MUsings may not have been around to celebrate Asian American History Month in May, but that doesn't mean we need to wait until next year to recognize the long, storied, and oftentimes shocking history of Asians in the United States. In May, change.org highlighted a list of 10 facts about Asian American history that emphasize the social injustices and discriminatory practices that Asians have experienced in the last 250 years. As incredible as these facts are, it is even more surprising how few people are aware of them.
As the article states, Asian American history is grossly overlooked in our educational system. Despite entire units devoted to World War II in middle and high school level history classes, for example, most students graduate with extensive knowledge of the Jewish concentration camps in Europe but may never learn about the injustices that occurred in Japanese internment camps right here in our own country. While the advent of Asian American History Week in the late 1970s, and its subesquent expansion to Asian American History Month in recent years, provides some recognition on a national level of the contribution of Asian Americans, it is only a small step toward a much larger need for public education in the part that Asians have played throughout the course of United States history.
If there were one thing that you could teach all students today about Asian American history, what would it be?
I always was stunned about how late I found out about the Asian American internment camps that were established during the second world war. As you mention, they are a piece of our American narrative that is oft overlooked and hardly mentioned. It has a current context in our current struggles with race relations so it is relevant even today.
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