Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month Resources
Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month Resources
For Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, NCSS editors have curated this selection of articles and resources from Social Education and Social Studies and the Young Learner.
Social Education
Excluded From History: The Page Act of 1875
Examining the Page Act, which restricted the immigration of Chinese women into the United States, can stimulate important classroom discussions on the stigmatization of Asian women and its lingering implications today.
Japanese American Incarceration: Seeking Truth, Healing, and Reconciliation Through Art
Studying the artists and art of Japanese American incarceration can deepen student understanding about the experiences of 120,000 people forcibly removed from their homes during World War II.
Southeast Asian Refugees: Make Them Count
While some racial and ethnic groups share similarities, it’s important to disaggregate our teaching so that overlooked communities such as Southeast Asians can be properly represented.
Tactics Used to Promote Civic Participation and Action in APIDA Communities
Examining the rich history of Asian, Pacific Islander, and Desi American (APIDA) civic participation and resistance can spark an important classroom lesson on anti-Asian hate during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Historical Timeline of APIDA History
This timeline of APIDA history can launch numerous classroom activities that explore the historical, political, and societal contexts of specific events.
APIDA Resources
The featured list of lesson plans, websites, and primary sources can help teachers regularly incorporate APIDA history into the social studies classroom.
“Unhiding” the Impact of U.S. Imperialism in the Pacific
We must move beyond the “conqueror narratives” of our teaching because the struggles and resistance of colonized peoples are part of our national story.
Disrupting Anti-Asian Violence During Epidemics: A C3 Inquiry Lesson
The featured lesson plan explores the history of scapegoating during epidemics and examines how politicians and media can exacerbate xenophobia.
Social Education March/April 2022
Teaching and Learning about Asian American History
Guest Editors: Virginia Loh-Hagan, Stewart Kwoh, and Pat Kwoh
Social Studies and the Young Learner
Pedagogical Possibilities with Culturally Conscious Picturebooks Centering South Asian American Youth
This article focuses on 13 picturebooks by South Asian authors which the author categorizes as culturally conscious picturebooks. These books show the beauty of the lived experiences of South Asian American families. The author argues that in response to the sociopolitical realities, social studies educators can expand their curricula to weave in voices from South Asian communities.
Teaching Asian American Contributions to the Civil Rights Movement Through Children’s Literature
In this article, the authors share how children’s literature can be used to center the contributions of Asian Americans to the ongoing work of civil rights activism while disrupting harmful/racist stereotypes about Asian Americans.
Disrupting Dominant Narratives of Asian Americans in the United States Using Yang’s Front Desk
This article models the integration of social studies and language arts commonly used in elementary classrooms by using a text that incorporates straightforward social studies content in the context of the daily experiences of a Chinese family in the U.S. The authors illustrate how to use the award-winning novel, Front Desk by Kelly Yang, with young learners in grades 4–6 to examine the myriad of experiences with class, race, language, and exploitation that immigrants from China to the United States often encounter.
Teaching NCSS Themes Using Yang’s Front Desk
Pullout for "Disrupting Dominant Narratives of Asian Americans in the United States Using Yang’s Front Desk"
Teaching about the Vietnam War: Centering Southeast Asian Voices through Children’s Literature
In “Teaching about the Vietnam War: Centering Southeast Asian Refugee Voices through Children’s Literature,” Sohyun An provides content and pedagogic knowledge for teaching about the Vietnam War through Southeast Asian refugee children’s books. The author provides a brief overview of the war from Southeast Asian perspectives and describes two elementary schoolteachers’ instructional approaches to center Southeast Asian refugee experiences to the Vietnam War lessons. Along with this article, An also created the pullout for this issue, “Handouts and Resources for Teaching about the Vietnam War.”
Seen but not Seen: Supporting Transracial and Transnational Adoptees in the Classroom
Melanie McCormick and Alycia West implore educators to engage in thoughtful conversations about transnational adoption in “Seen but not Seen: Supporting Transracial and Transnational Adoptees in the Classroom.” The authors draw on their stories of growing up as transracial and transnational adoptees as well as their research on children’s literature on adoption to provide instructional guidelines and resources for teachers to teach about transnational adoption.
Finding Light among Uncertainty
Since the mainstream U.S. history curriculum often excludes Asian Americans’ struggles and resilience, many educators in the United States struggle to teach this subject. In particular, few studies explore how elementary social studies teachers use culturally relevant pedagogy to help Asian American students analyze and critique anti-Asian violence. This article addresses the gap.
Reading Diverse Books Is Not Enough: Challenging Racist Assumptions Using Asian American Children’s Literature
This article draws on my reflections from a year-long study in a first-grade classroom in a Midwestern public elementary school during which the author read and discussed a total of fourteen Asian American picture books with the class. In this article, she discusses the children’s interactions with Asian American stories and provides suggestions for using children’s literature to teach about Asian American history and culture.
Not Your Model Minority: An Inquiry on the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965
The realities of COVID-19 have clearly revealed the myth of the model minority, a stereotype in which Asian Americans are seen as successful and high achieving in contrast to other Communities of Color. An ever-present, but sometimes seemingly dormant, anti- Asian racism in the United States is reflective of patterns in U.S. immigration history. Yet, neither is often taught in PK-12 education. In this article, the authors briefly outline the history of two major policies in Asian American immigration history and share an inquiry designed to help students explore the institutionalized racism that has defined who is a “good” immigrant.
Using Digital Archives to Teach Early South Asian American Histories
In this article, the author considers the use of Asian American digital archives as sources of critical inquiry for the elementary social studies classroom.It includes a brief overview of early South Asian American history, focusing on Punjabi and Bengali migrations, then orients educators to two note-worthy community archives, the South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA) and the Pioneering Punjabis Digital Archive. A sample lesson on Bhagat Singh Thind, a South Asian pioneer who challenged exclusionary citizenship laws in the twentieth century, is provided.
We Are Here: Civic Education through Southeast Asian Deportation Community Defense
In elementary classrooms, teaching immigration often begins and ends at Ellis Island—without discussions of racist migration policies or engagement with current issues.This exploration of Southeast Asian (SEA) deportation community defense provides opportunities for young people to understand the relationship between power, migration, and citizenship.
Teaching Difficult Knowledge of World War II in the Philippines with Children’s Literature and Inquiry
In this article, the author describes three inquiry activities based on a children’s book set in the Philippines during World War II. In many U.S. history and modern world history curricula and textbooks, events in the Philippines (and more generally in the Pacific theater) during World War II are not covered well.
Handouts for Inquiry Lesson 1: The Philippines as a U.S. Colony
Handouts for lesson described in "Teaching Difficult Knowledge of World War II in the Philippines with Children’s Literature and Inquiry" by Sohyun An
Teaching Difficult Knowledge of the Korean War through International Children’s Literature
This article posits that children’s literature can present difficult knowledge about wars in a child-friendly way. The author shares transnational children’s literature and a sample lesson to teach about the Korean War in a more critical and complete manner than is usually provided to students
Mrs. Mink Goes to Washington: The First Japanese American Member of Congress
In this article, we offer resources and activities that highlight Patsy Mink's congressional achieve- ments and experiences, and push young students to think about the institution of Congress with a gendered lens.