In the past, the museum has focused on white immigration. Now it will include all races.
Today’s New York Times had an editorial on this development:
Border-guarding Minutemen and immigrant-pummeling politicians should get a grip on this country’s history at the Ellis Island Immigration Museum in New York Harbor. Exhibits are planned to tell the full story of the teeming masses, including African slaves, displaced Indians, modern globetrotters and Know-Nothing nativists.
“There’s an old saying among immigrant groups: America beckons, but Americans repel,” said Alan Kraut, chairman of the museum’s history committee. He promised that the updating will be candid and inspiring as it presents so much that’s been overlooked in the continuous restocking of America. …The new Peopling of America Center is scheduled to open this fall with the mission to be the one place in the nation where all immigrants can go to search their story roots.
Image courtesy of Cramit via Flickr.
