October 11, 2012
A major new museum in Washington will tell the story of Italian Americans, the seventh largest ethnic group in the nation. There are more than 15 million Americans of Italian descent, making up more than five percent of the U.S. population.
The proposed National Museum of the American People will tell the stories of Italian Americans along with the stories of all of the other peoples that have come to this land and nation. It has support from major national Italian American organizations including the Italian American Studies Association, National Italian American Foundation, National Organization of Italian American Women, Order Sons of Italy in America and UNICO National.
These organizations are part of a coalition of more than 150 ethnic and minority organizations that are calling for a bipartisan Presidential commission after the election to study establishment of the museum.
"This is an excellent opportunity for Italian Americans to share their rich culture and history with all Americans," said John M. Viola, the National Italian American Foundation's Chief Operating Officer. "The proposed new national museum in the nation's capital will enlighten and inform current and future generations of the important contributions that Italian Americans have woven into the fabric of America."
The museum will tell the story of the making of the American People from the first migrations to this land thousands of years ago, extending through waves of migration and immigration to the present. It will challenge visitors to reflect upon that history. Yet nowhere is there a museum devoted to telling this full story about the making of the American People.
For Italian Americans, as well as all the others, the museum will tell who they were, where they came from, why they left their original land, how they got here, when they arrived, where they first settled, who was already here, what they encountered, where they moved after they arrived, how they became Americans, what they contributed and how they transformed the nation.
"It would be impossible and inaccurate to offer any serious history of the American People without providing an in-depth overview of the multifarious contributions of Italian Americans to the fabric of our national character," said Dr. Philip R. Piccigallo, CEO of the Sons of Italy Foundation and the Order of Sons of Italy in America.
"From the critical efforts of early Italian Americans in the formation of our new republic, such as Philippe Mazzei and Constantine Brumidi, to the early mass immigrations, throughout the modernization period and up to the present, Italian Americans have made countless, indispensable contributions to the development and advancement of our nation," he said.
"From science and medicine, the arts and culture, jurisprudence and legislation, sports and entertainment to management, finance, civic activism and governance, Italian Americans stand out alongside the many other progressive ethnic groups and nationalities that have produced this amazing experiment we call the United States of America. It is quintessentially fitting and necessary that the U.S. build a museum to capture the illustrative history of this melting pot equation."
The coalition is not seeking federal funding to plan, build or operate the museum. A resolution in Congress calling for a presidential commission to study the museum has bipartisan support, including from Reps. Pat Tiberi, R-OH, and Bill Pascrell, D-NJ, co-chairs of the bipartisan Italian American Congressional Delegation which includes 30 members of Congress who are of Italian descent.
"As co chair of the bipartisan Italian American Congressional Delegation and the grandchild of Italian immigrants, I understand the importance of remembering our past," said Rep. Pascrell. "The United States has long been a place defined by the contributions of immigrants, and their accomplishments are a source of strength and pride for our nation. Establishing a National Museum of the American People would be a testament to that history, and would serve to educate future generations on our shared American legacy."
"The story of the making of the American People would be presented in a dramatic, interactive documentary format," said Sam Eskenazi, director of the Coalition for the National Museum of the American People. "It would be developed and vetted by teams of eminent scholars, including Italian American scholars, and be told with force and clarity."
"The National Museum of the American People's permanent exhibition 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 and how the story of Italian Americans fits into that story," he said.
The story could be told in the museum over four chapters:
Chapter 1 - The First Peoples Come: Prehistoric period-1607; Indian migration and settlement, early European explorers and first European settlement. During this chapter, Italian navigators were among the first to explore the Western Hemisphere from Europe, including Christopher Columbus, Giovanni Caboto who sailed for the English under the name John Cabot and Giovanni da Verrazzano, the first European known to have entered New York Bay.
Chapter 2 - The Nation Takes Form: 1607-1820; the fate of Indians, Western European settlement, the African slave trade, the establishment of the nation, and the beginning of its expansion taking in new peoples. Some immigrants came from Italy during this period and scattered throughout the country, including missionaries who gravitated to the West Coast.
Chapter 3 - The Great In–Gathering: 1820-1924; a century of immigration. The ancestors of most Americans came during this period. This period saw the major wave of Italian immigration to the U.S. An estimated 4 million arrived from 1880 to 1920, most of them from 1900 to 1914. Many of them settled in crowded parts of large Northeastern cities which became known as "Little Italys." The Immigration Act of 1924 halted large scale immigration from Italy.
In the meantime, Little Italys became fixtures in New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Boston, Pittsburgh, Providence, St. Louis, Chicago, San Francisco and other large cities around the nation.
Chapter 4 - And Still They Come: 1924-present; the ongoing story of American immigration. More than half a million Italian immigrants arrived after World War II. In recent years, Italian Americans have reached the highest levels of our nation's government, including Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the first woman to become Speaker of the House, and Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Samuel Alito.
New York State has the largest Italian American population, 2.7 million people; New Jersey and California, 1.5 million each and Pennsylvania, 1.4 million. Other states with Italian American populations of 500,000 or more include Florida, Massachusetts, Illinois, Ohio and Connecticut.
States with the highest percentage of Italian Americans include Connecticut, 20%; Rhode Island, 19%; New Jersey, 18%; New York and Massachusetts, 14% and Pennsylvania, 13%.
"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 starting from the prehistoric period. They are the most visited museums in those nations. Our museum would be a destination for every school group visiting Washington and it would foster learning nationwide."