When I was 7, I signed a birthday card to my aunt by spelling my last name as my teacher had taught me:

Bower. My father became deeply upset and explained to me that "Bower" is the Dutch spelling of the name; we are German and spell our name Bauer. He explained that during World War II, German Americans were pressured to change their names to the Dutch spelling so that they could avoid prejudice from other "Americans." Even though it cost my great-grandparents jobs, credibility and at times, safety in their own homes, my great-grandparents never changed their name. Two years later, I would learn that, in comparison to the Japanese and other Asian-Americans, my great-grandparents had it easy.

My mother can trace her family back to the Mayflower. On her side, my family has signed the Declaration of Independence, sat as a vice president and assisted in the Underground Railroad movement. My grandmother was even a suffragette. My father's is much different; his history is one of immigration. His paternal side came from Germany through Ellis Island, and because of the oppression they received, moved out west in covered wagons. My grandmother came when she was young from Ireland; her parents were sometimes denied service because of their red hair and accents in Chicago. Despite the anti-immigrant sentiment she received, my grandmother and her family did their best in this new land.

It is with my proud history of immigration that I respond to David Garrigan's letter to the editor in which he describes being offended that the Children's Museum caters to Spanish as well as English speaking children. He seems to support an assimilation process where immigrants give up their language, culture and identity.

Yet, I believe that America is strongest when it supports a culture and history of integration, with each new wave of immigrants sharing their unique perspective and keeping their last names.

Mr. Garrigan had a choice at the Children's Museum: he could have used the opportunity to teach his children a new language. He could have shown his children what it means to rejoice in the various cultures that weave this country together. Instead, he did as so many have done in the past: he taught his children to disparage diversity, to fight different ideas or ways of interacting with the world. I don't know when his family came to America or what culture they brought with them, but I know that my family faced letters to the editor similar to the one he drafted. The only difference is that in those days institutions, like museums, colluded with a culture of oppression and would never have celebrated my family's country of origin.

Personally, I applaud and thank the museum for truly being an institution of learning and acceptance and look forward to a day when others in our country will join it.

E. Sage H. Bauer

North Providence