I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 8519 

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 contributions 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 

OCTOBER 2, 2020 

Ms. MENG (for herself, Ms. JUDY CHU of California, Mr. TAKANO, Mr. TED

LIEU of California, Mr. SUOZZI, Mr. MEEKS, Ms. VELA ́ZQUEZ, Mr. 

GREEN of Texas, Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Mrs. CAROLYN

B. MALONEY of New York, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Mr. CASE, Mr. 

RASKIN, Mr. SAN NICOLAS, Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI, Mr. RUSH, Mrs. 

NAPOLITANO, Ms. MATSUI, Ms. LEE of California, Mr. KHANNA, Mr. 

TRONE, Mr. SHERMAN, Mr. COX of California, Mr. CORREA, Mr. CARSON

of Indiana, Mr. CA ́RDENAS, and Ms. SPEIER) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred 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, 

the social, economic, and political environments that led 

to the development of discriminatory laws targeting 

Asians and Pacific Islanders and their relation to current 


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events, and the impact and contributions 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. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Teaching Asian Pacific 

5 American History Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) The United States of America has benefited 

9 from the integral role Asian Americans and Pacific 

10 Islanders have played in our country’s history and 

11 contributions to the world. 

12 (2) The Pacific Island Territories of Guam, 

13 American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the 

14 Northern Mariana Islands have unique histories that 

15 are often overlooked in American history despite 

16 their immense contributions to our Nation. 

17 (3) The traditional American K–12 curriculum 

18 continues to be taught from a Eurocentric point of 

19 view and exclude histories of racist immigration laws 

20 relevant to policies today. 

21 (4) K–12 social studies textbooks poorly rep22 resent Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, overVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:30 Oct 30, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8519.IH H8519

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1 look the diversity within those communities, and 

2 print images of Asian Americans and Pacific Island3 ers in stereotypical roles. 

4 (5) The Federal Government, through support 

5 for educational activities of national museums estab6 lished under Federal law, can assist teachers in ef7 forts to incorporate historically accurate instruction 

8 on the comprehensive history of Asian Americans 

9 and Pacific Islanders and assist students in their ex10 ploration of Asian Pacific American history as an in11 tegral part of American history. 

12 (6) The history of America’s system of immi13 gration is rife with racism, embedded in goals of hir14 ing workers to work for cheaper wages and labor in 

15 heinous working conditions. 

16 (7) Congress has continuously passed anti17 Asian laws as the result of the scapegoating of Asian 

18 immigrant laborers for the United States economic 

19 downturns. 

20 (8) The history of South Asian Americans in 

21 the United States dates back to the late 1700s. 

22 (9) The history of Native Hawaiians and Pa23 cific Islanders in what is now considered to be the 

24 United States predates the founding of our Nation. 


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1 (10) In 1993, Congress passed a resolution that 

2 was signed into law formally apologizing for the 

3 United States role in the illegal overthrow of the 

4 Kingdom of Hawaii, which resulted in the suppres5 sion of the inherent sovereignty of the Native Ha6 waiian people. 

7 (11) Twelve thousand Chinese laborers worked 

8 in atrocious conditions to build the Transcontinental 

9 Railroad, many dying from harsh weather conditions 

10 and the dangers of handling explosives. 

11 (12) After the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 

12 banned Chinese immigrants from immigrating to the 

13 United States, Japanese were hired. After the Japa14 nese were banned from immigrating due to the Gen15 tleman’s Agreement of 1907, which halted immigra16 tion from Japan, Filipinos were hired under 3-year 

17 contracts. 

18 (13) Filipino farm workers helped found the 

19 farm worker labor movement. 

20 (14) The Immigration Act of 1917 restricted 

21 immigration to the United States by barring immi22 gration from the Asia-Pacific zone. 

23 (15) The Immigration Act of 1924 set a na24 tional origin quota to deter immigration. 


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1 (16) The Immigration Act of 1965 made family 

2 unification and skills-based migration the bedrock 

3 principle of immigration to the United States. 

4 (17) The United States conducted nuclear test5 ing on the Bikini and Enewetak Atoll of the Mar6 shall Islands have made parts of the island nation 

7 uninhabitable and caused forced migration and 

8 health complications that still impact the community 

9 today. 

10 (18) The United States ratified a Compact of 

11 Free Association with the Federated States of Mi12 cronesia, Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the 

13 Republic of Palau enabling citizens of these Pacific 

14 Island nations to legally migrate to the United 

15 States visa-free while the United States retains cer16 tain strategic military rights over their territorial 

17 waters. 

18 (19) In the aftermath of the Vietnam War, the 

19 Refugee Act of 1980 helped more than 500,000 

20 Southeast Asians gain permanent resident status in 

21 the United States within the first decade of its pas22 sage. 

23 (20) President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Execu24 tive Order 9066 authorized the incarceration of over 


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1 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry, two-thirds of 

2 whom were American citizens, based solely on race. 

3 (21) The Pacific Islander community represents 

4 the largest concentration of any ethnic group en5 listed in the United States military, as well as rep6 resenting the highest numbers of casualties in the 

7 current wars on terror. 

8 (22) The ‘‘model minority’’ myth perpetuates 

9 the stigma of Asian Americans as perpetual for10 eigners, and such stereotypes are used to pit minor11 ity groups against one another. 

12 (23) The pattern of hate crimes and hate inci13 dents directed at Asians and Asian Americans has 

14 repeated itself throughout history. 

15 (24) Asian-American and African-American his16 tories of fighting against oppression and racism are 

17 intertwined, from the Black Power Movement of the 

18 1960s that birthed the Asian American Movement to 

19 civil rights protests today. 

20 (25) Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and 

21 their allies continue to fight discrimination, racial 

22 prejudice, hate crimes, scapegoating, structural rac23 ism, economic inequities, and benign and overt omis24 sion of the integral role they played in the develop25 ment of this country. 


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1 SEC. 3. AMERICAN HISTORY AND CIVICS EDUCATION. 

2 (a) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.—Section 2231(a) of the 

3 Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 

4 U.S.C. 6661(a)) is amended— 

5 (1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by 

6 inserting ‘‘, which shall include Asian Pacific Amer7 ican history,’’ after ‘‘American history’’; and 

8 (2) in paragraph (2)— 

9 (A) by inserting ‘‘which shall include Asian 

10 Pacific American history,’’ after ‘‘American his11 tory,’’; and 

12 (B) by inserting ‘‘, which shall include 

13 Asian Pacific American history’’ after ‘‘tradi14 tional American history’’. 

15 (b) PRESIDENTIAL AND CONGRESSIONAL ACADEMIES

16 FOR AMERICAN HISTORY AND CIVICS.—Section 2232 of 

17 the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 

18 U.S.C. 6662) is amended— 

19 (1) in subsection (a)— 

20 (A) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘, which 

21 shall include Asian Pacific American history,’’ 

22 after ‘‘American History’’; and 

23 (B) in paragraph (2), by inserting ‘‘, which 

24 shall include Asian Pacific American history,’’ 

25 after ‘‘American History’’; 


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1 (2) in subsection (c)(1), by inserting ‘‘, which 

2 shall include Asian Pacific American history,’’ after 

3 ‘‘American history’’; 

4 (3) in subsection (e)— 

5 (A) in paragraph (1)— 

6 (i) by inserting ‘‘, which shall include 

7 Asian Pacific American history,’’ after 

8 ‘‘American history’’; 

9 (ii) in subparagraph (A)— 

10 (I) by inserting ‘‘, which shall in11 clude Asian Pacific American his12 tory,’’ after ‘‘teachers of American 

13 history’’; and 

14 (II) by inserting ‘‘, which shall 

15 include Asian Pacific American his16 tory,’’ after ‘‘subjects of American 

17 history’’; and 

18 (iii) in subparagraph (B), by inserting 

19 ‘‘, which shall include Asian Pacific Amer20 ican history,’’ after ‘‘American history’’; 

21 (B) in paragraph (2), by inserting ‘‘, which 

22 shall include Asian Pacific American history,’’ 

23 after ‘‘American history’’; and 

24 (C) in paragraph (4), by inserting ‘‘, and 

25 with the Smithsonian Institution’s Asian Pacific 


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1 American Center to provide programs and re2 sources for educators and students’’ after ‘‘Na3 tional Parks’’; and 

4 (4) in subsection (f)— 

5 (A) by inserting ‘‘, which shall include 

6 Asian Pacific American history,’’ after ‘‘Amer7 ican history’’; 

8 (B) in subparagraph (A), by inserting ‘‘, 

9 which shall include Asian Pacific American his10 tory,’’ after ‘‘American history’’; and 

11 (C) in subparagraph (B), by inserting ‘‘, 

12 which shall include Asian Pacific American his13 tory,’’ after ‘‘American history’’. 

14 (c) NATIONAL ACTIVITIES.—Section 2233 of the Ele15 mentary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

16 6663) is amended— 

17 (1) in subsection (a), by inserting ‘‘which shall 

18 include Asian Pacific American history,’’ after 

19 ‘‘American history,’’; and 

20 (2) in subsection (b), by inserting ‘‘which shall 

21 include Asian Pacific American history,’’ after 

22 ‘‘American history,’’. 

23 (d) NATIONAL ASSESSMENT OF EDUCATIONAL

24 PROGRESS.—Section 303(b)(2)(D) of the National As25 sessment of Educational Progress Authorization Act (20 


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1 U.S.C. 9622(b)(2)(D)) is amended by inserting ‘‘(which 

2 shall include Asian Pacific American history)’’ after ‘‘his3 tory,’’. 

Æ 


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