In late Spring 1998, Edward James Olmos invited Curt Fukuda to participate in the Americanos Project, created by Dr. Lea Ybarra, Manuel Monterrey and Olmos himself. He requested close-up portraits of latinos who had Asian features. The purpose of Americanos was to explore the complexity of interconnected cultures and present a portrait of Latino America.
Although Fukuda’s involvement with the project was too late to have photographs included in the Time Warner book, he was one of 30 photographers who contributed to the traveling exhibition.
The final photographs for the project were selected by SITES; Michel du Cille, Senior Picture Editor, The Washington Post; Eric Easter, CEO, OneMedia and co-creator of the 1992 SITES exhibition Songs of My People; Jose Galvez, Senior Photography Editor, The Los Angeles Times; Mark Hinojosa, Director of Photography, the Chicago Tribune; Liliana Nieto Del Rio, award-winning photographer; and Edward James Olmos, actor and project organizer.
Besides Curt, photographers in the exhibition include: Jules Allen, Hector Amezcua, Juana Arias, Aurelio Jose Barrera, Andy Barron, John Castillo, Al Diaz, Jimmy Dorantes, Hector Emanuel, Jose Galvez, Timothy Gonzales, Janet Jarman, Ramon Mena Owens, Genaro Molina, Liliana Nieto del Rio, Jose Osorio, Antonio Perez, Paul Perez, Pedro Perez, Eugene Richards, Carlos Rios, Rita Rivera, Alexis Rodriguez Duarte, Miriam Romais, Marcio Sanchez, Beatriz Terrazas, Nuri Vallbona, Jose Luis Villegas, and Magdalena Zavala.
Curt thanks the following people who helped him on the project: Mark Briggs, Rigo Chacon, Carmen Johnson, and Monica Limas.
Americanos opened at the Smithsonian Museum of American History in 1999 and toured until 2004.