I’m thrilled to share that I’ve been selected as an Us@250 fellow with the New America Foundation. For the coming year, I’ll be part of a cohort of other scholars and journalists writing nuanced stories about America in honor of the upcoming 250th anniversary of our nation’s founding. As New America wrote in their announcement of the fellowship:
“Focused on reimagining the American narrative, Us@250 centers around three core themes: pride in the nation’s progress from its origins; reckoning with historical and contemporary wrongs that have caused the nation to fall short of its ideals; and aspiration for a multiracial, inclusive democracy. The Us@250 Fellowship plays a pivotal role in this mission by empowering storytellers with funding, resources, and a supportive community. These storytellers are dedicated to telling a fuller, more comprehensive American narrative, fostering connections across differences, and expanding our understanding of American culture and identity.”
For my fellowship, I’ll be focusing on the afterlife of Amache, Colorado’s WWll-era Japanese American concentration camp, by looking at the decades-long struggle to properly commemorate the site and its transition to becoming, as of February 2024, our newest National Historic Site. I’ve been researching this topic ever since attending the May 2023 Amache pilgrimage and I’m so looking forward to continuing this research and reporting work.
The other fellows in my cohort are doing incredible work (read more about it here) and I can’t wait to learn from and with them over the coming year.