[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 100 (Thursday, July 7, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1260-E1261]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JAMES P. MORAN

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, July 7, 2011

  Mr. MORAN. Mr. Speaker, it is time to tell the story of all of the 
American people. Earlier this week we celebrated of our nation's 235th 
birthday. Here in Washington hundreds of thousands of people visited 
the National Mall, watched fireworks, took pictures of the monuments, 
and toured our national museums. The

[[Page E1261]]

story of our country's founding to our current status as the world's 
beacon of democracy and freedom, were on display.
  But the full story of who we are as a nation and the many, vibrant 
ethnicities that make up the fabric of the American experience, remains 
incomplete. The story about the making of the American people--of all 
of the people--is missing and it needs to be told in the heart of our 
nation's capital.
  That's why I am introducing a bipartisan resolution that calls for a 
Presidential Commission to study the establishment of the National 
Museum of the American People. A commission is the first critical step 
in the path toward the creation of a national museum that will 
highlight the diversity and richness of the cultures from which our 
ancestors came and will foster a sense of belonging to the nation by 
the waves of people who made us the leading economic, military, 
scientific, and cultural force in the world. The Museum's central theme 
takes its inspiration from our original national motto: ``E Pluribus 
Unum''--From Many We Are One.
  The Museum will be America's only national institution devoted 
exclusively to telling the full story of how the world's pioneers 
interwove their diverse races, religions, and ethnicities into the 
strongest societal fabric ever known to modern mankind. Both Canada and 
Mexico have major national museums in their capitals telling the story 
of their peoples and they are the most visited museums in those 
nations. People from every ethnic and minority group will come to see 
their own story and learn how they joined together with ``the others'' 
in pursuit of a more noble national purpose. Foreign visitors will come 
to learn how natives of their countries helped create our nation.
  I fully understand the current fiscal realities of the day. This 
proposal will involve no authorization of federal funds and will not 
require the need for any taxpayer money. It does, however, already 
enjoy broad support having been endorsed by more than 130 organizations 
representing virtually every major ethnic and nationality group in the 
nation.
  For the different groups who became Americans, the Museum will tell 
who, where, when, why and how transformed our nation. Today's 
technology makes all of this possible.
  The Museum of the American People will be like walking though a 
dramatic documentary delving into these grand movements of peoples. It 
will follow in the tradition of some of today's most successful story-
telling museums such as the Holocaust Memorial Museum. The goal will be 
to tell our peoples' compelling story with force and clarity.
  While there should always be room for other national museums in our 
nation's capital devoted to all manner of art, cultural and scientific 
accomplishments, this Museum, covering accurately and adequately each 
group's story in the context of every group's story should help stem 
the trend of groups having their own individual, specific museums such 
as the National Museum of the American Indian, the National Museum of 
the African American History and Culture, and the National Museum of 
the American Latino. All of their stories should be told, but the list 
is nearly infinite while the space, money and political will is not. In 
telling everyone's story, the National Museum of the American People 
would recognize the important differences that set us apart while 
celebrating the common purpose that has brought us together--E Pluribus 
Unum.
  I encourage my colleagues to support this measure.

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