November 14, 2012
The leaders of 83 national organizations representing 48 diverse American ethnic and minority groups today called on President Obama to create a presidential commission to study establishment of the National Museum of the American People.
"The museum has bipartisan support in Congress," they said, "and we believe that the creation of the commission will serve as an act of reconciliation in the wake of the election."
The museum will encompass the story of every American ethnic and cultural group from the first peoples here and those who came from every corner of the world through today. Nowhere is there a museum devoted to telling this full story about the making of the American People.
The ethnic group leaders told the President that the museum "can become a lasting cultural legacy for you and your administration."
As the President said in his first inaugural address, "We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth ...."
The group leaders signing the letter represent peoples who originally came here from European, African, Hispanic, Asian and Middle Eastern lands as well as Native Americans.
The letter says that the museum will tell "who 'We the People' are and where we came from. It will tell when, how and why we came to this land and nation, what each of our groups encountered and how each of us transformed our nation."
Rep. Jim Moran, D-VA, who introduced a bipartisan resolution in the House last year calling on the President to create a museum study commission, said "the full narrative - who we are as a nation and the many vibrant ethnicities that make up the fabric of the American experience - remains incomplete. This story about the making of the American people - all the people - needs to be told in our nation's capital."
Recognizing the current fiscal climate, the Coalition of the National Museum of the American People backing this effort is not seeking federal funding to plan, build or operate the museum.
"The story of the making of the American People will be presented in a dramatic, interactive documentary format," said Sam Eskenazi, director of the coalition. "The stories of peoples crossing oceans and continents to start new lives are dramatic and compelling. The museum will leave an indelible impression of knowledge and understanding on visitors as they engage with and come to know the full story of the making of the American People."
The permanent exhibition will be developed and vetted by teams of eminent scholars and its story will be told with force and clarity.
Eskenazi said that "the United States was built by peoples from every land, and these people made this nation the world's economic, military, scientific and cultural leader. Our nation serves as a beacon for people throughout the world seeking freedom and opportunity."
The museum's story could be told in four chapters: The First Peoples: Prehistoric period-1607; The Nation Takes Form: 1607-1820; The Great In–Gathering: 1820-1924; And Still They Come: 1924-present.
"The National Museum of the American People will be at the intersection of every American group's memory and the history of our nation," Eskenazi said. "The theme of the museum is embodied by our nation's original national motto: E Pluribus Unum, from many we are one."
He said that "both U.S. neighbors, Canada and Mexico, have major national museums in their capitals telling the story of their peoples and they're the most visited museums in those nations. American visitors will come to learn about their own stories and will learn about all of the others and foreign visitors will come to learn about how people from their countries made our nation what it is and will better understand our incredible diversity. The museum will be a destination for every school group visiting Washington and it would foster learning nationwide."
The museum could have a variety of components including a national genealogical center, a Center for the Study of the American People, archival and artifact collections, a film center, an education center, and sponsor a variety of museum programs as well as travelling and special exhibitions. It could also be expected to assist state, local and ethnic museums throughout the nation.
Most recent major museums in Washington have started off with a federal commission to study their feasibility. Following a final report by the commission to the President and Congress, the goal will be to have Congress create an entity charged with building the museum and raising all of the money required to build it.
Read the Letter to President Obama.