A woman in traditional clothing holds her child in her lap.

Calvin Ong as a baby with his mother before he left China.

Courtesy of Calvin Ong

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I Was Turned Away

On Angel Island, many hopeful immigrants were not welcome.

January 4, 2021
By Nicole Tocco

courtesty of Calvin Ong

Calving Ong today

Imagine leaving your family and friends and moving to a new country. You don’t speak the language and you know almost no one there. To get to your new home, you’ll spend 18 days at sea, on a ship crowded with strangers.

That’s exactly what 10-year-old Calvin Ong did in 1937, when he boarded a ship from China, all alone. He was headed to California to start a new life with his father, who had moved there before Ong was born.

“America was a land of opportunity,” Ong, now 93, says.

But he soon found out that the American dream would not come easily. Ong’s first stop in the U.S. was Angel Island, near San Francisco. The immigration station there was built to keep Asian immigrants out of America, not welcome them.

Unfairly Blamed

By the time Ong voyaged to the U.S., Chinese people had a long history here. In the 1800s, America welcomed more than 150,000 Chinese immigrants. Many helped build railroads (see sidebar, below), worked on farms, and owned businesses.

But Chinese laborers worked for low pay, so some Americans saw them as competition. In the 1870s, jobs became scarce, and many blamed the Chinese.

In response, the U.S. government passed the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. It banned Chinese laborers from entering the country and put strict limits on other Chinese immigrants. It was the first time the U.S. had limited immigration on the basis of nationality or race.

Angel Island opened in 1910 to enforce this law. About 175,000 Chinese immigrants made the journey. So did immigrants from about 80 other countries, including Japan, India, and Russia. Nearly one in five would be turned away.

Where Is Angel Island?

Jim McMahon/Mapman®

Trick Questions

When Ong arrived on Angel Island, he was whisked off to a cramped room filled with rows of bunk beds. Before he was released to his father, Ong would have to answer questions correctly during an interview. There was no telling when he would be called. Some were detained for more than a year.

Aerial Archives/Alamy Stock Photo

Angel Island

“It became a prison,” he says.

With no word from officials, days turned into weeks. Finally, nearly six months later, Ong was interviewed. He had been studying for months.

But the tricky questions were especially tough for a kid. What direction did his house in China face? How many steps led to his front door? What were the ages of his neighbors? Ong failed the test and was deported.

“It was one of the worst moments of my life,” he recalls. “I felt I had failed my family and it was the end of my journey.”

An American At Last

In 1943, the Chinese Exclusion Act was repealed, or done away with. Ong returned to the U.S. and became a citizen in 1951. He went on to serve in the U.S. military, own a business, and raise a family. Despite the challenges, Ong would do it all over again.

“Even with all the hardships, it was worth it,” he says. “I sincerely love America.”

Connecting America

(c) Pajaro Valley Historical Association 1984.23.81
  • In 1869, the transcontinental railroad linked America’s two coasts for the first time. If not for Chinese immigrants, it might not have been built.
  • About 15,000 Chinese men worked on the railroad, many blasting through mountains.
  • They were paid about $1 per day (about $19 in today’s money)—less than other workers earned.
  • Unlike white workers, they had to pay for their own food and housing.
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