In 1922, Pearl Libow left Russia to come to America. A teenager, Pearl traveled with her family, first by train to France and then by ship to America.

A day after boarding the ship, Pearl had a soaring temperature. The ship's medical crew attempted to bring her temperature down by wrapping her in cold sheets.  But the treatment had no effect, and by the time the ship landed in New York, Pearl
was deathly ill.

Within hours of landing, Pearl was taken to the Broad Street Hospital in New York City. Later she was brought to Ellis Island where she was detained for two weeks.

At Ellis Island, Pearl found herself alone in a strange and foreign world. Looking out from a window in the hospital ward, she could see the ships passing. One of her fellow patients told her that being detained "means they will send you back." Fearing that she would be deported, Pearl found it difficult to eat and her weight dropped.

Each day, a doctor wearing a white coat over his uniform visited Pearl to monitor her progress. For Pearl, however, the real highlight of her stay was in her interaction with the nurses. One of the nurses, seeing her loneliness, brought a pet parakeet to keep her company.

During her two-week stay, Pearl was allowed visitors. Because the disease from which she was suffering was viewed as "very contagious," these visitors wore masks. Her brother, who was one of her visitors, promised her that if she faced deportation, the whole family would find a way to ensure that she could remain in America. But knowing little of America and even less about her own illness, Pearl found her brother's words to be of only limited comfort.

After two weeks of simple bed rest, Pearl recovered. Released from the hospital, she left the island to join her family. En route to her family's new home she became excited by the lights, and when she reached her family's tenement house, she demonstrated her recovery by running up the four flights to her family's apartment. It was, she later said, a "very sad thing when you look forward to coming here" and your arrival is delayed by an illness.

*To read a transcript of a 1979 interview with Pearl about her experience at Ellis Island click here.