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Asian Pacific American Heritage Month is an annual celebration in May that highlights the histories, heritages, and contributions of Asian American and Pacific Islander communities in the United States.
Over 20 million people of Asian and Pacific Islander descent live in the United States totaling about 6 percent of the population. In this article, you will learn how to teach about the history, geography, and cultures of Asia and the Pacific Islands to pay tribute to an important segment of the United States population.
When is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month?
Asian Pacific American Heritage Month is celebrated in May because of two key historical events in Asian American history. The first is the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad, which could not have been completed without Chinese immigrants. The railroad was completed in May of 1869. It also commemorates the arrival of the first Japanese immigrant to the United States in May 1843.
What does Asian Pacific American Heritage Month commemorate?
The diaspora from Asia to North America began in 1587, thirty-three years before the pilgrims arrived at Plymouth Rock. In the 400-plus years since then, immigration from Asia has forever impacted the United States. The immigration journeys of Asian Americans were at times painful and at times hopeful. Learning about the history of Asian Americans is important in deeply understanding the history of the United States and current events today.
The Pacific Islands are home to over 20,000 islands with thousands of distinct languages and cultures. In fact, it holds the most language-dense region in the world – Melanesia. Some of the islands in the Pacific Ocean have been claimed by other countries as states or territories. Some are their own autonomous countries. Most Pacific Islanders are connected to the United States through colonization, rather than immigration.
4 Tips to Teach about Asian Pacific American Heritage Month
Tip #1: Explore History
Much of what students learn about American history excludes Asian American and Pacific Islander history. But the history of the United States’ relationship with Asian and the Pacific Islands is integral to understanding United States history.
Many students believe that the pilgrims at Plymouth Rock were the first to arrive in the United States. However, Luzon Indians, from what is today the Philippines, arrived in the United States 33 years before the pilgrims. Many history curricula exclude Asian American and Pacific Island history. Students miss out on learning about Hawaiian kingdoms, the formation of Chinatowns, Vietnamese immigration, and many other significant historical events, which we include in our unit about Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.
Tip #2: Build Cultural Awareness
During Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, teach about accurate language stuednts can use when discussing the identities of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. Asia and the Pacific Islands are large regions with a high density of languages and cultures. In our unit about Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, students explore the geography of Asia and the Pacific Islands, so that students can be more accurate when discussing these regions, instead of generalizing them.
Students may relate differently to these discussions depending on their cultural identities. Typically, overgeneralizing groups of people come from lacking the language to describe it. Teaching your students about these regions is key to building cultural awareness.
Tip #3: Explore the Arts
Explore Asian American art and artists. From murals to weaving to ceramics, art reveals so much about history and culture. Navigate this immersive exposition from the Asian Art Museum from your classroom. Learn about the Japanese art of origami and the haiku, a Japanese form of poetry. Listen to the ukulele for cultural insight into Hawaii. Enliven the five senses with art, music, and poetry that give students a glimpse into the cultures of these regions of the world.
Tip #4: Develop Research Skills
Students can learn to research independently and filter through sources and information. After teaching about Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, give students time to explore their own interests in the topic. Students can complete independent research about a country or territory. They could create a timeline about historical events in Asian American History. Both of these projects are included in our 20-day unit. Independent research gives students a chance to rethink their worldview, while exploring their own connections to a topic.
How to Teach Difficult History
Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders can be unsettling. However, it is still necessary for students to learn. Difficult history can elicit a strong emotional reaction. It can force us to confront our own world view. Teaching difficult history is important because these lessons can guide how we act in the future. The exclusionary policies again Asian Americans, the internment of Japanese Americans, and the violent overthrow of Pacific Islands, including Hawaii, are not easy to discuss. Read on for some tips to address difficult history in your classroom during Asian Pacific American Heritage Month:
- Anticipate connections. Be aware of students’ cultural identities: what you discuss may have shaped their lives today. Be open if a student volunteers their own story, but do not single out anyone to do so.
- Save Fridays for reflection, not new content. It is important to give students time in class to digest and reflect on what they learned.
- Give yourself plenty of time to cover the content. Make sure you and your students have enough
time to complete and process the lesson. - Scaffold. Put historical events into perspective. Understanding world views and the events around a difficult time in history will help your students put it in context. This is why it is important to discuss historical events from multiple perspectives.
- End with hope. We learn about difficult history so that we do not repeat it.
- Offer different means of communicating. Students have different preferences for communicating their ideas. Give some options for sharing thoughts, such as small group discussions, drawing, coloring, or writing.
If you are unsure how to teach the difficult parts of history experienced by Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, our unit guides you through this history with an approach that focuses on the facts of what happened and their impact.
Asian Pacific American Heritage Month is a time to celebrate, but it is also a time to be truthful. Students learn what they observe, so we cannot avoid difficult conversations for our own comfort. Educators have a role to play in not repeating history.
For support with teaching about Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, find our four-week unit on our shop or on TPT.