As part of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibit Service (SITES) and the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center opened a new exhibit at the American History Museum, "I Want the Wide American Earth: An Asian Pacific American Story." The exhibit runs until 18 June 2013 and then travels to the Japanese National Museum in Los Angeles.
The exhibit takes its name from a poem by Filipino American poet Carlos Bulosan (1913-1956):
Before the brave, before the proud builders and workers
I way I want the wide American earth
For all the free
I want the wide American earth for my people.
I want my beautiful land.
I want it with my rippling strength and tenderness
Of love and light and truth
For all the free.
The exhibit goes beyond the usual story about the railroads, immigration laws and representation and the search for identity. Did you know that Punjabi men were unable to bring Indian brides to America and so married female Mexican field workers? How about Chinese traders were making trips to Mexico City as early as 1635. New Orleans already had Filipino communities in the 1760s. Asian Americans also participated in the American Civil War on both sides.
To give you historical context, Jamestown was founded in 1607 with only 61 of the original 500 colonists surviving the starving time of 1609 to 1610. In 1635, Japan forbid merchants to sail abroad and particularly wanted those Portuguese ships destroyed. The Tokugawa shogunate began in 1603.
In 1760 George III ascended to the throne of Great Britain. In 1644, the Ming Dynasty ended and the Qing Dynasty began and lasted until 1912. The Great Wall of China was already in place with small portions build in 220 BC and in the 7th Century BC although the majority of the exiting wall was reconstructed during the Ming Dynasty. India was under the Moghul Empire (1526-1757).
Currently JANM doesn't list this as a coming exhibit so keep you eyes out for this.
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