Last Thursday, February 24, the Coalition to Build the National Museum of the American People and the American University School of Communications hosted a panel discussion titled “The Making of the American People: How Immigration Impacted the American Landscape.”

The event featured a lively discussion between panelists: Dr. Ernesto Castañeda, Founding Director, American University Immigration Lab; Dr. Lauren Strauss, Modern Jewish History Professor, American University; John Reid, Founder & Editor-in-Chief, PW Perspective; and Sam Eskenazi, Director, Coalition for the National Museum of the American People. The panel was moderated by Sofia Casamassa, a senior majoring in public relations at American University.

“Planning the event in a short timeframe was quite a bit of work, but it was also a ton of fun!” said Casamassa. “It was exciting to work with all the panelists and make it happen. It was nice to get to know them in the process as well.”

The idea for the National Museum of the American People was conceived in the late 1990s by Eskenazi, former Director of Public Information for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Since its conception, the idea for the museum has received bipartisan support in Congress, and in 2011, it earned the title “Best Museum That Doesn’t Exist Yet” from the Washington City Paper.

Eskenazi describes the museum as a story-telling experience that would follow the format of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and the National Museum of African American History and Culture. According to Eskenazi, the museum would be divided into four chapters:

• Chapter I, The First Peoples Come, 20,000 before present (est.)-1607
• Chapter II, The Nation Takes Form, 1607-1820
• Chapter III, The Great In-Gathering, 1820-1924
• Chapter IV, And Still They Come, 1924–present

The panel was organized by a group of students at American University, including Casamassa, who moderated the event, as well as Jael Azani, M.K. Cusack, Sophie Gilbert, Emily Trusky, and PW Perspective’s managing editor, Langston Carter.

PW Perspective is proud to support the Coalition to Build the National Museum of the American People and the story-oriented perspective that it will bring.

As Dr. Castañeda said during the panel, “The great thing about the museum is learning that migration is still happening -it’s not just a thing of history. Immigrants create more jobs and make the economy grow. We have less immigration right now, and the economy is suffering for that.”

The recording of the panel can be found below: