The following are a compliation of new stories in the United States about the Ellis ISland exhibit Hidden in Plain Sight: the Basques.


A Basque Tale
Boiseans return to Ellis Island to celebrate shared identity
by Tara Morgan (Boise Weekly)

Amid a flurry of wet flakes—hemmed in on the north by a snow-blanketed Battery Park and the south by the icy slosh of the Upper New York Bay—we lined up, shivering. Hundreds of us, many from Boise and some from as far away as Spain and Quebec, had been cattle-packed into industrial metal gates that snaked around like a lower intestine before eventually spitting us out at the ferry for Ellis Island. Tall with curly blonde hair, I towered over the sea of short ladies with purplish-black bobs making small talk around me.

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Basques: Hidden in Plain Sight
Reader's View
By Patti Lachiondo

The United States is a nation of immigrants people from every corner of the world came to our shores driven by the human desire for freedom, opportunity and even adventure.

Americans have long expected that immigrants would fit in here, embracing the United States by contributing to commerce, community and culture. At the same time, many immigrant communities feel a strong pull to maintain their own language, customs and sense of community, while still being fully American. Perhaps no group of immigrants has succeeded at this delicate balancing act better than Americans of Basque descent, including the thousands who live in Idaho.

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