America's tired, poor, and huddled masses get their own tartan

FOR millions of immigrants it was their gateway to the new world - the "island of tears" where they were processed before hopefully being allowed to begin a new life in America.

By the time it finally closed in 1954, some 12 million people are estimated to have passed through Ellis Island, the nation's busiest immigrant inspection station, which sits by the Statue of Liberty at the entrance to New York harbour.

It has now been revealed that a special Ellis Island tartan has been created. It is a cloth that can be worn not only by the 12 million descendants of Scottish immigrants now living in the United States, but by the 40 per cent of the country's population who can trace their ancestry back to a relative who passed through the "golden gateway" to America.

The potentially world-beating tartan has been created by the Clan Currie Society, a New York-based organisation dedicated to the preservation and promotion of the Highland heritage of millions of American citizens.

Robert Currie, the president of the Clan Currie Society, said: "The Ellis Island tartan was not only designed for those whose ancestors arrived into the US through Ellis Island, which in itself totals in the millions, but frankly all Americans who came to our country to start a new life regardless of ethnic origin.

• Island of tears

"In this respect, it may just as well be considered the immigrant's tartan or the American tartan. In particular, I hope it will have a special place in the hearts of families of the half million Scots immigrants who landed here, especially as they now have the excitement of being able to wear a tartan which unites their families with the many others who passed through Ellis Island when they emigrated to North America."

The tartan was designed by Matt Newsome, curator of the Scottish Tartans Museum in Franklin, North Carolina.

A spokeswoman for the society said: "The blue represents the ocean that had to be crossed to reach the American shores. The copper green is the colour of the Statue of Liberty. The red depicts the bricks of the Ellis Island buildings where 12 million Americans took their first steps towards freedom.And the gold is the golden door that is the United States of America and the dawn of a new life in America."

Brian Wilton, director of the Scottish Tartans Authority, said: "As the first American footfall for millions of emigrants - including hundreds of thousands of Scots - Ellis Island plays an important part in many family histories.

"It is appropriate that all those whose American origins were born there should be able to celebrate and commemorate that momentous occasion by wearing the new Ellis Island tartan."

Some 500,000 Scots joined what New York poet Emma Lazarus described in the 1880s in her sonnet, the New Colossus as "your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free".

Those words were engraved upon a plaque within the Statue of Liberty in 1903 as a tribute to the US's immigrant heritage.