[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 40 (Tuesday, March 19, 2013)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E332]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             ON THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JAMES P. MORAN

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, March 19, 2013

  Mr. MORAN. Mr. Speaker, as a proud Irish American, I was pleased this 
past Sunday to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. Celebrating our heritage 
today has become an American tradition that extends beyond those 
Americans of Irish heritage. But that wasn't always the case. For many 
years, Irish Americans faced discrimination and struggled to gain 
acceptance and economic stability in the great melting pot that is 
America.
  The story of Irish Americans and all Americans needs to be told. We 
are a nation of immigrants. But there is no place today where one can 
go to learn the full story of who we are as a nation and the stories of 
the many, vibrant ethnicities that make up the fabric of the American 
experience. 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. I am joined in effort by my colleagues 
John Duncan, Carolyn Maloney, Charlie Rangel, Frank Wolf, Gerald 
Connolly, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Bobby Scott, David Cicilline, Tim 
Walz, Tim Bishop, Tom Cole and Jim Gerlach.
  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 150 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.
  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 encouraged my colleagues to support this measure.

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