel Island Immigration Experience exhibit is co-sponsored by the WSU history department, Honors Program, University Center of International Education, Women’s Center, Paul Laurence Dunbar Library and the Dayton Association of Chinese Americans, and is supported in part by the Ohio Humanities Council, a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. The Gateway to Gold Mountain: The Angel Island Immigration Experience includes the following series of supplemental programs.
For more details and for student tour reservations, please go to http://www.wright.edu/admin/ahna or call the Asian/Hispanic/Native American Center at (937) 775-2798. An additional photo from the exhibit may be downloaded at http://www.wright.edu/news/angel_island_2_lg.jpg  Click on the photo above to see a high-resolution version suitable for printing.
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