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#43: Latina Women’s Story Will Be Incorporated Into National Museum of the American People

The National Museum of the American People, in telling the story about the making of the American people, will incorporate the story of Hispanic and Latino Americans migrating and immigrating to the U.S. as well as those already on this land when taken over by the U.S.

The 2020 Census found that approximately 19 percent of the U.S. population is comprised of Hispanic or Latino Americans. The Latino population has grown considerably since 1960 when that population was fewer than 6 million, or merely 3.24 percent of the population. Latinos have and will continue to exert an enormous impact on social, cultural, political and economic life in the U.S.

Apart from First Peoples, every American, even if they were born in the U.S., can trace their lineage back to a different part of the world, some more recently than others. The 2020 Census reports that 13.7 percent of the U.S. population was born in another country. My mother and sister are part of that 13.7 percent; I am the first in my family to be born in the U.S. I am proud to be a first-generation Mexican American.

My mom and sister are part of the 25 percent of foreign-born immigrants from Mexico, the largest birthplace of origin for immigrants in the U.S., according to the Pew Research Center. Growing up in an immigrant household, I failed to see my culture and family’s migration story represented in education, pop culture and other areas of American life. To assimilate into the U.S., Latinos should not have to sacrifice any aspect of our culture, and what makes us great as Americans. My mom, sister, and I are strong women who are proud of our heritage, and there are many other Latinas who have paved the way for us to live empowered lives in the U.S.

Image: Josue Ladoo Pelegrin, Unsplash

Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination to the Supreme Court in 2009 gave me the first semblance of hope that I could contribute to my country, honor my ancestors, and find my place in the world. The child of Puerto Rican immigrants, Sotomayor was the first Latina to be confirmed to serve on the Supreme Court. Despite warnings of scrutiny at her confirmation, Sotomayor donned fire-engine red nails and semi-hoop earrings: a symbol of Latina adulthood and pride. Sotomayor’s refusal to sacrifice any aspect of her Latina identity on the bench is inspiring, and reminds Latinas like myself to show up unapologetically everyday. On my first day working at the Department of the Interior last year, I donned fire-engine-red nails – a reminder of those who came before me and to always “echarle ganas” – to always give my best effort in all my endeavors no matter what.

Accurately representing Latino history and culture in popular American spaces like museums matters. Therefore, a museum that will tell the story of all Americans, like the National Museum of the American People, is necessary. The National Museum of the American People will objectively tell the story of Latino immigrants, including Latinas, in all four chapters of the museum’s main exhibit. This museum will foster a sense of belonging to the U.S. by sharing the history of the mosaic of people that have come here and contribute to our national identity, like myself and my family.
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Sofia Casamassa is graduating from American University this Spring.

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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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#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

 

 

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#26: 19 US Organizations Focused on Refugees, Immigrants and Immigration Reform Support NMAP

President George Washington and most of the founders of the United States envisioned the new nation as a haven for those escaping religious persecution and other forms of oppression in their homelands. In that vision they laid the seeds for America becoming the leading nation of the world economically, militarily, scientifically and culturally.

Today as the US and the world struggles with immigration and immigration issues, it is important to remember the history and impact of our nation opening – and closing — its doors to refugees, asylum seekers and immigrants from the nation’s founding through today. Future blogs will deal with immigration laws that affected the story about the making of the American people.

In recalling that history, the National Museum of the American People is proud to have the support of a broad range of organizations that focus on refugees, immigrants and immigration reform. They include:

In telling the story about the making of the American People the National Museum of the American People will be a home for all of these organizations and a beacon for the nation.

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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#25: NMAP Will Be Home to the Center For the Advanced Study of the American People

When the National Museum of the American People is built, one of its central components will be a Center for the Advanced Study of the American People. It is envisioned as a major scholarly institution associated with the Museum.

The Center would consist of a core group of eminent scholars that focus on a broad range of facets relating to the history of the making of the American People from first humans in the Western Hemisphere through today.

In addition to in-house scholars we anticipate that major scholars, university programs and research institutions across the nation and the world will also be affiliated with the Center’s efforts to research all aspects of the history of the American People. It would also sponsor a scholars-in-residence program.

In addition to conducting and supporting research, the Center could publish a scholarly journal and relevant articles. It will sponsor seminars, conferences, workshops, courses and lectures to advance knowledge in this field.

A grant program operated by the Center would support scholarly research programs across the nation. In addition, the Center will serve as a liaison with researchers in other nations exploring some element of the story about the making of the American People.

Other scholarly pursuits would include the collection and review of archival materials worldwide. A logical project for the Museum would be the publication of an online Encyclopedia of the American People that would include exhaustive information available to anyone wishing to access it. This publication could take the form of an update of the Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups that was published in 1980.

The Center will also coordinate with and support other elements of the Museum, including the curators of the permanent, special and traveling exhibitions, the genealogical center, the archive and library, the education resource center, the film center and the public programs department.

We will be discussing other components of the National Museum of the American People in future blogs.

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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#23: 2010 Census Provides In-Depth Snapshot of US Diversity

While a map of the US showing the largest ethnic group of each county in the nation provides a broad brush view of our nation’s diversity, using actual census numbers provides a deeper window into our nation’s diversity.

Based on the 2010 Census, four groups, German American, African American, Irish American and Mexican American constitute about half of the nation’s population.

Adding English American, Italian American, Polish American, French American and those who simply say American, you get to about 75 percent of Americans. Some respondents selected more than one ancestry group or race.

Here are 33 of the largest ethnic groups based on the 2010 Census. Alaskan Native and Native Hawaiian are combined here with American Indians. The total population of the US in 2010 was 308.7 million. The National Museum of the American People expects to use the 2020 Census in bringing the story of the making of the American People up to the present.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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#22: Happy Presidents’ Day Weekend!

  1. George Washington — Can trace his family’s presence in North America from his great-grandfather John Washington who migrated from England to Virginia in 1694.
  2. John Adams — Born in Massachusetts in 1792, John Adams was a 4th-generation descendant of Henry Adams who immigrated from England to Massachusetts Bay Colony about 1636.
  3. Thomas Jefferson — His ancestor came from Wales to Virginia.
  4. James Madison — His paternal family line is of English descent.
  5. James Monroe — His paternal great-grandfather immigrated to America from Scotland in the mid-17th century.
  6. John Quincy Adams — Like his father John, he is a descendant of Henry Adams.
  7. Andrew Jackson — His genealogy shows that he descended from Richard Jackson (1505-1562) from England.
  8. Martin Van Buren — His ancestry was Dutch.
  9. William Henry Harrison — The Harrison family line comes from England.
  10. John Tyler — The Tyler family came to American from England.
  11. James K. Polk — Robert Pollock in 1659 emigrated from Ireland to Maryland accompanied by his wife and children. “Polk” was derived from Pollock.
  12. Zachary Taylor — He was a descendant of King Edward I of England, as well as Mayflower passengers Isaac Allerton and William Brewster.
  13. Millard Fillmore — His maternal side migrated to the United States from England in the early 17th century.
  14. Franklin Pierce — Thomas Pierce, an ancestor of the family, migrated from England to the US in the 17th century.
  15. James Buchanan — The Buchanans were Scotch-Irish; in 1783, James, Sr., emigrated from Ireland.
  16. Abraham Lincoln — The Lincoln family came to the United States in the 17th century from England.
  17. Andrew Johnson — His paternal side of the family descended from England.
  18. Ulysses S. Grant — Grant has English, Scottish and Irish lineage.
  19. Rutherford B. Hayes — Hayes is of English and Scottish descent.
  20. James A. Garfield — Garfield was born of English ancestry.
  21. Chester A. Arthur — His father was Scotch-Irish and his mother was of English and Welsh descent.
  22. Grover Cleveland — He is a descendant of ancestors from England.
  23. Benjamin Harrison — The Harrisons originate from England.  
  24. Grover Cleveland (See 22)
  25. William McKinley — The McKinleys were of English and Scots-Irish descent.
  26. Theodore Roosevelt — The Roosevelts were all descendants of Claes van Roosevelt, who was a part of the original Dutch immigrants who settled in New Amsterdam in the 1640’s.
  27. William Howard Taft — The first known ancestor of Taft came from Ireland and he also has some English lineage.
  28. Woodrow Wilson — Woodrow Wilson was the son of an immigrant mother from England, and the grandson of immigrant grandparents from Ireland and Scotland.
  29. Warren G. Harding — In the 17th century Warren G. Harding’s paternal side descended from England.
  30. Calvin Coolidge — The Coolidge family migrated to the United States in the 17th century from England.
  31. Herbert Hoover — Hoover (the family’s original name was Huber) was of German-Swiss and English ancestry on his father’s side and of Irish-Canadian ancestry on his mother’s side.
  32. Franklin D. Roosevelt — Franklin D. Roosevelt’s family history dates back to Claes van Roosevelt, the Dutch immigrant who brought the Roosevelts to New York City in the early 1600s.
  33. Harry S. Truman — His ancestry was predominantly English, with a few German, French and Scottish lines.
  34. Dwight D. Eisenhower — The Eisenhower family migrated to the United States from Germany.
  35. John F. Kennedy — The Fitzgerald family was from western Ireland. Between 1846 and 1855, they migrated to America to escape the devastating potato famine. JFK was the first Irish-Catholic President.
  36. Lyndon B. Johnson — Johnson was of English, German and Ulster Scots ancestry.
  37. Richard Nixon — The Nixon family immigrated to the United States from northern England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
  38. Gerald Ford — Ford is a descendant of Philip King, who emigrated from England to Philadelphia around 1730.
  39. Jimmy Carter — Thomas Carter, Sr. in 1637, came from England to Virginia.
  40.  Ronald Reagan — He was 50 percent Irish, 25 percent Scottish and 25 percent English.
  41. George H. W. Bush — The Bush family is primarily of English and German descent. The Bush family traces its European origin to the 17th century.
  42. Bill Clinton — Clinton has Irish ancestry from both parents and traces of PresidentEnglish, German and Ulster Scots ancestry.
  43. George W. Bush — (The same as 41).
  44. Barack Obama — Obama’s father was from Kenya and a member of Kenya’s Luo ethnic group. Obama’s mother is of Irish and English decent.
  45. Donald Trump — On October 7, 1885, Friedrich Trump, a 16-year-old German, bought a one-way ticket to America.

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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#21: The NMAP Will Project the History of Our Nation’s Diversity from First Humans Through Today

“Our diversity,” according to Michelle Obama, “has been – and will always be – our greatest source of strength and pride here in the United States.”

What is now the United States has been diverse for more than 10 millennia. From the many tribal groups prior to first significant European contact to the migrations of different peoples here from all parts of Europe, Asia, Africa (predominantly as slaves at the beginning) our land and nation has always been a cauldron of diversity.

When the United States was instituted in 1789, its diversity was recognized by our founders. They opened the nation’s doors to the people of the world fleeing oppression. The map above demonstrates the modern face of that diversity. It shows the leading ethnic group of every county in the United States based on the 2000 Census.

The light blue color spreading from Pennsylvania across the Midwest to the Pacific shows German American dominance. It is the largest ethnic group in the nation. The pink color stretching across the nation’s southern border with segments running up though California and other Western states is, not surprisingly, Mexican American. In the Southeast and scattered large metropolitan counties, the dark purple color represents African Americans.

The light yellow color that runs through Appalachia and into the South are people who define themselves as “American.” This group is the only major group that doesn’t recognize an ancestry related to another area of the World or another epoch. Their ancestors are believed to have come primarily from England, Scotland, Ireland and Germany, generally during the 1600s and 1700s and totally intermingled so that when they are asked on a Census form 200 years later about their ancestry this is their correct answer. For them, America was a melting pot. This group, comprising about 10 percent of Americans, is the only group that doesn’t have a descriptive before or after their American identity

Looking at the map, you see that the other 94 percent of Americans, however, do recognize their ancestry. Up in New England you see English heritage as you might expect. But if you take your finger from there across the Mormon Trail you’ll see that Mormon Country in and around Utah is predominantly English heritage as well.

The golden color scattered about in Western states are counties where native Americans predominate on reservations. There are people with French heritage mostly in upper Maine and around New Orleans. And Irish and Italian Americans dominate in Boston and New York City and down though Long Island and New Jersey. Scandinavian and Dutch enclaves are scattered along the northern tier of the nation.

Cubans Americans are the leading group in South Florida and Japanese Americans hold sway in Hawaii. While Puerto Rico has its own color, that same color is growing in Central Florida.

This map, by just showing the leading ethnic group of every county in the nation, still only skims over the layers of diversity throughout the nation. In many cases the leading ethnic group of a county may be a small plurality of the county as a whole. Our large cities and metropolitan areas are stewpots of diversity where people whose ancestors came from everywhere on Earth mix and matchup in combinations to make new Americans combining gene pools from around the World.

While this map is a snapshot in time, the story of the making of the American People in all of our diversity has been dynamic over time. That’s the story that the National Museum of the American People will tell.

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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#19: The National Museum of the American People Can Play an Instrumental Role in Our Foreign Relations


The National Museum of the American People can be expected to have an impact on our nation’s relationship with countries around the globe.

At the opening ceremony for the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1993, leaders of a dozen nations plus the President of the United States were in attendance. Since then, leaders of 100 countries and 3,500 foreign officials representing 132 countries have visited that museum.

That museum also established strong ties to Poland, Russian and other eastern and central European nations to obtain artifacts and access to archives. It similarly established a collegial relationship with Israel’s national Holocaust Museum, Yad Vashem.

The USHMM is just one example of how a center for education and learning in our nation’s capital helps to improve our relationships abroad. The National Museum of the American People will be another important example.

THE NMAP will tell the stories of peoples coming here from every corner of Earth, most of whom had a continental sense of their forbearers and a nationality before becoming Americans.

The ties to those nationalities will be examined and mined by the NMAP to help tell the Museum’s many stories, to obtain artifacts relating to that connection, and to foster relationships between the Museum and nations throughout the world that provided the migrants who became Americans.

The Museum will help answer the question: What exactly is an American? President Reagan said: “America represents something universal in the human spirit. I received a letter not long ago from a man who said, ‘You can go to Japan to live, but you cannot become Japanese. You can go to France to live and not become a Frenchman. You can go to live in Germany or Turkey, and you won’t become a German or a Turk.’ But then he added, ‘Anybody from any corner of the world can come to America to live and become an American.’”

The unique nature of Americans representing every race, creed and nationality around the world will be highlighted by the Museum and will help bind Americans together as it faces global challenges.

By making visitors more aware of their own heritage, the Museum can spur Americans to travel to their ancestral homelands. Foreign visitors will certainly visit to learn how emigrants from their lands and nations came and became Americans and contributed to this nation’s role as a world leader.

At the opening of the National Museum of the American People a virtual United Nations of heads of state could be in attendance to help celebrate that special relationship this nation has with every other nation. As the Museum contributes to the democratization of our society it can also serve as a beacon to nations across the world that have increasingly diverse societies.

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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#15: Banneker Overlook Is Favored Site For National Museum of the American People


The gathering of peoples from throughout the world is the essential and ongoing American story. Yet there is little in our nation’s capital that tells the full story about all of the peoples that came to make this nation. This has left a monumental void in the midst of our capital that needs to be filled.

The favored site for the National Museum of the American People is the Banneker Overlook site. It is an eight-acre slope at the end of L’Enfant Promenade, an extension of 10th Street, S.W. The site is on a direct axis with the iconic Smithsonian’s Castle Building and reaches down to Maine Avenue and the Washington, D.C. waterfront along Washington Channel, an inlet of the Potomac River. It is adjacent to I-395.

The site is a short walk from the L’Enfant Metro stop. It is the only Metro stop that serves 5 of the system’s 6 lines. Washington’s Spy Museum is relocating to L’Enfant Promenade. There would be auto and bus access and parking nearby.

The large site affords an opportunity for the design of an architecturally significant building along with an inviting landscape. It is already one of the major sites in Washington designated as a location for a future national museum by three federal agencies that oversee the capital and the look it presents to the world — the National Park Service, National Capital Planning Commission and U.S. Commission on Fine Arts. The Overlook site is now under NPS jurisdiction.

The site also sits at the nexus of a major municipal effort to invigorate the DC waterfront area adjacent to the city’s bustling fish market. Across Maine Avenue from the museum site is the Southwest Waterfront project which opened in 2017 and includes condos, shops, restaurants, a river walk and other amenities to draw visitors from the Mall to the waterfront.

While the Banneker site is already joined to Washington’s core tourist area by a roadway and pedestrian walkway across I-395, there could be an effort to build a lid over the freeway to offer a stronger connection to these two sides of Washington. Such a lid could incorporate a park and sculpture garden to reflect the themes of the Museum. The proximity to the waterfront would also be used to extend the Museum’s exhibition reach to a pier where boats — actual and replicas — used for the migration and immigration to the U.S. are moored for visitors to explore.

While the Arena Stage theater anchors Maine Avenue at one end, this museum could anchor the redesigned waterfront at the other end. The Museum’s international food court and plaza, with a mix of restaurants and a gift shop along Maine Avenue, could remain open after museum hours and help to stimulate nighttime street life.

The site could include provisions for landscaping that could include major water features and flora to enhance the beauty of the Museum building and its property. It could also include works of commissioned art relating to the subject matter of the Museum.

Legislation would be required to transfer the Banneker Overlook site to the National Museum of the American People. The Museum at this site would present the opportunity to create a unique and lasting addition to our capital that tells our American story in an unforgettable manner.

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