Religious, Immigration Groups Support National Museum of the American People

The coalition supporting the National Museum of the American People today announced broad-based backing for the museum by immigration organizations, including Catholic, Protestant and Jewish groups.

The museum in Washington will tell the story about the making of the American People starting with the first humans in the Western Hemisphere. It will cover every ethnic, nationality and minority group that has come to this land and nation through today.

Immigration organizations now backing the museum include: Church World Services, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, Catholic Legal Immigration Network, HIAS (Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society), National Immigration Forum, Welcome.US, America’s Voice, New York Immigration Coalition, Ethiopian Community Development Council, and the Center for the Integration & Advancement of New Americans.

“Our goal,” said Sam Eskenazi, director of the coalition backing the museum, “is to make this the best story-telling museum in the world. Ours is one of the most incredible stories in human history of people coming here from every corner of our globe to make this the greatest nation on Earth. Every American will see their stories told here.”

The American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese recently announced support for the museum. There are now 181 ethnic, nationality and minority organizations supporting the museum.

William Ferris, chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities in the Clinton Administration, recently announced his support for the museum. He is a professor of history and the head of the Center for the Study of the American South at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. There are now 136 scholars of immigration and migration history backing this effort.

The museum coalition, following the precedent of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, is seeking a Presidential Commission to study establishment of the museum as the first major step in its creation. No federal funds will be sought to plan, build or operate the museum.

NOTE: June is Immigrant Heritage Month. The National Museum of the American People urges all of its supporters to honor every groups’ immigration heritage. For more go to IHM.