LESSON PLANS
The Asian American Education Project
The history of Asian Americans in the United States is an integral part of American history. Since their arrival as far back as the 1800s, Asian immigrants have contributed and shaped the way the country is today. From labor activism to fighting for school integration and citizenship rights in the courts, and against model minority and perpetual foreigner stereotypes, Asian Americans have faced adversity and fought for opportunities to create roots here in the U.S. From building coalitions with other minority groups, Asian Americans have been a vital part of major historical achievements including the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, and Title IX. Today, as one of the fastest–growing populations, Asian Americans continue to make further positive and effective changes towards a better future for the United States, together with all their fellow Americans.
The history of Asian American is deeply intertwined together with America’s own history, yet often forgotten or ignored within today’s classrooms and public discourse. Our online lesson plans here provide a tailored K–12 curriculum for educators to teach this rich history to students. These lessons are but just a brief snapshot into the long journey of Asian immigrants and their native–born children within America’s timeline—both dark and bright, from exclusion to acceptance. By showcasing the struggles and triumphs of Asian Americans over the course of two centuries, our lesson plans amplify the importance and voices of this growing, integral segment of the U.S. population in building the country into what it is today and can become tomorrow, together as Americans. It is important for all Americans, young and old, to join in on this learning experience.
By PBS
Asian Americans is a five-hour film series that delivers a bold, fresh perspective on a history that matters today, more than ever. As America becomes more diverse, and more divided while facing unimaginable challenges, how do we move forward together? Told through intimate personal stories, the series will cast a new lens on U.S. history and the ongoing role that Asian Americans have played.
1 Breaking Through 2 A Question of Loyalty3 Good Americans4 Generation Rising5 Breaking Through
Asian Americans in the People’s History of the United States
by Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Chicago
LINK HERE : https://www.zinnedproject.org/materials/asian-americans-and-moments-in-peoples-history/
By Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center
This is a thoughtful, expansive video series that can be used in the classroom and in community discussions. This resource addresses the following topics in 8 individual videos:
Asian-Black Solidarity Movements for Liberation
The Model Minority Myth
Occupation of the the Hawaiian Kingdom
Southeast Asian American Experiences in the US
Queer and Asian Identities
Filipinx Americans as Cross-Coalition Builders
South Asian American Experiences in the US
The Racialization of Undocumented Asians
The Bamboo Ceiling
Important Court Cases in Asian Pacific American History
Caste in the United States
THE TEAACH ACT
Teaching Equitable Asian American Community History Act — TEAACH
Illinois Becomes First State to Require Asian American History to be Taught in Public Schools
Illinois Has Become The First State To Require The Teaching Of Asian American History
This toolkit represents the work and thinking of 15 grassroots organizations with Asian American bases living in the most precarious margins of power: low-income tenants, youth, undocumented immigrants, low-wage workers, refugees, women and girls, and queer and trans people. It reflects their experiences with criminalization, deportation, homophobia, xenophobia and Islamo-racism, war, gender violence, poverty, and worker exploitation. All of the modules are designed to begin with people’s lived experiences, and to build structural awareness of why those experiences are happening, and how they are tied to the oppression of others. By highlighting the role of people’s resistance both past and present, the toolkit also seeks to build hope and a commitment to political struggle. In these perilous times, it is an intervention by today’s Asian American activists to restore our collective humanity across our differences through a practice of deep democracy, by looking first to history and then to one another to build a vigilant and expansive love for the people.
During the pandemic, there has been a steep rise in racial discrimination, harassment, and physical assaults against Asian American youth. Parents play a key role in supporting children who may face these attacks or see this behavior around them.
The William James College Center for Multicultural and Global Mental Health (CMGMH) Asian Mental Health Program, in collaboration with the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Center for Cross Cultural Student Emotional Wellness, has developed a Guide to provide parents with the knowledge and skills to effectively support their children.
There is a tendency to group all Asian & Asian American students together under a singular stereotype or narrative. However, in reality, there is a wide range of Asian identities and experiences that are accompanied with unique struggles. Failure to recognize the diversity among Asian identities could lead to students feeling misunderstood and unseen and can significantly stunt student growth. Each student brings a unique culture, history, and personal story into the classroom, and recognizing this diversity is imperative to student flourishing. This webinar is intended for professionals and educators who seek to understand the diversity of identities, experiences, and challenges that come with the Asian & Asian American cultural identity, specifically how one's cultural identity affects areas of learning, mental health, and growth.
In response to professionals’ need for knowledge on Asian American identity, acculturation, mental health support, and so on, we have generated a fact sheet on Asian/Asian American racial & cultural identity. Please download to learn more.
Check out this video on students’ answers to “What I wish my teachers understood about me”.
May is Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month – a celebration of Asians and Pacific Islanders in the United States. A rather broad term, Asian/Pacific encompasses all of the Asian continent and the Pacific islands of Melanesia (New Guinea, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Fiji and the Solomon Islands), Micronesia (Marianas, Guam, Wake Island, Palau, Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Nauru and the Federated States of Micronesia) and Polynesia (New Zealand, Hawaiian Islands, Rotuma, Midway Islands, Samoa, American Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, Cook Islands, French Polynesia and Easter Island).
Like most commemorative months, Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month originated with Congress. In 1977 Reps. Frank Horton of New York introduced House Joint Resolution 540 to proclaim the first ten days in May as Pacific/Asian American Heritage Week. In the same year, Senator Daniel Inouye introduced a similar resolution, Senate Joint Resolution 72. Neither of these resolutions passed, so in June 1978, Rep. Horton introduced House Joint Resolution 1007. This resolution proposed that the President should “proclaim a week, which is to include the seventh and tenth of the month, during the first ten days in May of 1979 as ‘Asian/Pacific American Heritage Week.’” This joint resolution was passed by the House and then the Senate and was signed by President Jimmy Carter on October 5, 1978 to become Public Law 95-419 (PDF, 158kb). This law amended the original language of the bill and directed the President to issue a proclamation for the “7 day period beginning on May 4, 1979 as ‘Asian/Pacific American Heritage Week.’” During the next decade, presidents passed annual proclamations for Asian/Pacific American Heritage Week until 1990 when Congress passed Public Law 101-283 (PDF, 166kb) which expanded the observance to a month for 1990. Then in 1992, Congress passed Public Law 102-450 (PDF, 285kb) which annually designated May as Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month.
The month of May was chosen to commemorate the immigration of the first Japanese to the United States on May 7, 1843, and to mark the anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental railroad on May 10, 1869. The majority of the workers who laid the tracks were Chinese immigrants.
MODEL MINORITY
Work in Progress.