Teaching Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander History Act

II 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1702 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, Native Hawaiian, 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, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders and their relation to current events, and the impact and contributions of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders 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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 18, 2023 Ms. HIRONO (for herself, Mr. BOOKER, Ms. CORTEZ MASTO, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. PADILLA, Ms. ROSEN, Ms. SMITH, Ms. WARREN, and Mr. LUJA´N) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Edu- cation, Labor, and Pensions 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, Native Ha- waiian, and Pacific Islander descent in the settling and founding of America, the social, economic, and political environments that led to the development of discrimina- tory laws targeting Asians, Native Hawaiians, and Pa- cific Islanders and their relation to current events, and the impact and contributions of Asian Americans, Native VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:56 Jun 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\S1702.IS S1702 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1702 IS Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders to the development and enhancement of American life, United States history, literature, the economy, politics, body of laws, and cul- ture, 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 Amer- 4 ican, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander History Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress finds the following: 7 (1) The United States has benefitted from the 8 integral role Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders 9 have played in our Nation’s history and contribu- 10 tions to the world. 11 (2) The Pacific Island Territories of Guam, 12 American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the 13 Northern Mariana Islands, and all of the Pacific Is- 14 lands, including Melanesia, Micronesia, and Poly- 15 nesia, have unique histories that are often over- 16 looked in American history despite their immense 17 contributions to our Nation. 18 (3) The traditional American history curriculum 19 for kindergarten through grade 12 continues to be 20 taught from a Eurocentric point of view and ex- 21 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:56 Jun 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1702.IS S1702 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1702 IS cludes histories of racist immigration laws relevant 1 to policies today. 2 (4) Social studies textbooks for kindergarten 3 through grade 12 poorly represent Asian Americans 4 and Pacific Islanders, overlook the diversity within 5 those communities, and print images of Asian Amer- 6 icans and Pacific Islanders in stereotypical roles. 7 (5) The Federal Government, through support 8 for educational activities of national museums estab- 9 lished under Federal law, can assist teachers in ef- 10 forts to incorporate historically accurate instruction 11 on the comprehensive history of Asian Americans 12 and Pacific Islanders and assist students in their ex- 13 ploration of Asian Pacific American history as an in- 14 tegral part of American history. 15 (6) The history of America’s system of immi- 16 gration is rife with racism, embedded with goals of 17 hiring workers to work for cheaper wages and labor 18 in heinous working conditions. 19 (7) Congress has continuously passed anti- 20 Asian laws as the result of the scapegoating of Asian 21 immigrant laborers for economic downturns in the 22 United States. 23 (8) The history of South Asian Americans in 24 the United States dates back to the late 1700s. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:56 Jun 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1702.IS S1702 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1702 IS (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 joint resolu- 4 tion that was signed into law formally apologizing 5 for the role of the United States in the illegal over- 6 throw of the Kingdom of Hawaii, which resulted in 7 the suppression of the inherent sovereignty of the 8 Native Hawaiian 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, the first restrictive 14 immigration law in the United States, sought to pre- 15 vent the entry of Asian women perceived as immoral 16 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 immigrants were hired. 20 After the Japanese were banned from immigrating 21 due to the Gentleman’s Agreement of 1907, which 22 halted immigration from Japan, Filipino immigrants 23 were hired under 3-year contracts. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:56 Jun 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1702.IS S1702 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1702 IS (14) Filipino farm workers helped found the 1 farm worker labor movement in the United States. 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 9 more than 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry, 10 two-thirds of whom were American citizens, based 11 solely on race. 12 (18) Beginning in 1954, the United States dis- 13 placed more than 3,000,000 refugees from Cam- 14 bodia, Laos, and Vietnam due to covert and overt 15 United States military operations in Southeast Asia. 16 (19) The Immigration Act of 1965 made family 17 unification and skills-based migration the bedrock 18 principle of immigration to the United States. 19 (20) The nuclear testing conducted by the 20 United States on the Bikini and Enewetak Atoll of 21 the Marshall Islands has made parts of the island 22 nation uninhabitable and caused forced migration 23 and health complications that still impact the com- 24 munity today. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:56 Jun 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1702.IS S1702 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1702 IS (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 recent 17 wars. 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 03:56 Jun 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1702.IS S1702 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1702 IS (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 in present day. 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 Nation. 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 03:56 Jun 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1702.IS S1702 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 1702 IS (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 (c)(1), by inserting ‘‘, which 5 shall include Asian Pacific American history,’’ after 6 ‘‘American history’’; 7 (2) in subsection (e)— 8 (A) in paragraph (1)— 9 (i) in the matter preceding subpara- 10 graph (A), by inserting ‘‘, which shall in- 11 clude Asian Pacific American history,’’ 12 after ‘‘American history’’; 13 (ii) in subparagraph (A)— 14 (I) by inserting ‘‘, which shall in- 15 clude Asian Pacific American his- 16 tory,’’ after ‘‘teachers of American 17 history’’; and 18 (II) by inserting ‘‘, which shall 19 include Asian Pacific American his- 20 tory,’’ after ‘‘subjects of American 21 history’’; and 22 (iii) in subparagraph (B), by inserting 23 ‘‘, which shall include Asian Pacific Amer- 24 ican history,’’ after ‘‘American history’’; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:56 Jun 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1702.IS S1702 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •S 1702 IS (B) in paragraph (2), by inserting ‘‘, which 1 shall include Asian Pacific American history,’’ 2 after ‘‘American history’’; and 3 (C) in paragraph (4), by inserting ‘‘, and 4 with the Smithsonian Institution’s Asian Pacific 5 American Center to provide programs and re- 6 sources for educators and students’’ after ‘‘Na- 7 tional Parks’’; and 8 (3) in paragraph (1) of subsection (f)— 9 (A) in the matter preceding subparagraph 10 (A), by inserting ‘‘including Asian Pacific 11 American history’’ after ‘‘American history’’; 12 (B) in subparagraph (A), by inserting ‘‘, 13 which shall include Asian Pacific American his- 14 tory,’’ after ‘‘American history’’; and 15 (C) in subparagraph (B), by inserting ‘‘, 16 which shall include Asian Pacific American his- 17 tory,’’ after ‘‘American history’’. 18 (c) NATIONAL ACTIVITIES.—Section 2233 of the Ele- 19 mentary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 20 6663) is amended— 21 (1) in subsection (a), by inserting ‘‘which shall 22 include Asian Pacific American history,’’ after 23 ‘‘American history,’’; and 24 (2) in subsection (b)— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:56 Jun 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1702.IS S1702 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •S 1702 IS (A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), 1 by inserting ‘‘which shall include Asian Pacific 2 American history,’’ after ‘‘American history,’’; 3 and 4 (B) in paragraph (1)(A), by inserting 5 ‘‘which shall include Asian Pacific American 6 history,’’ after ‘‘American history,’’. 7 (d) NATIONAL ASSESSMENT OF EDUCATIONAL 8 PROGRESS.—Section 303(b)(2)(D) of the National As- 9 sessment of Educational Progress Authorization Act (20 10 U.S.C. 9622(b)(2)(D)) is amended by inserting ‘‘(which 11 shall include Asian Pacific American history)’’ after ‘‘his- 12 tory’’. 13 SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE. 14 This Act, and the amendments made by this Act, 15 shall take effect on the day after the date of enactment. 16 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:56 Jun 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1702.IS S1702 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS