Beyond the Kissing Door

Years ago, Ellis Island hustled and bustled with immigrants from all over the world. They had to undergo rigorous scrutiny with physical and mental testing. Some were kept there for days on end. After all the tests were completed, they were allowed to leave the building. When they finally reached an exit door that led them to the busy streets of New York, some of the immigrants would stop and kiss the door, and it became known as the "Kissing Door." It was such a touching scene; some of the guards would weep as they watched the immigrants kiss the door before making the final journey into their new country, and their new lives. Beyond the Kissing Door is a true story that depicts the life of my father, Pellegrino Angelo, after he walked through the "Kissing Door." In 1906, at the age of seventeen, he traveled from Agrigento, Sicily, to America. He was a man who asked for nothing more than to work and raise his nine children the only way that he knew how. This is a warm-hearted story told from my perspective as I was growing up.