Description
This is the signature publication for the Virginia Museum of History & Culture’s We The People: The World in Our Commonwealth, an exhibit that is on loan to the Arlington Historical Museum from July 12 through August 17. The exhibit and this accompanying book explore the many people who, over the centuries, have made Virginia and in particular, Arlington County, the unique place it is in America and in the world, and the dramatic impact of the immigrant experience through Virginia’s history as people arrived from the four corners of the globe.
The book foreword is by Kim O’Connell, Arlingtonian, a scholar of Vietnamese immigration to Virginia, and a lecturer of science writing at Johns Hopkins University. It also features 147 color and black and white illustrations including beautiful and thought-provoking photography of the many cultures that make up Arlington, such as some of those taken by Arlingtonian Lloyd Wolf who has documented life on Columbia Pike for more than 50 years.
Over the last two and a half centuries, millions of people have emigrated from other countries and made Virginia their home. Today, more than 1.6 million people living in the Commonwealth of Virginia are foreign born.
Since its founding and up to the present day, Virginia has been at the center of so many crucial debates, including those over immigration. As this book’s richly drawn essays show us, successive waves of immigration have diversified and enriched Virginia in countless ways. On a grand scale, they have forced Virginia to reckon with its racial history, its politics, and its view of itself and the world.
With a combination of historical essays, examinations of immigrant communities, and personal stories, this volume explores the many people who, over centuries, have made Virginia the unique place it is in the United States and in the world.
- Paperback: 178 pages
- Publisher: Giles Ltd., 2026
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