ANN ARBOR, MI — Cultural diversity was the theme of the day as Ann Arborites gathered to celebrate the city’s 200th birthday at Liberty Plaza on Saturday, May 25. Between musical acts and other festivities, residents with diverse backgrounds took turns talking about what Ann Arbor and the bicentennial mean to them. “This is a magical city,” said Amy Seetoo, co-founder of the Chinese American Society of Ann Arbor and the Michigan Taiwanese American Organization.
Seetoo has lived in Ann Arbor for over four decades and enjoys its diverse culture, she said, also mentioning connections she has made here with other people from Taiwan and China, including her first-grade teacher who came here to pursue a doctorate degree in linguistics. “Growing up in Taipei, I vaguely heard about Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan because the University of Michigan had a project with my alma mater, the National Chengchi University, she said, adding she now calls Ann Arbor “my forever home.” Artemis Leontis, a professor of modern Greek studies at UM, said when Ann Arbor was founded 200 years ago, her ancestors lived in thriving empires in Southeast Europe and the Middle East.
But those empires eventually collapsed and her ancestors lost their homes and sought shelter in the U.S. “A few Greeks arrived in Ann Arbor around that time, so by 1930 their numbers had grown to 13% of the population, which is quite an amazing number,” she said, noting other immigrants also came from ot.
