Family and Community
As local and national debates on immigration continue, a group of community partners in Lewiston and Auburn are working on a program that encourages conversation, celebration, and understanding. Museum L-A applied and was selected as one of 32 sites across 24 states to host “Becoming American.” All events are free and open to everyone.
Date: Wednesday, October 24, 6:00-8:00 pm
Location: YWCA of Central Maine, 130 East Ave, Lewiston, ME
The program: At this event we will sit down and watch an hour of excerpts of “My American Girls.” Next, there will be an hour-long dialogue (a type of discussion) moderated by Andrew Baker of Bates College.
To sign up:
We would appreciate it if you registered for the film programs at https://www.museumla.org/becoming-american, but if for some reason you are not able to do so, we still encourage you to attend.
How to prepare:
It is okay to just show up the night of the event, but you can click here to download a handout with a short essay, links to articles, and other info if you’d like to learn something about the topic before you arrive. Reading it can be a nice way to get ready for the event!
What to expect from a public dialogue:
Dialogues are for everyone! They are a way of communicating that invites people with different experiences and perspectives to be part of an open-ended conversation, with the goal of personal and collective learning. Participants in dialogue accept that it is possible for two markedly different perspectives to coexist and that it is not necessary to be entirely correct or entirely wrong.
NOTE: The films and discussion will be in English. If you or anyone you know would like to participate through a translator, please let us know and we will do our best to try to match you with a community volunteer!
To find out about the many other exciting events in this series, please visit our website, https://www.museumla.org/becoming-american.
If you have any questions, please contact Kate Webber at kwebber@museumla.org or 207-333-3881.
Becoming American is a project of City Lore in collaboration with the Immigration and Ethnic History Society and the International Coalition of the Sites of Conscience. The project has been made possible by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the Human Endeavor.