The lesson focuses on the first Asian Americans to run for Congress - Patsy Mink and Daniel Inouye - who paved the way for future generations of Asian Americans to be politically active.

2021 Social Science Standards Integrated with Ethnic Studies:
Civics and Government: 7.5, 8.2, 8.7, 8.8, HS.2, HS.6, HS.9, HS.11
Historical Knowledge: 8.25, 8.27, HS.52, HS.60, HS.64, HS.65, HS.66
Historical Thinking: 7.25, 8.31, 8.32, HS.67, HS.68
Social Science Analysis: 7.27, 7.29, 8.33, 8.36, HS.72, H.73, HS.78

For Asian Americans living, working, and growing up in the margins in the United States during the 1960s and 70s, participating in social activism played an important role in advancing justice for them as citizens of the United States. Asian Americans worked in partnership with other ethnic and racial groups to overcome unfair treatment. Through the examples of the United Farm Workers Movement and the student strike at San Francisco State College, and at the Peace Rally after the L.A. Civil Unrest, students will learn how Asian Americans spoke out against injustice and stood up for the better treatment of all Americans.

2021 Social Science Standards Integrated with Ethnic Studies:
Civics and Government: 3.2
Geography: 5.13
Historical Knowledge: 1.12, 5.22
Historical Thinking: 2.21
Social Science Analysis: 1.12, 3.18, 3.19, 4.21, 4.24, 5.28

During the 1970s, arts and culture became vehicles for elevating the narratives of Asian Americans, a term first used in 1968 during the struggle to establish ethnic studies at San Francisco State College. Under this new pan-Asian identity, a generation of young Asian American organizers, academics, and artists emerged and ready to define themselves and their history to the rest of America. Musicians, artists, writers and filmmakers helped to increase the visibility of Asian American identities and cultures across various media.

Civics and Government: HS.11
Historical Knowledge: 8.25, HS.63, HS.65
Historical Thinking: 8.32
Social Science Analysis: 6.24, 7.28

Asian American histories or contributions are often left out when students study the development of the nation up to 1850, which could inaccurately lead students to believe that Asian American communities did not exist during this time period. In fact, Asian Americans were here at the formation of the United States. Specifically, Filipino Americans settled in the U.S. as early as 1763, and Filipino sailors had arrived in California as early as 1587. In 1763, Filipino sailors settled in a Louisiana bayou, and became the first Filipino immigrants to settle in the United States, known as “Manilamen.” Along with enslaved people and other people of color, the Filipino immigrants built a small fishing village called Saint Malo. These Manilamen made many contributions to Louisiana and the U.S., including revolutionizing the shrimping industry.

2021 Social Science Standards Integrated with Ethnic Studies:
Geography: 5.13, 8.20
Historical Knowledge: 8.27, 8.28
Historical Thinking: 8.31, 8.32
Social Science Analysis: 4.21, 4.24, 5.26, 5.27, 5.28, 6.24, 6.27,6.28, 7.29, 7.30, 8.36

Stereotyping is a form of systemic racism for Asian Americans, who have historically been stereotyped in the United States through “Yellow Peril” fearmongering—economic and societal threats. Viewed as perpetual foreigners, no matter their duration living here or whether they were American-born, Asian males are often characterized as scheming, weak, ignorant, and undesirable, while Asian females are exotic, cunning, and subservient. This perpetual foreigner stereotype is maintained by institutions from Hollywood, private and public sectors to elected public servants. Asian Americans have been fighting against stereotypes since the 1920s, and continue to do so, on- and off-screen.

2021 Social Science Standards Integrated with Ethnic Studies:
Civics and Government: 6.4, 7.5
Historical Knowledge: 6.20, 6.21, 8.25, 8.27, HS.63, HS.64, HS.65
Historical Thinking: 7.25, 8.32
Social Science Analysis: 6.26, 6.27, 7.29, 8.34, HS.71, HS.73, HS.74

Asian Americans who served in the U.S. military during war in Vietnam were confronted not only by the harsh realities of war, but also with their racial and national identities. Asian American military service officers faced racism from their superiors and fellow U.S. soldiers, and were challenged by Vietnamese citizens and soldiers who saw a connection to them. This lesson explores some of the ways in which Asian Americans in the military experienced the war in Vietnam and the ways they negotiated their identities with being seen by both sides as “foreign invaders.”

2021 Social Science Standards Integrated with Ethnic Studies:
Historical Knowledge: HS.60, HS.64
Historical Thinking: HS.70
Social Science Analysis: HS.72, HS.74, HS.76, HS.77

Perpetual foreigner stereotyping is a form of systemic racism used against Asian Americans. They have historically been stereotyped as foreigners in the United States no matter their duration of time living here or whether they were American-born. The perpetual foreigner stereotype is maintained by institutions such as Hollywood, private and public sectors, to elected public officials. Throughout U.S. history, Asian Americans have been scapegoated as the cause of the country’s various problems and catastrophes including economic despair, wars, terrorism, and coronavirus pandemic.

2021 Social Science Standards Integrated with Ethnic Studies:
Civics and Government: 8.8, HS.2, HS.9
Geography: 5.13
Historical Knowledge: 5.22, 6.20, 6.21, 8.22, 8.25, HS.63, HS.64, HS.65, HS.66
Historical Thinking: 7.25, 8.31, 8.32
Social Science Analysis: 5.26, 5.27, 5.28, 6.24, 6.26, 6.27, 6.28, 7.27, 7.29, 7.30, 8.34, 8.36, HS.71, HS.72, HS.73, HS.74, HS.75

This lesson will cover the story of the Tape family, Chinese immigrants and their American-born children residing in San Francisco, California. Joseph and Mary Tape attempted to enroll their daughter, Mamie, at Spring Valley Primary, an all-white school, and were denied based on their race. Students will learn about the Tape family, Joseph and Mary’s California Supreme Court case, Tape v. Hurley (1885), and the greater connections their story lent itself to anti-Asian sentiment in the United States at that time and fight for school desegregation.

2021 Social Science Standards Integrated with Ethnic Studies:
Civics and Government: 7.5, 8.2, 8.6, 8.7, 8.8, HS.1, HS.2
Geography: HS.51
Historical Knowledge: 8.22, 8.25, HS.52, HS.58, HS.64, HS.65, HS.66
Historical Thinking: 7.25, 8.31, 8.32, HS.67, HS.68, HS.69
Social Science Analysis: 8.34, 8.36, HS.72, HS.73, HS.74

With the United States and the Soviet Union in a Cold War, fears of Southeast Asia falling to communism led to America’s increasing involvement with political and military matters in Vietnam, which was split between the communist North and anti-communist South in 1954. This lesson will address the U.S. government’s economic and tactical support of the conflict in Vietnam, and atrocities committed by American troops against Vietnamese civilians, which later became public. Domestically, an anti-war movement in the U.S. began to grow, with people questioning America’s involvement overseas—the money spent and the lives lost—which later impacted the war itself, including the withdrawal of troops and policies passed to prevent future U.S. military action without congressional approval.

2021 Social Science Standards Integrated with Ethnic Studies:
Civics and Government: 8.10, HS.10
Historical Thinking: 7.25
Social Science Analysis: 7.29, 8.33, 8.36, HS.72, HS.74, HS.77, HS.78

As students study the impact of immigrants and the development of the United States, regionally and as a whole, early South Asian immigration should be discussed. Early South Asian immigrants played a significant role in the nation’s economic and agricultural development, especially in California. Early South Asian immigrants formed their own communities and created unique communities with other marginalized communities around them, such as Black, Mexican, and Puerto Rican communities. This lesson focuses on the experiences and impact of these early South Asian Americans.

2021 Social Science Standards Integrated with Ethnic Studies:
Civics and Government: 5.1, 5.4, 6.4
Economics: 4.4
Historical Knowledge: 5.22, 6.20, 6.21
Historical Thinking: 5.23, 5.24, 6.23, 6.24, 6.28
Social Science Analysis: 4.21, 4.24, 5.26, 5.27

The terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 marked a turning point in American policies toward immigration, privacy, and the ways South Asian Americans were perceived and treated after. Students will learn about the various ways South Asian Americans have experienced disproportionate and targeted racial profiling, hate crimes, and other acts of discrimination. They will also learn about the ways in which South Asian Americans responded to the 9/11 attacks and the aftermath, providing insight into how immigrant communities are often caught between the pressures of representing themselves in a way that appeals to the expectations of the status quo, and the desire to practice their culture and traditions in a way that allows them to fully embrace their cultural and ancestral identity.

2021 Social Science Standards Integrated with Ethnic Studies:
Civics and Government: 5.1, 6.4, 7.5, 8.8, 8.9, HS.2, HS.6, HS.9, HS.10, HS.11
Geography: 5.13, HS.51
Historical Knowledge: 5.22, 6.20, 6.21, 8.22, 8.25, HS.52, HS.64, HS.65
Historical Thinking: 5.25, 7.25, 8.31, 8.32, HS.68
Social Science Analysis: 5.26, 5.27, 5.28, 6.24, 6.26, 6.27, 7.27, 7.29, 8.33, 8.34, 8.36, HS.72, HS.73, HS.74, HS.75, HS.76, HS.78

Organized around the compelling question "How have Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders engaged civically and contributed to U.S. culture?" and grounded in inquiry-based teaching and learning, this lesson brings history, civics, and the arts together to learn about the experiences and perspectives of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) in U.S. history. Primary sources, literature, and works of art created by AAPI individuals and related organizations provide an historical as well as contemporary context for concepts and issues including civic participation, immigration, and culture.

Students will explore Asian American and Pacific Islander (“AAPI”) women’s poetry in order to craft and inspire their own poetry, studying central idea and six different poetic elements over the course of the unit. After analyzing and interpreting poems, students will recognize poetry as a vehicle to express untold stories about events small and large. Students will learn about the experiences of and challenges faced by AAPI women, including topics of retaining culture, climate change, and more.

2021 Social Science Standards Integrated with Ethnic Studies:
Civics and Government: 5.1, 7.5
Economics: 4.4
Historical Knowledge: 5.22
Social Science Analysis: 3.19, 4.21, 4.24, 5.26, 52.27, 6.26, 7.28, 7.29

This online database of our Asian Ethnographic collection includes artifacts that were found throughout the continent of Asia, from Russia to Indonesia, from Turkey to Japan. The database allows you to see all artifacts for a country by clicking on a map or list of country names, search by object type, culture, and keyword, find out what items are currently on display and learn about recently acquired artifacts. There are two ways to search the collection as a picture-only gallery, or as a catalog that describes each artifact's provenance (country, locale, culture), materials, dimensions, and year of acquisition.

The American Yawp constructs a coherent and accessible narrative from all the best of recent historical scholarship. Without losing sight of politics and power, it incorporates transnational perspectives, integrates diverse voices, recovers narratives of resistance, and explores the complex process of cultural creation. It looks for America in crowded slave cabins, bustling markets, congested tenements, and marbled halls. It navigates between maternity wards, prisons, streets, bars, and boardrooms. Whitman’s America, like ours, cut across the narrow boundaries that strangle many narratives. Balancing academic rigor with popular readability, The American Yawp offers a multi-layered, democratic alternative to the American past.

This lesson focuses on early Asian immigrants to the United States, their reasons for immigration, successes they experienced, challenges they faced, and the changing reception they received in their host country. Students will learn what an immigrant is, what it means to be an “American, what the American Dream is, and how primary sources and secondary sources provide varied perspectives that inform a deeper understanding of an event.

2021 Social Science Standards Integrated with Ethnic Studies:
Civics and Government: K.1, 3.2, 5.1
Historical Knowledge: 2.16, 5.22
Historical Thinking: K.17, K.18, 2.22
Social Science Analysis: 1.19, 1.21, 3.18, 3.19, 4.24, 5.27

The estimated number of undocumented immigrants living in the United States in 2018 is 11.3 million. Of these, about 3.6 million entered the U.S. before their 18th birthday. This latter group, the Dreamers, have been advocating for a path towards legal residency and citizenship since 2001. This lesson will explore the origins of the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act (DREAM Act) and connect the story of Tereza Lee, the first DREAMer, and the current struggles of others like her against possible family separation and deportation.

2021 Social Science Standards Integrated with Ethnic Studies:
Civics and Government: 6.4, 7.5, 8.7, 8.8, 8.9, HS.1, HS.2, HS.6, HS.9, HS.10, HS.11
Economics: HS.24
Geography: HS.51
Historical Knowledge: 8.22, 8.25, HS.58, HS.61, HS.64, HS.65
Historical Thinking: 8.32, HS.67, HS.69, HS.70
Social Science Analysis: 6.24, 6.26, 6.27, 6.28, 7.27, 7.29, 7.30, 8.33, 8.34, 8.36, HS.71, HS.72, HS.73, HS.75, HS.77, HS.78

Signed on May 6th, 1882 by President Chester A. Arthur, the Chinese Exclusion Act was the first law to explicitly limit immigration based on race. This lesson is designed to go further in exploring the causes and effects of the Chinese Exclusion Act through analysis of primary and secondary sources. The purpose is to showcase the conditions in the US that led to a rise in xenophobia, and in turn, race-based policies that defined the Chinese American and Asian American experience in the United States. The lesson will also have students engage in critical thinking through research and a class discussion comparing and contrasting the Chinese Exclusion Act and current immigration policies or proposed immigration policies.

2021 Social Science Standards Integrated with Ethnic Studies:
Civics and Government: 5.1, 6.4, 7.5, 8.7, 8.8, HS.1, HS.2, HS.9, HS.10
Economics: 7.8
Geography: 5.13, HS.51
Historical Knowledge: 5.22, 6.20, 6.21, 8.22, 8.25, HS.52, HS.64
Historical Thinking: 7.25, 8.31, HS.68
Social Science Analysis: 5.26, 5.27, 6.24, 6.26, 8.34, 8.36, HS.72, HS.73, HS.74

This lesson covers four important lawsuits brought by Asian Americans with important consequences for American citizenship, equal protection, and racial identity: Yick Wo, Wong Kim Ark, Takao Ozawa, Bhagat Singh Thind.

2021 Social Science Standards Integrated with Ethnic Studies:
Civics and Government: 6.4, 7.5, 8.7, 8.8, HS.1, HS.2, HS.6, HS.11
Historical Knowledge: 5.22, 6.20, 6.21, 8.22, 8.25, HS.52, HS.58, HS.63, HS.64
Historical Thinking: 5.24, 6.23, 7.25, 8.31, HS.69, HS.70
Social Science Analysis: 5.26, 5.27, 6.24, 7.27, 8.36, HS.72, HS.73, HS.74, HS.78

Japanese Americans suffered terrible injustices as a result of governmental policies during World War II that discriminated against them by treating them like enemies. In this lesson, students examine what happened to Japanese Americans during WWII, what constitutional rights were violated in the process, and why such a massive injustice happened.

2021 Social Science Standards Integrated with Ethnic Studies:
Civics and Government: 2.4, 3.2, 5.1, 6.4
Economics: 1.4, 4.4
Geography: 5.13
Historical Knowledge: K.14, 1.12, 2.16, 5.22, 6.21
Historical Thinking: 2.21, 2.22, 6.23
Social Science Analysis: 1.19, 2.23, 2.25, 3.18, 3.19, 4.21, 4.24, 5.27, 5.28, 6.24, 6.27, 6.28