20 Minutes (DVD: Institutional Use) • Drama • Grades 3 - 6

Produced and Directed by Loni Ding, 1988

Island of Secret
Memories is a short, powerful drama on the experience of early Chinese
immigrants who were detained at the Angel Island Immigration Station in
the San Francisco Bay from 1910 - 1940, the Ellis Island of the West
Coast.

The story is told through the eyes of young children on a
tour of the now restored facility located in Angel Island State Park.
Joe, a Chinese American schoolboy, comes face to face with the spirit of
his beloved, deceased grandfather, who was once detained for
questioning in the barracks of the immigration station.

Through
his grandfather's ghost, Joe "sees" an interrogation scene, and "hears"
the voices of his ancestors chanting the Chinese poems of hardship and
resistance they carved into the walls many years ago and still visible
today.

• Includes full curriculum guide.