II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4275 

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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 19 (legislative day, MAY 17), 2022 

Ms. HIRONO (for herself, Mr. BOOKER, Ms. DUCKWORTH, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, 

Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. LUJA ́N, Mr. PADILLA, Ms. SMITH, Ms. WARREN, 

and Ms. ROSEN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Health, Education, 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 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 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
2 

•S 4275 IS

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 has benefitted from the 

9 integral role Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders 

10 have played in our Nation’s history and contribu11 tions 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, over23 look the diversity within those communities, and 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
3 

•S 4275 IS

1 print images of Asian Americans and Pacific Island2 ers in stereotypical roles. 

3 (5) The Federal Government, through support 

4 for educational activities of national museums estab5 lished under Federal law, can assist teachers in ef6 forts to incorporate historically accurate instruction 

7 on the comprehensive history of Asian Americans 

8 and Pacific Islanders and assist students in their ex9 ploration of Asian Pacific American history as an in10 tegral part of American history. 

11 (6) The history of America’s system of immi12 gration is rife with racism, embedded in goals of hir13 ing workers to work for cheaper wages and labor in 

14 heinous working conditions. 

15 (7) Congress has continuously passed anti16 Asian laws as the result of the scapegoating of Asian 

17 immigrant laborers for the United States economic 

18 downturns. 

19 (8) The history of South Asian Americans in 

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

21 (9) The history of Native Hawaiians and Pa22 cific Islanders in what is now considered to be the 

23 United States predates the founding of our Nation. 

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

25 was signed into law formally apologizing for the 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
4 

•S 4275 IS

1 United States role in the illegal overthrow of the 

2 Kingdom of Hawaii, which resulted in the suppres3 sion of the inherent sovereignty of the Native Ha4 waiian people. 

5 (11) Twelve thousand Chinese laborers worked 

6 in atrocious conditions to build the Transcontinental 

7 Railroad, many dying from harsh weather conditions 

8 and the dangers of handling explosives. 

9 (12) The Page Act of 1875 was the United 

10 States first restrictive immigration law, which 

11 sought to prevent the entry of Asian women per12 ceived as immoral or suspected of prostitution. 

13 (13) After the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 

14 banned Chinese immigrants from immigrating to the 

15 United States, Japanese were hired. After the Japa16 nese were banned from immigrating due to the Gen17 tleman’s Agreement of 1907, which halted immigra18 tion from Japan, Filipinos were hired under 3-year 

19 contracts. 

20 (14) Filipino farm workers helped found the 

21 farm worker labor movement. 

22 (15) The Immigration Act of 1917 restricted 

23 immigration to the United States by barring immi24 gration from the Asia-Pacific zone. 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
5 

•S 4275 IS

1 (16) The Immigration Act of 1924 set a na2 tional origin quota to deter immigration. 

3 (17) President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Execu4 tive Order 9066 authorized the incarceration of 

5 more than 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry, 

6 two-thirds of whom were American citizens, based 

7 solely on race. 

8 (18) Beginning in 1954, the United States dis9 placed more than 3,000,000 refugees from Cam10 bodia, Laos, and Vietnam due to covert and overt 

11 United States military operations in Southeast Asia. 

12 (19) The Immigration Act of 1965 made family 

13 unification and skills-based migration the bedrock 

14 principle of immigration to the United States. 

15 (20) The United States-conducted nuclear test16 ing on the Bikini and Enewetak Atoll of the Mar17 shall Islands made parts of the island nation un18 inhabitable and caused forced migration and health 

19 complications that still impact the community today. 

20 (21) The United States ratified a Compact of 

21 Free Association with the Federated States of Mi22 cronesia, Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the 

23 Republic of Palau enabling citizens of these Pacific 

24 Island nations to legally migrate to the United 

25 States visa-free while the United States retains cerVerDate Sep 11 2014 17:41 May 31, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4275.IS S4275

pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
6 

•S 4275 IS

1 tain strategic military rights over their territorial 

2 waters. 

3 (22) In the aftermath of the Vietnam War, the 

4 Refugee Act of 1980 helped more than 500,000 

5 Southeast Asians gain permanent resident status in 

6 the United States within the first decade of its pas7 sage. 

8 (23) The Pacific Islander community represents 

9 the largest concentration of any ethnic group en10 listed in the United States military, as well as rep11 resenting the highest numbers of casualties in the 

12 current wars on terror. 

13 (24) The ‘‘model minority’’ myth perpetuates 

14 the stigma of Asian Americans as perpetual for15 eigners, and such stereotypes are used to pit minor16 ity groups against one another. 

17 (25) The pattern of hate crimes and hate inci18 dents directed at Asians and Asian Americans has 

19 repeated itself throughout history. 

20 (26) Asian-American and African-American his21 tories of fighting against oppression and racism are 

22 intertwined, from the Black Power Movement of the 

23 1960s that birthed the Asian American Movement to 

24 civil rights protests today. 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
7 

•S 4275 IS

1 (27) Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and 

2 their allies continue to fight discrimination, racial 

3 prejudice, hate crimes, scapegoating, structural rac4 ism, economic inequities, and benign and overt omis5 sion of the integral role they played in the develop6 ment of this Nation. 

7 SEC. 3. AMERICAN HISTORY AND CIVICS EDUCATION. 

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

9 Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 

10 U.S.C. 6661(a)) is amended— 

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

12 inserting ‘‘, which shall include Asian Pacific Amer13 ican history,’’ after ‘‘American history’’; and 

14 (2) in paragraph (2)— 

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

16 Pacific American history,’’ after ‘‘American his17 tory,’’; and 

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

19 Asian Pacific American history’’ after ‘‘tradi20 tional American history’’. 

21 (b) PRESIDENTIAL AND CONGRESSIONAL ACADEMIES

22 FOR AMERICAN HISTORY AND CIVICS.—Section 2232 of 

23 the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 

24 U.S.C. 6662) is amended— 

25 (1) in subsection (a)— 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
8 

•S 4275 IS

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

2 shall include Asian Pacific American history,’’ 

3 after ‘‘American History’’; and 

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

5 shall include Asian Pacific American history,’’ 

6 after ‘‘American History’’; 

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

8 shall include Asian Pacific American history,’’ after 

9 ‘‘American history’’; 

10 (3) in subsection (e)— 

11 (A) in paragraph (1)— 

12 (i) in the matter preceding subpara13 graph (A), by inserting ‘‘, which shall in14 clude Asian Pacific American history,’’ 

15 after ‘‘American history’’; 

16 (ii) in subparagraph (A)— 

17 (I) by inserting ‘‘, which shall in18 clude Asian Pacific American his19 tory,’’ after ‘‘teachers of American 

20 history’’; and 

21 (II) by inserting ‘‘, which shall 

22 include Asian Pacific American his23 tory,’’ after ‘‘subjects of American 

24 history’’; and 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
9 

•S 4275 IS

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

2 ‘‘, which shall include Asian Pacific Amer3 ican history,’’ after ‘‘American history’’; 

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

5 shall include Asian Pacific American history,’’ 

6 after ‘‘American history’’; and 

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

8 with the Smithsonian Institution’s Asian Pacific 

9 American Center to provide programs and re10 sources for educators and students’’ after ‘‘Na11 tional Parks’’; and 

12 (4) in subsection (f)(1)— 

13 (A) in the matter preceding subparagraph 

14 (A), by inserting ‘‘, which shall include Asian 

15 Pacific American history,’’ after ‘‘American his16 tory’’; 

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

18 which shall include Asian Pacific American his19 tory,’’ after ‘‘American history’’; and 

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

21 which shall include Asian Pacific American his22 tory,’’ after ‘‘American history’’. 

23 (c) NATIONAL ACTIVITIES.—Section 2233 of the Ele24 mentary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

25 6663) is amended— 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
10 

•S 4275 IS

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

2 include Asian Pacific American history,’’ after 

3 ‘‘American history,’’; and 

4 (2) in subsection (b)— 

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

6 by inserting ‘‘which shall include Asian Pacific 

7 American history,’’ after ‘‘American history,’’; 

8 and 

9 (B) in paragraph (1)(A), by inserting 

10 ‘‘which shall include Asian Pacific American 

11 history,’’ after ‘‘American history,’’. 

12 (d) NATIONAL ASSESSMENT OF EDUCATIONAL

13 PROGRESS.—Section 303(b)(2)(D) of the National As14 sessment of Educational Progress Authorization Act (20 

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

16 shall include Asian Pacific American history)’’ after ‘‘his17 tory’’. 

Æ 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS