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#39: Creating the National Museum of the American People Without Federal Funding

There are three funding phases anticipated to plan, build and operate the National Museum of the American People. None of them foresee using federal appropriations.

The first phase is to cover the cost of a study to explore the feasibility of creating the Museum, which we talked about in Blog #18. We estimate the cost would be up to $1.75 million for this study which would take approximately a year to produce. We plan to obtain support later this year from a handful of prospective major donors and foundations to cover this entire cost.

The second fundraising phase will be to raise all of the funds required to plan and build the Museum. Our model for this phase is the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum which raised all of its money to plan and build that museum from private sources. The work done in the feasibility study will let us know approximately how much money we will need for the NMAP and the time frame required to raise it. We expect it to be in the $600-800 million range.

While we will not be seeking federal appropriations for this phase, we will want legislation passed to create a self-funding entity charged with planning and building the Museum and raising all its funds required to do so. This legislation would officially designate the institution as a national museum.

That legislation would also do two other things to expedite the Museum. One would be a transfer of a prime piece of land in Washington from the National Park Service to the Museum entity. The particular plot we seek, the Banneker Overlook site, is already on NPS books as a site for a future national museum.

Another element of the legislation would allow the Museum to accept gifts from foreign governments. A senior U.S. diplomat, possibly a former secretary of state, could be recruited to obtain gifts of $1 million to $20 million, but with a cap so that no single nation could contribute an inordinate amount.

The Museum, telling about the origins of all Americans, can draw U.S. relationships with other nations closer. The heads of state from across the globe could be expected to participate in the Museum’s opening and the gifts from nations’ would be acknowledged in the Museum.

Another significant fund-raising element of the second phase is to seek seven-figure or higher gifts from selected individuals, foundations and corporations that have a special interest in their heritage, in civic education for all Americans and in strengthening our nation’s social fabric. And as the Museum tells the story of every customer of every corporation in the land, an association with the NMAP will carry a positive impact with every corporation’s customer base.

With significant gifts providing a solid financial base to begin planning and building the Museum, the last element of this phase is to engage in a broad national fund-raising effort to obtain gifts from all Americans in any amount.

Once the Museum entity is established by Congress, all money donated to that entity are considered gifts to the federal government and are ear-marked for the Museum. They would be tax deductible up to the limit laid out in the tax law.

The third phase is to fund the annual operating budget of the Museum. One element of this is to establish a major endowment that would be used for this purpose. So in addition to raising funds described in the second phase to plan and build the NMAP, funds from those sources would be applied to the endowment once the initial goals were reached.

In addition, income from Museum operations such as the book store, shops, restaurants, programs and facility rentals would be applied to cover operations.  There would also be a significant on-going fund-raising effort to fund particular programs at the Museum and an effort to obtain grants for other programs as well. There would be an ongoing membership program and other general fund-raising efforts.

One significant source of income could be from visitor fees, but the NMAP would initially plan to follow the lead of the Smithsonian Institution and the USHMM which are free for visitors.

Whether federal appropriations are ever provided to the NMAP in the future to defray annual operating expenses would be up to future congresses and the public, but the National Museum of the American People is not planning for that contingency.

But first things first. Phase One will begin later this year.

Sam Eskenazi, Director, Coalition for the National Museum of the American People

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#38: Latino/Hispanic Story Is Incorporated into All 4 Chapters of National Museum of the American People

Flags representing the origins of the nine largest Latino/Hispanic groups in America:
Mexican, Puerto Rican, Salvadoran, Cuban, Dominican, Columbian, Guatemalan, Ecuadoran, Honduran

The history of Americans of Hispanic/Latino descent is the only story, along with Native Americans, that will flow through all four chapters of the Making of the American People, the permanent exhibition of the National Museum of the American People from the first people in the Western Hemisphere through today.

In the Museum’s first chapter that goes from prehistory to the founding of the Jamestown colony in 1607, includes the story of first contact between natives and Europeans which is predominantly about Spanish and Portuguese explorers and settlers interacting with natives in the Western Hemisphere after 1492. This chapter includes the first Spanish arrival in what is now Puerto Rico in 1493 and the first Spanish settlement in what is now the United States at St. Augustine, FL in 1565.

In the second chapter from 1607 to 1820 the Museum’s story will focus on what is now the United States and all of its territories. During this period Hispanics moved into those lands, primarily in the U.S. Southwest. They also owned territory that would later be lost to the French who sold it to the newly established United States.  Likewise, Florida and the New Orleans area were Spanish territories that become part of the U.S. during this period.

In the third chapter from 1820 to 1924 the U.S. fought wars with both Mexico and Spain. As a result it acquired Hispanic lands, including California and most of the rest of the U.S. Southwest, from Mexico. Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines were obtained from Spain. Texas, which had gained independence from Spain on its own, was annexed by the U.S. during this chapter.

In the last chapter from 1924 through today, the Museum will tell the modern immigration stories from the Americas. These new arrivals have primarily come from Mexico, but large numbers have also come from other Hispanic nations and territories in the Caribbean, principally Puerto Rico, Cuba and the Dominican Republic. The story of their journeys across the nation’s borders is one of the major issues facing our nation today.

Supporting the Museum now are 25 Hispanic/Latino organizations representing Americans from Mexico, Puerto Rico, Portugal, Cuba, El Salvador, the Dominican Republic and Bolivia as well as blanket organizations representing a cross section of all Hispanics or Latinos.

There are already 23 eminent scholars from universities across the U.S. supporting the Museum who focus on the study of Latino and Hispanic history and culture. They and others who will join in the future will help the Museum tell its story.

While there has been a call for a separate Smithsonian museum on the National Mall in Washington, DC devoted to Latino history and culture, in December the Smithsonian announced that it would create a permanent exhibition devoted to Latino history and culture in its National Museum of American History. That museum attracts more than 3 million visitors annually and that new permanent exhibition is scheduled to open in 2020.

The story of Hispanics/Latinos told in the context of the history of all those who have become Americans will attract all groups to see their own stories and better understand everyone else’s story. One of the primary goals of the National Museum of the American People is to bring all Americans together.

This blog is about the proposed National Museum of the American People which is about the making of the American People. The blog will be reporting regularly on a host of NMAP topics, American ethnic group histories, related museums, scholarship centered on the museum’s focus, relevant census and other demographic data, and pertinent political issues. The museum is a work in progress and we welcome thoughtful suggestions.

Sam Eskenazi, Director, Coalition for the National Museum of the American People

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#37: You Don’t Have to Be a Smithsonian Museum To Make It in Washington, DC

One of the issues for the National Museum of the American People is whether it will be part of the Smithsonian Institution or independent of it. In this article we’ll look at some of Washington’s museums, both public and private, that are independent of the Smithsonian. In future blogs we’ll discuss Smithsonian museums and proposals for new museums in Washington.

National Gallery of Art

 While there are many great art museums in Washington, we’ll only touch on one here because it is on the National Mall, the National Gallery of Art. While it seems part of the Smithsonian it is actually independent of it. It consists of two major buildings, the neo classical West Building opened in 1941, the East Wing that opened in 1978, and the NGA sculpture garden that opened in 1999. This complex stretches from 3rd Street to 9th Street along the Mall on Constitution Avenue. The NGA has 4.3 million visitors a year and is asking this year for an appropriation of $137 million to operate.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

The USHMM, located just off of the National Mall near the Washington Monument, has served about 1.7 million visitors a year since it opened. It receives an annual appropriation now of approximately $59 million a year. It is a public-private partnership like the Smithsonian and has recently undertaken a long-term $1 billion fund-raising effort. The museum opened in 1993 and was the first significant museum in Washington that tells its story in a chronological fashion. Early visitorship studies found that the average visitor spent about 3 hours walking through the museum’s story about the history of the Holocaust.

Spy Museum

The International Spy Museum opened in Washington in 2002 as a private museum and has had about 300,000 visitors a year since it opened. This Spring it is moving to a large new building a few blocks off of the National Mall on L’Enfant Plaza. It is just a block away from the NMAP’s favored site at the Banneker Overlook. The Spy Museum charges $23 for adults for visitors to walk through the history of the dramatic spying profession around the world.

Bible Museum

Another new museum in Washington opened in 2017, the Museum of the Bible. A private museum funded by the founders of the Hobby Lobby, it tells about the history of the bible. It charges $25 per adult and has had 500,000 visitors during its first six months.

National Geographic Museum

Operated by the National Geographic Society, its exhibits focus on natural history, culture and history along the lines of the society’s National Geographic Magazine. The society was established in 1888 and is a non-profit organization in Washington. Located in downtown DC, this museum charges $15 for adults to visit its exhibits.

Newseum

The Newseum, started by the Freedom Forum funded by the Gannett newspaper company, promotes the 1st Amendment clause to the Constitution calling for freedom of the press. It moved to its DC location on Pennsylvania Avenue near the Capitol Building in 2008. While it says it has 815,000 visitors a year and charges $25 for adults to visit, it announced in January that it sold its building and will close the museum.

National Archives

The National Archives is most famous for displaying the nation’s founding documents, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. The Archives attract 1 million visitors a year to its building across the street from the National Mall on Pennsylvania Avenue. The federal agency was born in 1934. Before that, federal documents were housed by the State Department and the Library of Congress. It is funded by federal appropriations.

Library of Congress

An arm of Congress, the three buildings of the Library of Congress on Capitol Hill attract 1.6 million visitors, most of them to its Jefferson Building across the street from the Capitol and the Supreme Court. Holdings include one of the original Guttenberg Bibles. Its collections of books and documents is massive and it changes its displays periodically. Its reading room is one of the most interesting and famous rooms in the Nation’s capital. Its funding is from federal appropriations.

 National Museum of the US Navy

Operated by the U.S. Navy at the Navy Yard in Washington, DC, the museum chronicles the U.S. Navy from its beginning during the Revolution through today. Located on a military base poses some hurdles for visitors, but it is free and counts about 200,000 visitors a year. The Navy Yard is located adjacent to the Washington Nationals baseball stadium and has a Metro stop near the main gate of the Yard. While smaller collections of Navy memorabilia opened in 1865 soon after the Navy Yard opened, the current museum opened in 1963.

German American Heritage Museum

Located in a townhouse in the Penn Quarter of downtown Washington, this museum focuses on the heritage of all Americans of German descent. The museum is free and is operated by the German American Heritage Foundation. It opened in 2010.

Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum

This museum chain opened its Washington branch in 2007. It features wax likenesses of U.S. presidents, first ladies, cultural icons and famous people from music, sports, media and entertainment. Located downtown, it costs $22 per adult ($18 online) for tickets.

This blog is about the proposed National Museum of the American People which is about the making of the American People. The blog will be reporting regularly on a host of NMAP topics, American ethnic group histories, related museums, scholarship centered on the museum’s focus, relevant census and other demographic data, and pertinent political issues. The museum is a work in progress and we welcome thoughtful suggestions.

Sam Eskenazi, Director, Coalition for the National Museum of the American People

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#36: NMAP Will Explore a Peopling of America Program to Mark Significant US Immigration Sites

A Peopling of America program would consist of scholars at the National Museum of the American People working with National Park Service officials to identify sites throughout the nation where events of significant migration and immigration history took place. The sites would be marked with special plaques designating them as “Peopling of America National Historic Landmarks.”

The most famous immigration site in America is Ellis Island, although the ancestors of most people in our nation came before Ellis Island opened in 1892, after it closed in 1954, came through other ports, or were already on land that the U.S. took over. On the West Coast, for example, Angel Island, not far from the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco Bay, is where many immigrants from Asia arrived in the United States.

As sites are designated, and markers placed, Peopling of America themed maps could be created for the public based on regional designations and specific ethnic designations. Members of ethnic groups could tour the nation to see first hand where people from their homelands landed in the U.S. Families could tour their regions to learn about the special places where different peoples first arrived to become Americans.

The Peopling of America idea was initiated by Hawaii Sen. Daniel Akaka 20 years ago but was never implemented. With heightened interest in genealogy and using DNA to trace ancestors, this would be another way to trace one’s personal roots.

The Peopling of America National Historic Landmarks would also be used to designate original settlements and paths that were followed by groups as they moved across the country. The Landmarks will describe the key events in the immigration and migration histories of these groups.

The Peopling of America program will provide a basis for the preservation and interpretation of the movements of groups that shaped the nation, including groups that arrived on the land before our nation existed. The process could also lead to more structures and places nominated to be added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Significant sites of First Peoples and the sites of both early and current tribal cultures would be marked. Trails leading westward such as the Mormon Trail, the Trail of Tears and the Santa Fe Trail could be designated for their role in the peopling of America. So too could the Underground Railroad which was followed by Southern slaves to free themselves in the North and the actual railroads that helped to move the population center of the U.S. westward.

Sites all along the Canadian and Mexican borders with the U.S could be marked as could ports and beaches throughout the U.S. and its territories.

By making Americans more aware that the places that mark our immigration and migration journeys are all around us, the National Museum of the American People will enhance our understanding of that central aspect of our nation’s uniqueness.

This blog is about the proposed National Museum of the American People which is about the making of the American People. The blog will be reporting regularly on a host of NMAP topics, American ethnic group histories, related museums, scholarship centered on the museum’s focus, relevant census and other demographic data, and pertinent political issues. The museum is a work in progress and we welcome thoughtful suggestions.

Sam Eskenazi, Director, Coalition for the National Museum of the American People

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#35: Genes Tell About Our Ancestors’ Past Wanderings Across Our Planet

The National Museum of the American People could explore having Museum visitors participate in a DNA contribution program that could enable researchers to trace that visitor’s ancestors.

Some commercial DNA programs have become well known in recent years, such as Ancestry, 23 and Me and Familytree.com, as more people search for their personal roots.

Of those, Ancestry.com uses the world’s largest consumer DNA data base and it has a tie-in to the genealogical data base of more than 3 billion persons operated by Family Search, an organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

Perhaps the Museum’s program tie in with the National Geographic Society’s Genographic Project. The results of that project could be immensely helpful to the Museum in telling its story. As National Geographic reported, for decades, the primary clues to the human story came from scattered bones and artifacts. Now, scientists have found a record of ancient human migrations in the DNA of living people.

While helping to tell the first chapter of the Museum’s story starting some 20,000 years ago with the first humans arriving in the Western Hemisphere, the information from these DNA studies will also tell the migration stories of the ancestors of those contributing the DNA.

The National Geographic’s Genographic Project uses advanced genetic and computational technologies to analyze historical patterns in DNA from participants around the world. Launched in 2005, the project’s goals are to gather and analyze research data in collaboration with indigenous and traditional peoples, and to educate the general public through participation in the project where they learn their own deep ancestry.

The DNA test is done from a swab of saliva from the donor’s mouth. The DNA found in that swab is then tested for nearly 300,000 identifiers, also known as “markers,” selected to provide ancestry-relevant information. The test measures the genetic markers passed down through the generations from mother to child. For men they also look at the markers passed down from father to son.

Everyone’s DNA is tested against 250,000 ancestry-markers from around the world to discover the regional affiliation of a person’s ancestry. While modern humans started some 200,000 years ago in Africa, they have spread around the globe following thousands of diverse branches. But each branch can be traced back to their origins in Africa.

For the National Museum of the American People, those stories will begin as humans begin flowing into the Western Hemisphere and begin to form tribal groups and civilizations throughout North and South America. The groups in the hemisphere remain isolated from peoples in the rest of the world for about 20 millennia until there is contact with peoples from Europe, Asia and Africa starting a little more than 500 years ago.

DNA research will continue to fill in the many blanks of our diverse past and present and will help tell who we are, where we came from and when it happened.

This blog is about the proposed National Museum of the American People which is about the making of the American People. The blog will be reporting regularly on a host of NMAP topics, American ethnic group histories, related museums, scholarship centered on the museum’s focus, relevant census and other demographic data, and pertinent political issues. The museum is a work in progress and we welcome thoughtful suggestions.

Sam Eskenazi, Director, Coalition for the National Museum of the American People

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#34: The NMAP’s National Genome/Genealogy Center Would Help Visitors Discover Their Ancestors

One of the proposed components of the National Museum of the American People would be a center where visitors could learn about their ancestors on two levels.

First, through genealogy they would be able to trace their immediate and direct ancestors through various records.

Second, visitors could contribute their DNA information to provide more general and distant information about a person’s past.  We’ll be talking about this in more detail in our next blog post.

For genealogy research, the Museum would partner with organizations throughout the nation and the world with extensive data bases to help those researching their families fill in the blanks of their ancestors’ lives.

The Family Search Center and Family History Library in Salt Lake City, operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is the best known of these entities. Containing the records of more than three billion deceased persons, this is the largest collection of its kind in the world. The Salt Lake City library attracts about 2,000 visitors a day. Holdings include census records, passenger and immigration lists at major U.S. ports, military records and state, county and town vital records. Some records go back to 1550.

Another significant source of data is the National Archives and Records Administration, which has military records going back to the Revolutionary War, Census data from 1790 through 1940, and a variety of documents, photos, recordings and other materials grouped by ethnicity. Researchers who visit there can discover ship manifests including the names of their ancestors who first arrived in the U.S. along with details about the ship, where it left from, and where and when it arrived.

State archives also include helpful information from state records, Native American records and pioneer information. The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation has a database of passenger records of those who arrived in New York City. The Library of Congress offers a wide variety of local history and genealogy reference services.

The best place to begin a genealogical chart is to put down what you know, and then to get information from parents, grandparents and great-grandparents or people still alive from their circle of friends and relatives. While most genealogy research is performed by individuals researching their own families, professionals can be hired to do a more detailed search and go farther back in time.

Some genealogists specialize in the heritage of particular ethnic groups, focus on a surname or are experts on a small community. Others focus on famous people and some seek to become part of a genealogical-based group whose ancestors, for example, played a role in the American Revolution, such as the Daughters of the American Revolution, or those who came here on the Mayflower.

The National Museum of the American People will incorporate a system that would allow visitors to print out their own genealogical information. All Americans take pride in their heritage whether it be from the early days of our nation or from their parents who emigrated here just in the last generation. The NMAP will assist them in their search for their American roots.

This blog is about the proposed National Museum of the American People which is about the making of the American People. The blog will be reporting regularly on a host of NMAP topics, American ethnic group histories, related museums, scholarship centered on the museum’s focus, relevant census and other demographic data, and pertinent political issues. The museum is a work in progress and we welcome thoughtful suggestions.

Sam Eskenazi, Director, Coalition for the National Museum of the American People

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#33: Play Ball!! Baseball Helped Generations of Immigrants Become Americans

2018 All Star Game in Washington, DC

The celebrated French American scholar Jacques Barzun wrote “Whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better learn baseball.”

What is it about this peculiarly American game that has appealed to generations of immigrants and victims of prejudice as a path to becoming American? The game is different from any others. For instance, there is no clock or time limit to determine when the game ends. As Yogi Berra famously said, “It’s not over until it’s over.”

While some parts of the ball field are prescribed, the field of play is different in just about every stadium. Boston has a giant green wall in a short left field dubbed the “green monster.” Kansas City has a large waterfall just beyond the center field fence. The Chicago Cubs have ivy growing on its brick outfield walls in the field of play. A home run over the right field fence in San Francisco will land in the Bay where fans in kayaks will go after it. Baltimore has a warehouse running the length of its right field which is a target for power hitters. Just about every major league team reflects its city’s personality or history in its stadium.

Baseball is known for its one-on-one confrontations between pitchers and batters which consumes most of the game. But once the batter hits the ball and runners are on base, the whole team becomes engaged in an impromptu ballet of teamwork. Perhaps it’s that combination of individualism and teamwork that makes the game so appealing to the American People.

In the early years of the 20th Century, when so many immigrants were crowded in bustling cities, the pristine green playing fields and the perfect dimensions of the baseball diamond were appealing counterpoints to their daily lives. And what other game has a 7th Inning break where everyone gets up, stretches, and sings Take Me Out to the Ballgame? And in what other sport does a fan get to keep a ball if it is hit into the stands?

Baseball is also considered the thinking person’s sport. As Berra described it, “Baseball is 90% mental. The other half is physical.”

“Baseball, it is said, is only a game,” said commentator George Will. “True. And the Grand Canyon is only a hole in Arizona. Not all holes, or games, are created equal.”

An exhibition by the Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia called Chasing Dreams: Baseball and Becoming American shows how Jews and other minority groups used baseball as a way to come together. At first white immigrant groups took up the game including Irish, German, Polish and Italian Americans as well as Jewish Americans who mostly came from central and eastern Europe. Later, African Americans, Latinos and Asians used baseball as part of their integration into American culture as well.

That exhibit also showed how the integration of baseball with Jackie Robinson helped lead the U.S. away from Jim Crow and into the Civil Rights movement. It showed Japanese Americans playing baseball even in internment camps during World War II. And it included the sheet music for Take Me Out to the Ballgame composed by a Polish Jewish immigrant.

Last year, about a quarter of the players on Major League rosters were foreign-born. Most came from the Dominican Republic (84), Venezuela (74), Cuba (17) and Mexico (11). But 17 other nations were also represented by at least one player in the major leagues.

Whether it is an afterschool pick-up game at a nearby park, a game at a family picnic, playing or coaching youth baseball or attending a Big League game over a season that last nine months from the beginning of Spring Training in February to the end of the World Series in October, it’s a special American Day to celebrate Opening Day every spring.

Exhibitions like Chasing Dreams could be a model for the types of travelling exhibitions that are undertaken by the National Museum of the American People.

 This blog is about the proposed National Museum of the American People which is about the making of the American People. The blog will be reporting regularly on a host of NMAP topics, American ethnic group histories, related museums, scholarship centered on the museum’s focus, relevant census and other demographic data, and pertinent political issues. The museum is a work in progress and we welcome thoughtful suggestions.

Sam Eskenazi, Director, Coalition for the National Museum of the American People

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# 32 – The Timeframe for Chronological Storytelling Exhibitions Can Range from a Day to Billions of Years

History museums that tell their story along a chronological path seem to capture their visitors’ engaged attention for longer periods of time than any other type of museum. Whether the subject is military history, astronomical history, natural history, Holocaust history, the history of a terrorist attack or the history of a people or a nation, audiences are mesmerized and become immersed in the story being told.

The time range for these histories vary wildly from a day to billions of years. The 9/11 Museum, for example, guides the visitor through one of the worst days in U.S. history from sunrise on a beautiful New York City morning through the devastating events of that day and it incorporates a memorial to its victims. At the other extreme, the Cosmic Pathway in the Rose Center at the American Museum of Natural History explores the history of the universe starting with the smallest particle imaginable and its incredible expansion over the first second of time through the current status of the universe today more than 13 billion years later.

Another exhibition at the AMNH in its Hall of Human Origins depicts the history of humans starting with our early ancestors some six million years ago to modern humans who made their appearance an estimated 150-200,000 years ago and spread throughout our planet. The National Museum of the American People picks up that story approximately 20,000 years ago when the first modern humans are believed to have come to the Western Hemisphere.

The NMAP will tell its story along four chronological paths telling about all of the ethnic, nationality and racial groups coming to this land and nation:

  1. The first chapter is from the first peoples in the Western Hemisphere to the first permanent settlement in what became the United States at Jamestown, VA in 1607 and includes first contact between natives and Europeans.
  1. The Museum’s second chapter from 1607 to 1820 depicts Western Europeans coming, slavery, establishment of the nation and its westward expansion via the Louisiana Purchase taking in new peoples.
  1. The third chapter from 1820 to 1924 covers the nation’s major century of expansion to the Pacific including Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. The nation becomes the destination for millions of immigrants from throughout Europe and Asia and incorporates Hispanic lands in the Southwest.
  1. The final chapter takes us from 1924 through today focusing on refugees and immigrants arriving in the U.S. from every part of the world.

Other American chronological history museums focus on other events or peoples that the National Museum of the American People will also explore. The Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia takes place along a 29-year path starting with the roots of the revolution from 1760 to 1776, the war until its end at Yorktown in 1781, and the struggle to create a lasting government based on principles of democracy, freedom and liberty that culminates with the U.S. Constitution in 1789.

The National Museum of African American History and Culture tells its story over a 500-year path starting with the beginning of slavery by Europeans in Africa in the 1500s through slavery, Jim Crow and the civil rights movement to achievements of African Americans through today.

While the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History doesn’t have a central chronological exhibition depicting American history, it recently announced plans to open a permanent Latino exhibition space in 2021 where it would tell the story of Hispanic and Latino history in the United States. The NMAP will also be telling these stories through all four of its chapters in the context of all Americans coming or being incorporated into the United States.

The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum was one of the first major American museums to devote a permanent exhibition telling a story along a path for visitors. Its story is along a 14-year history of the Holocaust from 1932 until its end in 1945 and includes the American connection to those events.

When the Holocaust Museum was built, studies showed that the average visit to museums, whether an art, history or science museum, lasted about an hour and a half. The USHMM found that the average visit through its permanent exhibition was three hours and many visitors spent five hours going through its story. The National Museum of African American History and Culture which is less than three years old has also found that many visitors need well over three hours to explore its permanent exhibition.

The National Museum of the American People also expects visitors to become immersed in its story about the making of the American People. For all Americans, it is their story.

This blog is about the proposed National Museum of the American People which is about the making of the American People. The blog will be reporting regularly on a host of NMAP topics, American ethnic group histories, related museums, scholarship centered on the museum’s focus, relevant census and other demographic data, and pertinent political issues. The museum is a work in progress and we welcome thoughtful suggestions.

Sam Eskenazi, Director, Coalition for the National Museum of the American People

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#31: In the 21st Century Immigration Has Become a Major Issue in the US and the World

As the 21st Century dawned, the U.S. was attacked by foreign terrorists in New York and Washington using hijacked aircraft as weapons. Wars in the Middle East in response to those attacks led to a refugee crisis that has engulfed much of Europe. In the U.S., a crisis has been building on our southern border for an even longer period. There has been a steady focus on immigration over the last two decades.

The National Museum of the American People will be monitoring and marking events such as these, and events we don’t now anticipate, in future years as each move has a role in defining the American People.

In the wake of the 9/11 attack the U.S. passed the Patriot Act that broadened terrorism-related criteria for deportation and broadened inadmissibility rules for noncitizens. In addition it established a foreign student monitoring program.

A year later the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act streamlined electronic border control systems for those entering and leaving the country. In 2002 the Department of Homeland Security was created and established three new agencies to monitor and protect our borders: the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 added more reasons to not admit and to deport noncitizens and increased penalties for alien smuggling. The Border Protection, Anti-terrorism and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005 criminalized violations of federal immigration law.

In 2006 the Senate passed a comprehensive immigration reform bill but the House refused to consider it. The issue of immigration reform has been simmering since then. But Congress did enact the Secure Fence Act that called for more than 700 miles of reinforced fence to be built along the Mexican border in places where there had been a high level of drug trafficking and illegal immigration. In 2006, 6,000 National Guard troops were sent to the Mexican border to assist Border Patrol agents.

After Congress failed to pass an immigration reform bill in 2012, President Obama announced the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy to allow those entering the U.S. before the age of 16 to apply for a work permit and two-year protection against deportation. In 2014 President Obama took executive action to delay the deportation of 5 million undocumented immigrants after meeting various conditions and he broadened the DACA program.

In 2017, as one of his first acts in office, President Trump moved to impose new restrictions on immigration from several Muslim-majority countries in conflict regions. Starting in 2018, and continuing today, the President’s effort to build a significant border wall along the Mexican border has emerged as a major national issue.

When the National Museum of the American People opens it will mark all of our nation’s significant actions to determine who the American People are … and who they will be.

This blog is about the proposed National Museum of the American People which is about the making of the American People. The blog will be reporting regularly on a host of NMAP topics, American ethnic group histories, related museums, scholarship centered on the museum’s focus, relevant census and other demographic data, and pertinent political issues. The museum is a work in progress and we welcome thoughtful suggestions.

Sam Eskenazi, Director, Coalition for the National Museum of the American People

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#30: Irish Americans Are the 3rd Largest Ethnic Group in the US

Irish Americans comprise a little more than 10 percent of the U.S. population and are the third largest ethnic group in the nation, and on St. Patrick’s Day it sometimes seems that half the nation makes a point of wearing something green to become Irish for the day.

At the National Museum of the American People the history of Irish Americans immigrating here and what they accomplished is one of the major stories that will be told.

More than 95 percent of the earliest immigrants from Ireland were Scots-Irish, essentially Scottish peoples who migrated to Northern Ireland before coming to America between 1717 and 1775. Their story will also be told in the Museum.

The first Irish Catholics to come in the 18th Century settled in Maryland and Pennsylvania. Later the Irish Famine of the 1840’s led to a much larger surge of Irish Catholics immigrating to the United States. They primarily settled in Northeast and Midwest port cities including Boston, Philadelphia, New York, Buffalo, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Detroit, Cleveland and St. Louis.

In the early part of the 19th Century Irish immigrants were among the largest participants on large scale infrastructure projects including canals and railroads. They moved west as those projects extended the U.S. reach in that direction.

While there were about 50,000 Irish immigrants in the 1820s and 207,000 in the 1830s, about 1.7 million came during the 1840s and 1850s. Another 1.9 million arrived over the rest of the 19th Century. Fewer than 1 million came during the 20th Century.

During the Civil War some 38 Union regiments had the word “Irish” in their title.

By 1910 there were more people of Irish ancestry in New York City than in Dublin. In the 2010 Census there were 35.5 million Irish in America ranking behind only German Americans and African Americans as the largest ethnic groups in the nation.

The National Museum of the American People will embrace the immigration and migration stories of all Americans, including the Irish and Scots-Irish who have come to our shores.

We wish a Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all of those who celebrate it.

This blog is about the proposed National Museum of the American People which is about the making of the American People. The blog will be reporting regularly on a host of NMAP topics, American ethnic group histories, related museums, scholarship centered on the museum’s focus, relevant census and other demographic data, and pertinent political issues. The museum is a work in progress and we welcome thoughtful suggestions.

Sam Eskenazi, Director, Coalition for the National Museum of the American People