What can a song do? How are migration experiences and histories expressed in music? 

In this collection, you can explore migration histories of Japanese and Chinese Americans and reflect upon the social power of music through a song recorded by three Asian American artists/activists in 1973. 

Watch videos; learn about objects and artwork in the Smithsonian collections; find articles and lesson plans.

Music is an important part of social life and community. It connects us to other people and places. We use music to celebrate and mourn, to remember and forget. Through music, we can tell stories, share emotions, and affirm our heritage.

How to explore the collection:

• You can move through the collection from left to right, top row to bottom row.
• OR--start with the music video for "We Are the Children" [following the "Look + Listen" tile] and explore sets of tiles [delineated by questions or instructions] in whatever order you like.
• Click on the tabs on the left side of the tiles--marked "i" (for information) or with the paperclip icon--to pop up descriptive information and guiding questions.

This collection can be used to teach about:

1. How music—or more generally, creative expression and the arts—can be a source of historical information or evidence;
2. How to analyze a piece of literary text;
3. How culture transforms across generations and as populations/people migrate and interact.

"We Are the Children” is from the Smithsonian Folkways catalog. It is one of many songs that reveals the diverse ways through which human journeys, identities, and sense of place are recorded in music.

On the Smithsonian Folkways website, you can find albums, articles, videos, and playlists. You can search the catalog by artist, song, album, as well as by geographic region and genre. You can also download liner notes, stream and download music, and purchase albums.

THANKS to Philippa Rappoport, Veronica Boix Mansilla, Jim Deutsch, Andrea Kim Neighbors, Betty Belanus, Tess Porter, Darren Milligan, and Emma Lewis for content and editorial feedback, technical support, and design assistance.

Keywords: Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, CFCH, Smithsonian Folklife Festival, World on the Move, Music & Migration, WOTM, activism, immigrant, immigrate, immigration, migrant, migrate, migration, A Grain of Sand, Chinese American, Japanese American,  Asian American Movement, Civil Rights Movement