NYC schools to teach Asian American history

NEW YORK CITY will launch a new pilot program in schools that aims to teach students about the history of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, the city's Department of Education has announced.

Under the curriculum, ‘Hidden Voices: Asian American and Pacific Islanders in the US,' students in grades K-12 will learn about the contributions, culture and history of the Asian American community.

The program is part of the Hidden Voices Project, which sheds light on lesser-known figures that have shaped history. The effort will extend to more than 1,800 schools across the New York City educational system.

Hunter College, the Coalition for Asian American Children and Families (CACF) and the Asian American Education Project are among the organizations developing the new curriculum.

Kaveri Sengupta, the senior policy coordinator for education at CACF, an advocacy organization for the Asian American community, said the curriculum looks to highlight the diverse experiences in the Asian American community. She added that education is also critical in dismantling anti-Asian hate.

‘We kind of see erasure from curriculum as being one of the root causes of the anti-Asian rhetoric we hear, the hate or the violence that we see,' Sengupta said, adding that this would help Asian American and Pacific Islander students ‘see themselves reflected and feel like they are really a part of the American fabric.'

The materials will include the Chinese Exclusion Act, the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II and the targeting of Muslims, Sikhs and South Asian Americans after 9/11, including the travel ban announced in 2017 that restricted travel from predominantly Muslim countries.

‘Anti-Asian hate has really extended to all Americans descended from every part of Asia and that's not widely understood, even today,' said Vivian Louie, director of the Asian American Studies Program and Center, professor of Urban Policy and Planning at Hunter College.