PRESS RELEASE  May 19, 2017 – For Immediate Use

For More Information:

	German-American Heritage Foundation of the USA® Carl Anderson [email protected]
	Missouri Immigrant and Refugee Advocates Joan Suarez     [email protected]
	Missouri Germans Consortium  Dorris Keeven-Franke     [email protected]

“THE MISSOURI IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCE: FACES AND PLACES” TRAVELING EXHIBIT TO DISPLAY AT THE GERMAN-AMERICAN HERITAGE MUSEUM OF THE USA™

OFFICIAL TRAVELING EXHIBIT OPENING RECEPTION AT THE GERMAN-AMERICAN HERITAGE MUSEUM OF THE USA™, THURSDAY, JUNE 1, 2017 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM

The Missouri Immigrant Experience: Faces and Places

“Remember, remember always, that all of us… are descended from immigrants and revolutionists.”  – Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1938

WASHINGTON, D.C., MAY 19, 2017 – THE MISSOURI IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCE: FACES AND PLACES is a collection of contemporary and archival photography, and is particularly relevant as it celebrates the irrefutable role of immigrants in the development of St. Louis and Missouri and simultaneously illuminates the human side of immigration in Missouri today. In the early 19th century, Missouri began welcoming waves of immigrants from Germany and Ireland, and by the turn of the century, Italian, Polish, Greek, and Eastern European Jewish communities had settled in the state. By 1900, St. Louis, Missouri was the fourth-largest city in America and home to one of the most predominantly foreign-born populations in the country. THE MISSOURI IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCE: FACES AND PLACES exhibit from the Missouri Immigrant and Refugee Advocates was curated by Danny Gonzales and features photos by Juan Montana, Amela Sinanagic, Oscar Pedroza and Rita Chu. This project was created in support of the German Heritage Corridor of Missouri and in partnership with the Missouri Germans Consortium and the Missouri Humanities Council.

German-American Heritage Foundation of the USA®, Washington, D.C. will host Missouri Immigrant Experience: Faces and Places June 1 through August 5 at the German-American Heritage Museum of the USA™ located at 719 Sixth Street NW, Washington, D.C. 20001. An opening reception will be held on Thursday, June 1 from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM featuring Joan Suarez and Dorris Keeven-Franke as guest speakers introducing the exhibit. Executive Director Erika Harms and GAHF Board Member Megan Lott will represent the German-American Heritage Foundation at the opening reception. The museum is open from 11 AM to 5 PM Tuesday through Friday and Saturday from 12 PM to 5 PM. It is closed on Sunday and Monday. Museum admission prices are $7 for adults, $5 for students, and free for GAHF members and children under 12. More info at www.gahmusa.org.

About the German-American Heritage Museum of the USA™: The mission of the German-American Heritage Museum is to collect, record, preserve and exhibit the rich cultural legacy of Americans of German-speaking ancestry and make their contributions to American history available to audiences of all ages. The museum also seeks to highlight the political, cultural and economic relations between Germany and the United States. The museum opened in 2010 in the heart of the old European-American section of Washington.

Joan Suarez went to work for the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America as an Education Representative in 1962. She found her lifelong niche as a labor and community organizer in San Antonio, Texas before returning to St. Louis, Missouri in 1987 as Southwest Regional Director and International Vice President for UNITE, where she continued to serve until her retirement in 2002. She is currently the Executive Director of Bread and Roses Missouri (BRM) and the founding Emeritus chair of the Missouri Immigrant and Refugee Advocates (MIRA), both spin-off organizations of Missouri Jobs With Justice.

Dorris Keeven-Franke is an author and public historian who has been writing about German emigration for 30 years. She is the Executive Director of Missouri Germans Consortium, an organization devoted to the preservation of the German heritage of Missouri. She is currently President of the St. Louis German American Committee. She received the German-American Friendship Award from German Ambassador Peter Wittig, which was presented by Consul General Herbert Quelle in December 2016 for her work promoting German-American relations.

Turnvereins or Turner Halls were established across Missouri and the nation as gymnastic centers as well as social and political clubs. The first Turnverein in Missouri was established in St. Louis in 1850. At their height, eleven Turnvereins existed in St. Louis alone, with additional halls in Kansas City, Columbia and beyond.

German POWs march into the mess hall at their small work camp on the Hellwig Brothers Farm on Gumbo Flats, the Missouri River bottomland now called Chesterfield Valley, in March 1945. Approximately 100 POWs lived there and worked on area farms, replacing Americans who had gone to war.