Migration – Bringing All Americans Together!

March 19, 2022

#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.

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.

April 8, 2019September 12, 2019

#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

April 4, 2019September 12, 2019

#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.

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

March 14, 2019September 12, 2019

#29: After 1924 US Doors Closed, Then Opened; Today Immigration Laws Are on America’s Front Burner

In our last few posts we’ve talked about immigration laws before the modern era. This blog discusses immigration laws over most of the 20^th Century that have shaped the country we are now. During this period, coinciding with the 4^th chapter of the National Museum of the American People’s story, the doors to the United States were all but closed to overseas immigrants in 1924, though the Indian Citizenship Act of that year granted U.S. citizenship to American Indians.

In 1929 as the Great Depression set in, Congress tightened overseas immigration even more by cutting the number of immigrants allowed annually to 150,000. It also linked a 2% nationality quota to the 1920 Census, limiting immigrants from eastern and southern Europe even more than at the end of the Museum’s 3^rd Chapter.

Even without these harsher immigration laws, the Great Depression in the 1930s was slowing immigration to a trickle. During the deepest years of the Depression there were more people leaving the United States than entering it.

The political leanings of immigrants became an issue in the 1940s and 1950s. In 1940 the Alien Registration Act required all immigrants above age 13 to register with the government and be be fingerprinted, while it banned “subversives” from immigrating at all. The 1950 Internal Security Act allowed the U.S. to deport immigrants who were ever members of the Communist Party.

During World War II, the U.S. faced a shortage of farm workers and the so called Bracero Program was instituted in 1942 allowing Mexican manual laborers into the U.S. to work on farms. Over the following 22 years, about 5 million Mexican workers participated in the program.

Also during World War II the Chinese Exclusion Act was repealed though the annual quota was only 105 and in 1946 the repeal was extended to cover Filipinos and Indians.

In the immediate aftermath of the war, the War Brides Act was enacted in 1945 to allow alien spouses, natural children and adopted children of members of the Armed Forces to become citzens. More than 100,000 entered the U.S. via this route.

The war also led to a massive worldwide increase of refugees and the U.S. passed the Displaced Persons Act in 1948 allowing up to 200,000 refugees into the country. In 1952 the Immigration and Nationality Act consolidated earlier laws and eliminated race as a basis for exclusion. However the quota system remained in place and immigration remained at low levels.

The Immigration Act of 1965 changed all that. While annual immigration from overseas was limited to 170,000 with a maximum of 20,000 from any one country, and immigration from the Western Hemisphere was limited to 120,000, a preference system was established for family members of U.S. citizens and immigrants with special skills. Those two features had no numerical restrictions and led to a major increase in immigrants over subsequent decades.

Special laws were enacted to facilitate refugees from Cuba (1966) and then Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos (1975-76). In 1980 the Refugee Act was adopted to facilitate a variety of refugee issues around the world. Those fleeing their country on account of race, religion, nationality or politics were made a different category of immigrants and increased the number of people who could be admitted to the United States under this category.

A 1986 Immigration Reform Act gave those who entered the U.S. before 1982 a path to citizenship provided that they met a list of criteria. It also legalized certain seasonal agricultural undocumented immigrants, and made it illegal to knowingly hire or recruit undocumented immigrants.

Four years later, the Immigration Act of 1990 set an annual ceiling of 700,000 immigrants for three years and 675,000 after that. As the number of undocumented immigrants swelled during the 1990s, the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 allowed deportation of immigrants for a wider range of crimes and applied the law retroactively. The number of Border Patrol agents was also increased.

Over the last two decades immigration has remained a major national political issue. The National Museum of the American People will be continuously updated to bring the story of the making of the American People up to date. In a future blog we will discuss immigration issues that have emerged in the 21^st Century.

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

March 7, 2019September 12, 2019

#27: Immigration Laws Between 1607 and 1820

As visitors walk through the story of the making of the American People, they will encounter unique markers along their chronological path that will touch upon laws made in national capitals — London, Philadelphia, New York, Washington, DC — or in individual colonial and then state capitals that affected who could be a citizen and how they would be eligible to become one.

While there are no such markers in the Museum’s first chapter up to 1607, laws passed in the British Parliament affected their colonial outposts starting in the 1600s. English persons and their children in the colonies were considered subjects of the king. It generally took an individual act of Parliament for a non-English person to be a subject and even that exception was strictly limited to Protestants.

In the meantime colonialists were pushing for more open paths to bring people to the colonies and to promote settlement in them. The Plantation Act of 1740 made it easier for aliens to apply for naturalization within their colonies, but that was still limited to Protestants with some exceptions for Quakers and Jews. New York, Georgia and Rhode Island made it a matter of policy to grant rights to Jewish applicants and those are the colonies where Jews settled in the largest numbers.

Several colonies issued their own naturalization policies until Parliament cracked down on that practice in 1773. Pennsylvania led the way in opening its doors to aliens.

In our Declaration of Independence in 1776 one of the specific complaints listed against King George was that “He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.”

After the Revolutionary War, the Articles of Confederation in 1781 allowed each colony to pass its own naturalization laws with the understanding that all of the colonies would accept persons so naturalized. Those laws generally required an affirmation of allegiance to an authority and a period of physical residence prior to obtaining the right of citizenship.

The Confederation was superseded by the Constitution in 1789 which provided a stronger central government for the United States. Article 1, section 8, gave Congress the authority “To establish a uniform Rule of Naturalization” to cover the new nation.

The first naturalization law was passed in 1790. It limited naturalization to immigrants who were residents for two years and free white persons of good character thus excluding Native Americans, indentured servants, slaves, free blacks and later Asians. It also provided for citizenship for the children of U.S. citizens born abroad.

Five years later the law was changed to extend the residency period to five years for white persons of good moral character and to pledge allegiance to the Constitution of the United States. In 1798 the residency requirement was extended to 14 years, but that was repealed four years later.

The next major changes to the definition of new citizenship came in the wake of the Civil War. We will explore that period in the next blog which covers immigration laws during the National Museum of the American People’s third chapter from 1820 to 1924.

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

February 14, 2019September 12, 2019

#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.

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

January 24, 2019February 13, 2019

#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.

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

January 21, 2019February 13, 2019

#14: Celebrating the African American Museum On Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

Martin Luther King Jr. Coming into Montgomery (Collection of the SI NMAAHC)

The National Museum of African American History and Culture is one of the greatest story-telling museums in the world; the proposed National Museum of the American People will do well to emulate it.

The NMAAHC depicts the 500 year struggle of African Americans beginning with their enslavement first in Europe and then soon after in the Western Hemisphere. A century later when the first permanent European colony in what is now the Untied States was established by the English at Jamestown in 1607, the first slaves followed 12 years in 1619.

The African American Museum carries that history of enslavement forward through the Civil War, a brief post-war period of reconstruction followed by the imposition of segregation for another century until the Civil Rights Movement go underway in the 1950s and continues through the early years of the 21^st Century.

Martin Luther King, Jr., who we celebrate today, is a central figure in this segment of the story.

The NMAAHC begins its story after carrying visitors three stories below ground level and proceeds with its narrative as visitors wind upward through the difficult history of African Americans emerging into a space of contemplation before arriving again at ground level. From there, visitors are ready to explore the broad and deep accomplishments of African Americans on the Museum’s upper floors.

The story of African Americans, told so poignantly in the NMAAHC, will also be told in the National Museum of the American People in the context of the story of the making of all Americans. That segment of the story will be the same in both museums.

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

January 10, 2019February 13, 2019

#11: NMAP Has Broad Support From Organizations Representing All Americans

The 248 ethnic organizations (and counting) that have signed on to support the National Museum of the American People all want one thing: they want their stories told about how and when and why they came to this land and nation and became Americans. And they want them told in a major national museum near the center of our nation’s capital.

The will tell the story of the making of the American People starting with the first humans in the Western Hemisphere and continuing through today. The organizations that have signed on represent 73 different ethnic/nationality/minority groups that together represent virtually every sizable group in the nation, well over 95 percent of all Americans. The museum will embody our original national motto – E Pluribus Unum (From Many, One).

The museum will tell all of our stories through four chapters of the museum’s permanent exhibition:

1) First Peoples Come (15-20,000 years ago to 1607;

2) The Nation Takes Form (1607-1820);

3) The Great In-gathering (1820-1924); and

4) And Still They Come (1924-Today).

Of the 248 organizations backing the museum, there are 135 representing groups whose ancestors came from every part of Europe, 37 who came from throughout Asia and the Pacific Islands, 36 from the Americas, including 14 Native American organizations, 18 from Africa and a variety of others from throughout the world.

Italian, Scandinavian and Scottish Americans each have 10 organizations backing the museum; Irish, Russian and Polish Americans each have 9 organizations signed on; and there are 8 German, 7 Jewish and 6 Baltic American organizations. All of the organizations are listed on the museum’s web site.* Generally, people who put down “American” on the Census form have ancestors who came from England, Scotland, Ireland and Germany during the 17 and 18^th centuries. They and their descendants thoroughly intermingled and 200 years later they describe their ethnicity as American.

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

January 7, 2019February 13, 2019

#10: Would the NMAP be Part of the Smithsonian … or Not?

Museums in Washington, DC fall under three forms of governance:

Part of the public Smithsonian system
Public but independent of the Smithsonian
Private

The National Museum of the American People could be governed in any of these ways … or in a new way.

The Smithsonian Institution, with ## museums and other facilities in and around Washington and other facilities elsewhere, is obviously the dominant model in this region. Two of its newest museums both focus on groups of Americans, the National Museum of African American History and Culture and the National Museum of the American Indian. Most of its museums focus on art, several on science, both physical and natural, and three on history of people, the National Museum of American History as well as the African American and American Indian museums.

There are efforts to have the Smithsonian build two more museums, one about the history of American women and the other about the American Latino. The NMAP also requested that the Smithsonian undertake a feasibility study for a museum about the making of the American People.

While the Smithsonian would undoubtedly like to be able to take on all these projects it is being pushed to the wall financially by significant unplanned costs. The biggest is the unexpected need that came to light in the last couple of years to completely renovate the most visited and largest museum in its system, the Air and Space Museum.

Engineering studies of that museum revealed that its entire façade needs to be replaced by new and significantly thicker marble cladding along with other extensive renovations taking place in concert with the new façade. The price tag is around $1 billion for this work. In addition, the extraordinary success of the African American museum has led to a range of unanticipated expenditures.

While the Smithsonian is run as a public-private partnership and receives corporate and other private support, the largest share of its annual operating income is from federal appropriations.

There are also other significant public museums in the Washington area that are independent of the Smithsonian. Museums in this category include the Unites States Holocaust Memorial Museum and the National Gallery of Art, both its main building and its East Wing. All three are on or just off of the National Mall.

Other public non-Smithsonian museums in the DC area include those operated by the National Park Service, the Army, Navy and Air Force and some others operated by federal agencies and local governments. Some of these are also operated as public-private partnerships.

Three of the newest museums in Washington are private: the Newseum, the Spy Museum and the Bible Museum. They have been supported by some combination of private organizations and wealthy individuals.

Given the Smithsonian’s fiscal issues and the current fiscal climate in Washington a new approach is needed now: A public museum paid for and operated with private donations. The planning and construction of the US Holocaust Museum was paid for by private funding and while it continues to receive significant gifts for a variety of special programs and exhibitions, the bulk of its annual operating expenses are from federal appropriations and it is considered a public museum.

National Museum of the American People is proposing a new public-private relationship where all of the funds to plan, build and operate the museum would come from private donations and other non-federal sources, it would be designated a public museum by Congress and land for the museum, a priceless commodity in Washington, could be transferred from one federal agency, the National Park Service for example, to the museum’s governing entity. At the same time, all of the funds to plan, build and operate the museum would technically be gifts to the government earmarked for that purpose.

In this model, private funding would pay for a feasibility study which in turn would pave the way for Congressional action designating the museum as a national museum, transferring the land for it, setting up the museum’s governing body and requiring all of the funds to come from private or other non-federal donations.

The governing body for the NMAP could be selected by a process involving public and private sector officials as designated in the legislation creating the museum institution.

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