Teaching Asian Pacific American History Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2283 To authorize the Secretary of Education to award grants to eligible entities to carry out educational programs that include the history of peoples of Asian and Pacific Islander descent in the settling and founding of America, the social, economic, and political environments that led to the development of discriminatory laws targeting Asians and Pacific Islanders and their relation to current events, and the impact and con- tributions of Asian Americans to the development and enhancement of American life, United States history, literature, the economy, politics, body of laws, and culture, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 29, 2021 Ms. MENG (for herself, Mrs. BEATTY, Ms. BLUNT ROCHESTER, Ms. BUSH, Mr. CARSON, Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts, Mr. CORREA, Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois, Ms. DELBENE, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Mr. GARCI´A of Illinois, Mr. GREEN of Texas, Mr. HASTINGS, Ms. JACOBS of California, Ms. JAYAPAL, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Mr. JONES, Mr. KHANNA, Mr. KILMER, Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI, Ms. LEE of California, Mr. LIEU, Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York, Ms. MATSUI, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. MEEKS, Mr. MOULTON, Mr. NADLER, Mrs. NAPOLI- TANO, Ms. NORTON, Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ, Ms. OMAR, Mr. RASKIN, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. RUSH, Mr. SAN NICOLAS, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. SUOZZI, Mr. TAKANO, Mr. TORRES of New York, Mrs. TRAHAN, Mr. TRONE, and Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ) introduced the following bill; which was re- ferred to the Committee on Education and Labor A BILL To authorize the Secretary of Education to award grants to eligible entities to carry out educational programs that include the history of peoples of Asian and Pacific Islander descent in the settling and founding of America, VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:35 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H2283.IH H2283 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2283 IH the social, economic, and political environments that led to the development of discriminatory laws targeting Asians and Pacific Islanders and their relation to current events, and the impact and contributions of Asian Ameri- cans to the development and enhancement of American life, United States history, literature, the economy, poli- tics, body of laws, and culture, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Teaching Asian Pacific 4 American History Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress finds the following: 7 (1) The United States of America has benefited 8 from the integral role Asian Americans and Pacific 9 Islanders have played in our country’s history and 10 contributions to the world. 11 (2) The Pacific Island Territories of Guam, 12 American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the 13 Northern Mariana Islands have unique histories that 14 are often overlooked in American history despite 15 their immense contributions to our Nation. 16 (3) The traditional American K–12 curriculum 17 continues to be taught from a Eurocentric point of 18 view and exclude histories of racist immigration laws 19 relevant to policies today. 20 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:35 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2283.IH H2283 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2283 IH (4) K–12 social studies textbooks poorly rep- 1 resent Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, over- 2 look the diversity within those communities, and 3 print images of Asian Americans and Pacific Island- 4 ers in stereotypical roles. 5 (5) The Federal Government, through support 6 for educational activities of national museums estab- 7 lished under Federal law, can assist teachers in ef- 8 forts to incorporate historically accurate instruction 9 on the comprehensive history of Asian Americans 10 and Pacific Islanders and assist students in their ex- 11 ploration of Asian Pacific American history as an in- 12 tegral part of American history. 13 (6) The history of America’s system of immi- 14 gration is rife with racism, embedded in goals of hir- 15 ing workers to work for cheaper wages and labor in 16 heinous working conditions. 17 (7) Congress has continuously passed anti- 18 Asian laws as the result of the scapegoating of Asian 19 immigrant laborers for the United States economic 20 downturns. 21 (8) The history of South Asian Americans in 22 the United States dates back to the late 1700s. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:35 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2283.IH H2283 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2283 IH (9) The history of Native Hawaiians and Pa- 1 cific Islanders in what is now considered to be the 2 United States predates the founding of our Nation. 3 (10) In 1993, Congress passed a resolution that 4 was signed into law formally apologizing for the 5 United States role in the illegal overthrow of the 6 Kingdom of Hawaii, which resulted in the suppres- 7 sion of the inherent sovereignty of the Native Ha- 8 waiian people. 9 (11) Twelve thousand Chinese laborers worked 10 in atrocious conditions to build the Transcontinental 11 Railroad, many dying from harsh weather conditions 12 and the dangers of handling explosives. 13 (12) The Page Act of 1875 was the United 14 States first restrictive immigration law, which 15 sought to prevent the entry of Asian women per- 16 ceived as immoral or suspected of prostitution. 17 (13) After the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 18 banned Chinese immigrants from immigrating to the 19 United States, Japanese were hired. After the Japa- 20 nese were banned from immigrating due to the Gen- 21 tleman’s Agreement of 1907, which halted immigra- 22 tion from Japan, Filipinos were hired under 3-year 23 contracts. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:35 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2283.IH H2283 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 2283 IH (14) Filipino farm workers helped found the 1 farm worker labor movement. 2 (15) The Immigration Act of 1917 restricted 3 immigration to the United States by barring immi- 4 gration from the Asia-Pacific zone. 5 (16) The Immigration Act of 1924 set a na- 6 tional origin quota to deter immigration. 7 (17) President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Execu- 8 tive Order 9066 authorized the incarceration of over 9 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry, two-thirds of 10 whom were American citizens, based solely on race. 11 (18) Beginning in 1954, the United States dis- 12 placed over 3,000,000 refugees from Cambodia, 13 Laos, and Vietnam due to covert and overt United 14 States military operations in Southeast Asia. 15 (19) The Immigration Act of 1965 made family 16 unification and skills-based migration the bedrock 17 principle of immigration to the United States. 18 (20) The United States conducted nuclear test- 19 ing on the Bikini and Enewetak Atoll of the Mar- 20 shall Islands have made parts of the island nation 21 uninhabitable and caused forced migration and 22 health complications that still impact the community 23 today. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:35 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2283.IH H2283 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 2283 IH (21) The United States ratified a Compact of 1 Free Association with the Federated States of Mi- 2 cronesia, Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the 3 Republic of Palau enabling citizens of these Pacific 4 Island nations to legally migrate to the United 5 States visa-free while the United States retains cer- 6 tain strategic military rights over their territorial 7 waters. 8 (22) In the aftermath of the Vietnam War, the 9 Refugee Act of 1980 helped more than 500,000 10 Southeast Asians gain permanent resident status in 11 the United States within the first decade of its pas- 12 sage. 13 (23) The Pacific Islander community represents 14 the largest concentration of any ethnic group en- 15 listed in the United States military, as well as rep- 16 resenting the highest numbers of casualties in the 17 current wars on terror. 18 (24) The ‘‘model minority’’ myth perpetuates 19 the stigma of Asian Americans as perpetual for- 20 eigners, and such stereotypes are used to pit minor- 21 ity groups against one another. 22 (25) The pattern of hate crimes and hate inci- 23 dents directed at Asians and Asian Americans has 24 repeated itself throughout history. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:35 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2283.IH H2283 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 2283 IH (26) Asian-American and African-American his- 1 tories of fighting against oppression and racism are 2 intertwined, from the Black Power Movement of the 3 1960s that birthed the Asian American Movement to 4 civil rights protests today. 5 (27) Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and 6 their allies continue to fight discrimination, racial 7 prejudice, hate crimes, scapegoating, structural rac- 8 ism, economic inequities, and benign and overt omis- 9 sion of the integral role they played in the develop- 10 ment of this country. 11 SEC. 3. AMERICAN HISTORY AND CIVICS EDUCATION. 12 (a) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.—Section 2231(a) of the 13 Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 14 U.S.C. 6661(a)) is amended— 15 (1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by 16 inserting ‘‘, which shall include Asian Pacific Amer- 17 ican history,’’ after ‘‘American history’’; and 18 (2) in paragraph (2)— 19 (A) by inserting ‘‘which shall include Asian 20 Pacific American history,’’ after ‘‘American his- 21 tory,’’; and 22 (B) by inserting ‘‘, which shall include 23 Asian Pacific American history’’ after ‘‘tradi- 24 tional American history’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:35 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2283.IH H2283 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 2283 IH (b) PRESIDENTIAL AND CONGRESSIONAL ACADEMIES 1 FOR AMERICAN HISTORY AND CIVICS.—Section 2232 of 2 the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 3 U.S.C. 6662) is amended— 4 (1) in subsection (a)— 5 (A) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘, which 6 shall include Asian Pacific American history,’’ 7 after ‘‘American History’’; and 8 (B) in paragraph (2), by inserting ‘‘, which 9 shall include Asian Pacific American history,’’ 10 after ‘‘American History’’; 11 (2) in subsection (c)(1), by inserting ‘‘, which 12 shall include Asian Pacific American history,’’ after 13 ‘‘American history’’; 14 (3) in subsection (e)— 15 (A) in paragraph (1)— 16 (i) by inserting ‘‘, which shall include 17 Asian Pacific American history,’’ after 18 ‘‘American history’’; 19 (ii) in subparagraph (A)— 20 (I) by inserting ‘‘, which shall in- 21 clude Asian Pacific American his- 22 tory,’’ after ‘‘teachers of American 23 history’’; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:35 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2283.IH H2283 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 2283 IH (II) by inserting ‘‘, which shall 1 include Asian Pacific American his- 2 tory,’’ after ‘‘subjects of American 3 history’’; and 4 (iii) in subparagraph (B), by inserting 5 ‘‘, which shall include Asian Pacific Amer- 6 ican history,’’ after ‘‘American history’’; 7 (B) in paragraph (2), by inserting ‘‘, which 8 shall include Asian Pacific American history,’’ 9 after ‘‘American history’’; and 10 (C) in paragraph (4), by inserting ‘‘, and 11 with the Smithsonian Institution’s Asian Pacific 12 American Center to provide programs and re- 13 sources for educators and students’’ after ‘‘Na- 14 tional Parks’’; and 15 (4) in subsection (f)— 16 (A) by inserting ‘‘, which shall include 17 Asian Pacific American history,’’ after ‘‘Amer- 18 ican history’’; 19 (B) in subparagraph (A), by inserting ‘‘, 20 which shall include Asian Pacific American his- 21 tory,’’ after ‘‘American history’’; and 22 (C) in subparagraph (B), by inserting ‘‘, 23 which shall include Asian Pacific American his- 24 tory,’’ after ‘‘American history’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:35 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2283.IH H2283 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 2283 IH (c) NATIONAL ACTIVITIES.—Section 2233 of the Ele- 1 mentary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 2 6663) is amended— 3 (1) in subsection (a), by inserting ‘‘which shall 4 include Asian Pacific American history,’’ after 5 ‘‘American history,’’; and 6 (2) in subsection (b), by inserting ‘‘which shall 7 include Asian Pacific American history,’’ after 8 ‘‘American history,’’. 9 (d) NATIONAL ASSESSMENT OF EDUCATIONAL 10 PROGRESS.—Section 303(b)(2)(D) of the National As- 11 sessment of Educational Progress Authorization Act (20 12 U.S.C. 9622(b)(2)(D)) is amended by inserting ‘‘(which 13 shall include Asian Pacific American history)’’ after ‘‘his- 14 tory,’’. 15 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:35 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2283.IH H2283 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS