Ellis Island Research Project
Station 6: The Medical Exam
The Exams and Diseases
In Ellis Island there is an exam area where they have doctors check the people entering. The first test is called, "The six-second physical" that is when a doctor comes in and looks for any signs of illness or contagious diseases. If the doctor notices you are limping or had short breath they would note it on a piece of paper. If they had red eyes they acted disturbed. If they didn't have red eyes they were abnormal. Whenever they are risked for public health their shirt was marked with a letter of what the disease they had.