These people are not Italian migrants arriving in New York, they are American troops
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on August 29, 2018 at 18:16
- Updated on August 30, 2018 at 16:32
- 1 min read
- By Guillaume DAUDIN
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“This scene typifies how a boatload of Italian Immigrants would have looked as they sought a better life,” the caption of this Facebook post reads. The same photo was shared over 60,000 times across different social networks in English, Spanish, French, and Italian.
Shared with implied criticism of current US immigration policies, this is not a photo of Italian migrants, as many internet users pointed out.
The original photo is featured in the New York Historical Society (NYHS) collections, and is most notably highlighted on NYHS blog “The Hyphen”. The caption explains that in 1945, “Crowded ships brought American troops back to (the) New York harbor for months after V-E Day.” This particular photo is from May 8, 1945.
Several internet users, as well as the ship-specialized website liverpoolships.org, pointed out that the ship is the Queen Elizabeth, used during World War II for troop transport.
Asked for more information about the photo, NYHS told AFP in an email that this photo was taken from its World War II Photograph Collection. It was taken in 1945 by US Third Naval District Coast Guards, and was featured in a file about the Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth liners.
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