On Thursday of last week, nearly 400 Asian American and Pacific Islanders
On Thursday of last week, nearly 400 Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) from all walks of life gathered at the Department of the Interior for the White House Forum on Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage, where we discussed ways the Department, especially the National Park Service, can better tell the story of the AAPI experience in America and the contributions this vibrant community has made to our country and its culture.
Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell, pledged her support for the AAPI Theme Study. “Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have long been leaders in every aspect of our social fabric – in government, business, science, medicine, the arts, education and our armed forces,” Secretary Jewell said. “From Angel Island where more than one million Asian immigrants arrived on these shores, to the Chinese immigrants who helped build the railroads across the country, to the Japanese American internment camps of World War II, these stories are all important threads in the great American tapestry.”
AAPI leaders from across the country discussed our community’s progress, and how our stories really constitute the fabric of the larger American story. We also discussed National Park Service’s efforts, over the coming months, to category_ide the theme study scholars in developing narratives that will connect tangible places to so many intangible stories. The Service’s National Historic Landmark program will use the theme study to category_ide future nominations of National Historic Landmarks and National Register properties.