Hello there, and welcome to our community archive!

My name is Shreya Sunderram and I am the K-12 Adult Ally/Project Director for the Localized Histories Project. In this archive, you will find an incredibly moving and thoughtful collection of histories, stories, memories, and meaning-making driven by historians who are guided by a common goal: making AANHPI history more accessible, truthful, solidarity-oriented, and localized. Throughout, you will also find reflections from our historians about why this project matters, and what drew them to this work.

The Localized History Project is a New York State-funded Youth Participatory Action Research project investigating the extent to which AANHPI history is taught in K-12 history classrooms in NY State, and presenting youth driven curriculum alternatives to test-driven curricula. Localized History is committed to a community-centered approach of historical learning and teaching. This community archive represents possibilities of what history curriculum can look like when it is collectively built by teachers, students, families, and community organizations.

In the words of our first cohort,

"History classrooms should inspire students to reflect on the world around them and empower them to rise to the occasion when faced with injustice. An inclusive and accurate curriculum not only reflects the diverse experiences within the AANHPI community but also highlights the interconnectedness of our struggles with other marginalized groups. We seek to counteract harmful narratives by promoting a curriculum that fosters solidarity, emphasizes the need for cross-community support, and challenges divisive misconceptions that pit our community against other marginalized groups. Nuanced and accurate portrayals are critical in the acknowledgment of contributions the AANHPI community continues to make to America, and promoting a deeper understanding of who the AANHPI diaspora is both as a collective and our unique backgrounds. By integrating AANHPI history into New York State’s K-12 education, our curriculum aims to lay the foundation for a better future and cultivate informed leaders. "

While we hope you will look through all of the lessons, and have not organized them in any particular order, we thought we would include this cheat sheet of what our archive includes:

Oral Histories of Family Members, Immigration/Migration, and New Belongings:

• Khmer Refugees: Displacement and Cambodian Americans
• The Chinese-Latinx Community of New York City
• Vietnamese-American Oral Storytelling

Uplifting Untold or Mistold Stories:

• Gendered Racialization of Asian Women
• First Days Stories: SAADA South Asian Immigrant Stories
• Japanese Internment
• Unearthing the Hidden Stories of Chinese Americans in the Transcontinental Railroad

New York City Localized Histories

• The Bangla Language Movement
• The Impact of Corky Lee
• Welcome to Flushing, Queens!

• Khmer Refugees: Displacement and Cambodian Americans
• The Chinese-Latinx Community of New York City
• Vietnamese-American Oral Storytelling