CURRENTLY ONLINE ONLY: We hope to pick back up with in-person Civic Conversation groups at the Library in the near future. In the meantime, please feel free to utilize our resources for your own in-person or virtual group discussions!
This event features the documentary Out of Many, One available on Netflix. You can view the trailer on YouTube. Our conversation will center around what it really means to be an “American.”
Potential Discussion Questions:
- Imagine you are describing American political culture to a person with little familiarity with the country. How would you describe it? What examples would you use to illustrate your view?
- What does the word “equality” mean to you? Do you think others might have a different definition and if so, what are some alternative ways of defining “equality”?
- Are there certain contexts in which Americans might expect equality? Are there times an American might dismiss the need for equality? If so, what are some ways someone could seek to limit equality?
- “Liberty and Justice for All” is a cornerstone statement about equality in America. Belonging likely means you would expect justice and for your liberty to be safeguarded. What does the word “liberty” mean to you? Do you think it means the same to everyone? In what situations do Americans expect liberty? How might liberty be limited in some contexts? Is taking away someone’s liberty an effective means of providing justice? Is it necessary?
- What does “the American dream” mean to you? Did it mean something different to your parents or grandparents? Does it change with contexts like increased wealth? Why do some Americans think that it has become more difficult to attain in recent years? Can everyone in America live that dream?
- Can or should we as a country attempt to provide that American dream globally or should it be available only to those who are born or immigrate to the United States? How about those who were here before we formed our country?
- Liberty and equality are two values that have the potential to come into conflict with each other. Why is that? In what political contexts might these values conflict? Which value seems more important to you personally and why?
- What is American exceptionalism? Does this concept still hold? Why or why not? How does this view fit with some of the arguments in Common Sense?
LIBRARY OF VIRGINIA RESOURCES
Books:
- Racial Reconstruction: Black Inclusion, Chinese Exclusion, and the Fictions of Citizenship by Edlie L. Wong
- Place and Belonging in America by David Jacobson
- America as a Multicultural Society by Milton Myron Gordon
- Multiculturalism in the United States: A Comparative Guide to Acculturation and Ethnicity by John D. Buenker and Lorman A. Ratner
- A Nation of Nations: A Great American Immigration Story by Tom Gjelten
- Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America
- Immigrant Faiths: Transforming Religious Life in America by Karen Isaksen Lenoard
- Impossible Subjects: Illegal Aliens and the Making of Modern America by Mae M. Ngai
- Acculturation among the Japanese of Kona, Hawaii by John Fee Embree
- Acculturation and Personality among the Wisconsin Chipewa by Victor Barnouw
- Big Bead Mesa, an Archaeological Study of Navaho Acculturation, 1745-1812 by Dorothy Louise Keur
- Hope’s Promise : Religion and Acculturation in the Southern Backcountry by S. Scott Rohrer
- Cultural Diversity and Adaptation: the Archaic, Anasazi, and Navajo Occupation of the Upper San Juan Basin by the Bureau of Land Management. New Mexico State Office
- Between Church and State: Religion and Public Education in a Multicultural America by James W. Fraser
- One Nation Indivisible: How Ethnic Separatism Threatens America by J. Harvie Wilkinson III
- Mixed-Race Identity in the American South: Roots, Memory, and Family Secrets by Julia Sattler
Web Pages related to the “New Virginians” gallery exhibition in 2019:
- Home page
- New Virginians playlist with 90 interviews from Virginia’s immigrant and refugee population on their experiences coming into Virginia
- Educators page
- Biographies of each of the New Virginia interviewees
Other Web Pages:
- APIDA Resource Guide
- Civic Conversation page about xenophobia
- Broadside magazine issue on “The First Virginians”
Web Pages related to the “Columbia Pike: Through the Lens of Community” gallery exhibition in 2021:
- Home page
- Original Columbia Pike Documentary Project blog
- Watch the Library of Virginia virtual panel discussion with the photographers.
- Lloyd Wolf and Sushmita Mazumdar both give their own insights on Columbia Pike’s history, culture and on becoming photographers of its legacy with these In The Gallery videos.
- Two books, Transitions and Living Diversity, have been produced about the Columbia Pike Documentary Project.
UncommonWealth Blog Posts:
- We Continue to Become More Interconnected as a Planet
- May is Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month
- The Virginia Latino Advisory Board
- Columbia Pike Exhibit Turns the Lens on Vibrant Northern Virginia Region
- Whiteness on Trial: Asian Americans and the Right to Citizenship
- The Marriage of Cadel Captain-Quartermaster Woo Ging-Tang
- “That He is a ‘Person of Mixed Blood'”: Being Biracial in Antebellum Virginia
EXTERNAL RESOURCES
Books:
- America for Americans by Erika Lee
- Threat of Dissent: A History of Ideological Exclusion and Deportation in the United States, by Julia Rose Kraut
- The Deportation Machine by Adam Goodman
- At America’s Gates: Chinese Immigration During the Exclusion Era, 1882-1943 by Erika Lee
- Beyond the Borderlands: Migration and Belonging in the United States and Mexico by Debra Lattanzi Shutika
- Elsewhere in America: the Crisis of Belonging in Contemporary Culture by David Trend
- Reading Classes: On Culture and Classism in America by Barbara Jensen
- Preserving Ethnicity Through Religion in America: Korean Protestants and Indian Hindus Across Generations by Pyong Gap Min
- Latino Lives in America: Making it Home by Luis Ricardo Fraga
- Uncle Swami: South Asians in America Today by Vijay Prashad
- Swing by Kwame Alexander and Mary Rand Hess
Articles:
- How I found my identity as an Indian American in a Black and White country in the Washington Post, August 2020
- Cultural Intelligence: The Pathway of Inclusion and Justice in Christianity Today, August 2020
- “What about me?” Perceptions of exclusion and Whites’ reactions to multiculturalism. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 101(2), 337–353.
- A Sense of Belonging from DemocracyJournal.org
- Review of Beyond the Borderlands: Migration and Belonging in the United States and Mexico by Debra Lattanzi Shutika
- Afro-Latinidad in the Smithsonian’s African American Museum Spaces in The Public Historian, 40(3)
- How Cultures Around the World Make Decisions on Ideas.TED.com
TEDTalks:
- Dare to Refuse the Origin Myths that Claim Who You Are by Chetan Bhatt
- What Makes You Special by Mariana Atencio
- The Revolutionary Power of Diverse Thought by Elif Shafak
- Immigrant Voices Make Democracy Stronger by Sayu Bhojwani
- Why the Only Future Worth Building Includes Everyone by His Holiness Pope Francis
- Our Immigrant Conversation is Broken. Here is How to Have a Better One. by Paul Kramer
Films, Videos & Podcasts:
- Out in America 2014 Critically acclaimed PBS documentary
- Talking Headways Podcast: To Be Truly Sustainable, Cities Must Be Truly Equitable
- Belonging in the USA: Stories from our Neighbors – an award-winning documentary and blog series. “We hope to inspire a new vision for America, where interdependence, self-reflection and empathy are what define us, not our so-called differences.”
- American Creed – a PBS documentary
- Thursday Thoughts for Teachers from Cornelius Minor: The American Flag as a Shifting Symbol
Web Pages:
- Native Land Digital – search your address. See global divisions by native territories, languages or treaties.
- Newest Americans – Stories from the Global City
- The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture’s Talking About Race site
- BBC Travel Untold America
- Black Women Too “interactive site created by and for Black women and allies”
