Toward a More Inclusive Narrative

Americans All: The Immigration/Migration Initiative at the Smithsonian

Who came to America,

when and why, and what happened

next?

Migration •Immigration •Importation (forced migration) •Incorporation (borders move, people do not)

Who came to America, when and why…

Inclusion and Exclusion

…and what happened next?

Identity

•Assimilation •Hybridity •Pluralism

…and what happened next?

American Dynamism

Sutradhar

Institute dancers

(from Silver

Spring) perform

at the 2010

Smithsonian

Folklife Festival.

Richard Colón (aka “Crazy

Legs”), a Puerto Rican

breakdancer and key

member of Rock Steady

Crew, wore this jacket.

Alexander Graham Bell, a

Scottish immigrant, used this

telephone for a demonstration

in 1876.

American Dynamism

Hanbok (dress) of

a Korean child

adopted by an

American family

Native American basketweavers demonstrate

at the 2006 Smithsonian Folklife Festival.

Music and dance

were key

elements of the

Latino Chicago

program at the

2006

Smithsonian

Folklife Festival.

Inventor and 2011 MacArthur Fellow

Shwetak Patel

SI Team Members

National Museum of American History

Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage

Smithsonian Latino Center

Asian Pacific American Program

Smithsonian Affiliations

Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies

•NMAH Exhibition, 2016/17

•Folklife Festival

program, 2015

2004 Smithsonian Folklife Festival

Quinceañera dress in American Stories,

NMAH exhibition

Japanese

immigrant

trunk in On

the Water,

NMAH

exhibition

Becoming American/America Becoming Migration and the Making of the United States

NMAH Proposed Anchor Exhibition

Who came to America, when and why,

and what happened next?

21st-Century Narrative

Interactive Public Conversation

National Collecting Effort

Scholars Goldman Sachs Senior

Fellow Dr. Gary Gerstle is

an historian with expertise in

the relationship between

immigration and the state.

Goldman Sachs

Senior Fellow

Dr. Stephen

Prothero is a

professor of

religion.

Americans All national scholars meeting in

Washington DC, 2/23 and 2/24/12

Goldman Sachs Senior Fellow Dr.

Perla Guerrero is a professor of

U.S. Latina/Latino Studies

Affiliations •Arab American National Museum •Birmingham Civil Rights Institute •Institute of Texan Cultures •Japanese American National Museum •National Museum of American Jewish History •Plimoth Plantation •Senator John Heinz History Center •Western Reserve Historical Society

Current Americans All National Partners

Other Institutions •Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation •Ellis Island Foundation

Americans All Partners Meeting January 2012

Partner Collaboration

•Youth Access Media Programs

•Development of “Citizen Historian” project

•Creation of the “American Material Culture

Database”

•Convene local scholars, teachers, and

community leaders

Partner Programs

EdLab at the National Postal

Museum

ArtLab at the Hirshhorn Museum and

Sculpture Garden

Long-Term Partner Collaboration

•Major International Conference on Migration

and Material Culture

•Major International Conference on Religion

and Material Culture

•K-12 curriculum development

•Planning and co-curation of sections of the

Folklife Festival and NMAH exhibition

•Production of local exhibitions/programming

•Potential mutual loan arrangements

Potential External Partners

In April 2012, an NMAH TalkBack board asked visitors to write about the influence of immigrants on the United States.