ALIEN PASSENGER
A WORK-IN-PROGRESS
It is estimated the New York harbor welcomed over 65 million immigrants between 1820 to 1957. My grandfather was just one of them.
A ship manifest from August 25, 1926, identifying my grandfather among the passengers classified as “alien passengers” arriving in the United States.
On August 25th, 1926 my grandfather Waldemar Gomes Cabral was listed on a ship manifest and classified as alien passenger arriving in the United States.
Almost 1 million names of immigrants and their ancestors are now written on a wall on The Statue of Liberty National Park.
Once a year, new panels are added to the more than 700 stainless-steel panels currently displayed on Ellis Island. My grandfather’s name will be included in the coming year.
Photo taken by my grandfather in the 1940’s.
The act of adding my grandfather’s name into a North American National monument, 100 years after his arrival to the United States, becomes an attempt of continuance of his history and mine. But right now, “all that is solid, melts into thin air”.
Since Executive Order no. 14253: “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History”, the federal government of the United States restricts critical narratives from being discussed in federal land, and directs the elimination of signs, text or monuments on National Parks that preserve minority and overlooked histories from public view. Under Secretary Order no. 3431 such “improvements” must be implemented in time for the celebrations of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, on July 4, 2026.
Manifest of the ship SS. Vauban in which my grandfather traveled from Recife to New York as a steerage passenger.
Aliens have landed here. They have been landing here for hundreds of years. Some want to pretend it never happened. Many still remember.
Sample of an actual 27” x 45” stainless steel panel installed on the American Immigrant Wall of Honor on Elis Island, just outside the National Museum of Immigration. To inscribe a name visit Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island Foundation website. https://www.statueofliberty.org
The upcoming engraving installation for names of immigrants collected in 2026 will take place in the summer of 2027, when my grandfather’s name will be installed on Elis Island on the Statue of Liberty National Park. Hopefully permanently.
This is a work-in-progress. I intend to document the stainless-steel panel once my grandfather’s name is included on this National Park. The resulting photo-documentation will be registered into a national database* lead by a group of librarians, public historians, and data experts dedicated to preserving signs, exhibits, and texts that could soon disappear from public view. Right now, nothing is permanent.
~ In memory of Waldemar Gomes Cabral
REFERENCES
*Save Our Signs. (2025). Save Our Signs. University of Minnesota. https://sites.google.com/umn.edu/save-our-signs/home https://sites.google.com/umn.edu/save-our-signs/home
Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island Foundation. Ellis Island. https://www.statueofliberty.org/ellis-island/
The White House. (2025, March 27). Restoring truth and sanity to American history. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/restoring-truth-and-sanity-to-american-history/
U.S. Department of the Interior. (2025). SO 3431: Restoring truth and sanity to American history. https://www.doi.gov/document-library/secretary-order/so-3431-restoring-truth-and-sanity-american-history