It was the heart that brought actor George Takei, 86, back to Arkansas for the 10th anniversary of the Japanese American Internment Museum at McGehee. More than 200 former internees, family members, and history buffs gathered to remember too. One former Rohwer internee, George Teraoka, will turn 102 this month.
This is a sort of family reunion and research that is connected to "roots tourism."
Speaking of the museum in the train depot in McGehee, former internee Takei said, "It takes people back in time to history to learn about what happened here 80 years ago, and it inspires people to look to the future and with the lessons learned here to build a better future, not only for Arkansas, but for America."
A handmaiden of heritage tourism, roots tourism is consequential. It personally connects generations and creates cultural bonds, and is something Arkansas communities should invest in to enrich the entire state.
As the city of Little Rock updates its tourism goals and resources and Arkansas readies itself for a busy tourism season, it's a great time to encourage creative aspects of tourism that Arkansas can promote and implement in the next three years.
And they might even attract more educated tourists and retirees who'd like to live in the Natural State. After all, to move forward, our state needs more educated residents who want to invest in and enjoy its bounty.
The Power of DNA 365 Days a Year
All the tourists who come to Arkansas bring DNA with them, with each tourist having more than 4,000 (!) tenth great-grandparents. Tourists with Arkansas roots, hungering for a deeper sense of identity in learning about their heritage, can engage in roots tourism 365 days a year in all areas of the state, and some of them already are.
The covid isolation--for all of its disadvantages--gave people nationwide substantial time to investigate their family history via databases at home. Forty million people have now had their DNA tested. They're on the move to find their roots.
Arkansas has a diverse heritage that includes Germans, Italians, Irish, French, Spanish, Native Americans, African Americans, Japanese Americans and others. We have military, civil rights, geographic, and agricultural history. The state is currently serving some roots tourists as an adjunct to its already extensive investments through the Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage, and Tourism.
Path to Economic Success
It turns out that roots tourism is lucrative. Statistics on heritage tourists show that they stay up to 30 percent longer and spend more money than other tourists. So at the same time that tourists with Arkansas heritage are coming back to explore family origins, they can also contribute to the state's economy and its quality of life.
Like George Takei, they usually return more than once. That is a heartwarming win-win proposition for a family values state. Arkansas can do well economically by also doing good.
The Natural State must consider investing in promotion to do three things: attract/track new roots travelers (including expanding those at family reunions), extend the stays of business travelers whose heritage is here, and encourage Arkansans to learn more about their own heritage that occurred in other parts of the state.
Also, we must promote genealogy to a logical tourism base here: retirees. Larry Wilson and the Lifelong Learning Institute of Hot Springs Village are already doing this with the Arkansas Heritage Festival in the fall.
Roots tourism in local communities is a personal, customized heart-to-heart, face-to-face, eye-to-eye family experience, but it benefits from inspirational professional guidance such as localities, and the state can provide through libraries and archives at little cost.
The time is now. Those 4,000-plus tenth great-grandparents don't want to wait much longer to be rediscovered; they provide surprising and often amazing inspiration for who we can become. The heart wants genuine connection and roots tourism, and Arkansas is a Natural State to nurture and benefit from it.
Jeanne Rollberg of Little Rock is a genealogist with American Dream Genealogy and Research and a veteran roots tourist.