Sacramento - Railroad & California State Museum
One of my top choices for stops. I was pleasantly surprised by both the Sacramento Railroad Museum and the California State Museum’s 金山橙 Gam Saan exhibit.
Located inside Old Sacramento’s State Historic Park at 125 I St, Sacramento, CA 95814. We had opted for the guided tour which was really helpful. The tour starts off with an overview and then quickly goes into the Chinese experience. I thoroughly enjoyed learning about the Chinese work on the railroads. They had a well research display of artifacts which was particularly helpful for me, since we have many similar artifacts that were traded at the Bo Do Hong herbal shop when the Chinese could not afford to pay such as a pick, switch log, cup, wine vessel etc. Moreover, we had a chance to ask the conductors about the different era’s of trunks. All around us in little towns, are these beautiful antique trunks but I never knew their age. Now, we’ve learned how the trunks were stored and transported for voyages. The railroad trains themselves have wonderful displays where you can see what they looked like during their peak use.
The California State Museum has a large 金山橙 Gold Mountain exhibit right off the entrance. I was pleasantly surprised with the digital wall which was interactive. This exhibit was both appealing for a young audience and millennial generation. My favorite aspect were the different displays of stories across all segments of Chinese Pioneer’s work. The exhibit shares personal stories of the generations that followed, their successes, trials and tribulations and also challenges of assimilating with the host society (America). More specifically, Lisa Ling grew up in Sacramento and discusses the struggle that Chinese American descendants have within themselves growing up in a post Chinese Exclusion Act era. My grandfather also, a Chinese American, always expressed how important it was to support our fellow Chinese American’s and celebrate their accomplishments and successes.
