Post by Moon Seeker on Sept 25, 2008 11:12:11 GMT -5
Ellis Island to tell stories of slaves, American Indians
For the first time, the stories of the arrival of American Indians and African slaves to U.S. shores will be included in the Ellis Island Immigration Museum.
The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation announced Wednesday that it was creating The Peopling of America Center within the museum to tell the history of those who arrived before and after the peak immigration years between 1892 and 1954.
The story of the migration to America "goes back to the beginning of the country and comes up to the present. So there were a good number of people whose stories weren't told at Ellis Island," said Stephen Briganti, the foundation's president and chief executive.
The center, he said, will "cover the entire gamut of the populating of America."
Exhibits will focus on the arrival of Native Americans, who are believed to have migrated to North America more than 10,000 years ago across the Bering Sea from Asia; Europeans who landed on the Eastern seaboard from the 1600s through 1892; Africans brought here forcibly by slave traders; and today's immigrants from all over the globe.
"It's an important story to tell because Ellis Island is a symbol of inclusion, it's a symbol of diversity and that's what this country is," Briganti said.
The $20 million, 20,000-square-foot space, designed by Edwin Schlossberg of ESI Design, will be located in an existing gallery that will be redesigned and in an adjoining building that now houses the curatorial staff.
Visitors to The Peopling of America Center will be greeted by a giant radiant globe that will illuminate the flow of migration throughout history.
Other interactive exhibitions will include "Towns Across America," which will trace how successive waves of immigration changed the face of the American landscape from architecture to businesses.
mobile.newsday.com/news.jsp?key=192049&rc=lo_ny
For the first time, the stories of the arrival of American Indians and African slaves to U.S. shores will be included in the Ellis Island Immigration Museum.
The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation announced Wednesday that it was creating The Peopling of America Center within the museum to tell the history of those who arrived before and after the peak immigration years between 1892 and 1954.
The story of the migration to America "goes back to the beginning of the country and comes up to the present. So there were a good number of people whose stories weren't told at Ellis Island," said Stephen Briganti, the foundation's president and chief executive.
The center, he said, will "cover the entire gamut of the populating of America."
Exhibits will focus on the arrival of Native Americans, who are believed to have migrated to North America more than 10,000 years ago across the Bering Sea from Asia; Europeans who landed on the Eastern seaboard from the 1600s through 1892; Africans brought here forcibly by slave traders; and today's immigrants from all over the globe.
"It's an important story to tell because Ellis Island is a symbol of inclusion, it's a symbol of diversity and that's what this country is," Briganti said.
The $20 million, 20,000-square-foot space, designed by Edwin Schlossberg of ESI Design, will be located in an existing gallery that will be redesigned and in an adjoining building that now houses the curatorial staff.
Visitors to The Peopling of America Center will be greeted by a giant radiant globe that will illuminate the flow of migration throughout history.
Other interactive exhibitions will include "Towns Across America," which will trace how successive waves of immigration changed the face of the American landscape from architecture to businesses.
mobile.newsday.com/news.jsp?key=192049&rc=lo_ny