DEARBORN — A new exhibit, Fighting for Democracy: Who is the ‘We” in “We, the People?” opened Feb.2 at the Arab American National Museum (AANM) in Dearborn. It highlights the stories of seven diverse individuals, their service to their country and their civic engagement that helped change our American democracy. 

The exhibition uses World War II as a case study to begin discussion about how women and minorities have expanded the meaning of “we” in “we the people.” The exhibit also looks at the experiences of seven real people and traces their stories throughout the pre-war, war, and post-war periods as examples of the millions of Americans whose lives were affected by the war. 

These stories help viewers to understand the conditions facing Americans before and during World War II while challenging them to think critically about freedom, history, and, ultimately, the ongoing struggle to live democratically in a diverse America.

Fighting for Democracy is presented as a companion to the current AANM exhibition Patriots and Peacemakers: Arab Americans in Service to Our Country, in the main floor gallery at the AANM. Developed by the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy, an educational program of the Japanese American National Museum funded through a Congressional appropriation and in partnership with the U.S. Army Center of Military History, Fighting for Democracy experiential exhibition premiered in Los Angeles in 2005 and is in the midst of a national tour. Both exhibitions are free with museum admission and on display through June 10, 2012.