Illinois First State To Mandate Asian American History In Schools

SKOKIE, IL — All Illinois public elementary and high schools must include a unit covering Asian American history by the start of the 2022-23 year.

House Bill 376, the Teaching Equitable Asian American History, or TEAACH, Act makes Illinois the first state to mandate the inclusion of Asian Americans in its curriculum.

State Rep. Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz (D-Glenview), a third-generation Chinese American and an immigration attorney, was the chief sponsor of the legislation. She said the law was deeply personal.

Growing up, she said, all she knew of her family's history was the "fairytale" version. Her grandparents immigrated to Portland, Oregon, in the 1920s and started a business. All five of their children graduated college, two served the country in World War II and one in Vietnam.

But it was only once she was in law school that she came to learn about the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 — the only law in U.S. history aimed at restricting immigration from a specific nationality or ethic group — and studied the constitutionality of the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II.

That was a pivotal moment, Gong-Gershowitz said at a bill signing event Friday at Niles West High School.

"Throughout elementary, high school and college, none of this history was covered in my social studies classes. I had no idea these laws existed, much less how deeply they had impacted my own family," Gong-Gershowitz said.

"My family's history had been deliberately hindered by my grandparents, who — like many other first-generation Americans — were desperate to survive and saw the discrimination they endured as an impediment to the next generation."

Gong-Gershowitz and her family learned that her family's history was closely linked with Portland civil rights attorney Irv Goodman, who dedicated his career to social justice.

Goodman represented her grandparents in deportation proceedings for more than a decade until they eventually were able to secure U.S. citizenship, at which point they presented Goodman, who died in 1958, with a traditional Chinese garment.

Gong-Gershowitz only learned of this history from newspaper archives, but was able to track down Goodman's sister-in-law, who remembered her grandparents and still had the piece of clothing tucked away, she said.

"Just like my Asian American history is fundamentally woven into my nation's story, and my family's story is woven into my own, a piece of the garment that my grandparents gave Irv Goodman is woven into the jacket that I'm wearing today. It serves to remind me of my family's struggle and the necessity for advocacy, without which I would not be here today," she said. "Learning about my grandparents' struggle against the indignity of the Chinese Exclusion Acts changed the trajectory of my life."

Gong-Gershowitz said the next generation will not have to go to such lengths to learn about their heritage, thanks to the new law. She said a lack of representation of Asian Americans in schools' curriculum, in positions of power and in media contributes to miseducation, which in turn leads to discrimination and violence.

"We cannot do better unless we know better. When Asian American history isn't taught, it leaves a gap that can lead non-Asian people to believe in stereotypes and act towards Asian Americans based on those stereotypes," she said. "A lack of knowledge is the root cause of discrimination, and the best weapon against ignorance is education."

The bill requires that the unit include the contributions of Asian American communities and individuals to the history of the United States and the Midwest, including the arts, science, politics and civil rights.

"The studying of this material shall constitute an affirmation by students of their commitment to respect the dignity of all races and peoples and to forever eschew every form of discrimination in their lives and careers," the law now declares.

---

Gong-Gershowitz first introduced the latest version of the legislation in January, although she and its Senate sponsor, Sen. Ram Villivalam (D-Skokie), had proposed the measure before the coronavirus pandemic, which has been coincided with a rise in anti-Asian hate.

As introduced, the law required that students study of the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II and the government's subsequent apology and payment of reparations, the heroism of Japanese American men who fought in segregated U.S. Army units — The 100th Infantry Battalion and the 442nd Regimental Combat Team — and the resettlement in Illinois of people of Japanese descent, but that clause was removed in the Senate.

A study from the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremist at California State University San Bernandino found anti-Asian hate crimes rose by 145 percent, while overall hate crimes dropped by 6 percent.

The increase in racial violence, combined with challenges presented by COVID-19, has made the last year difficult for Asian American communities, said Grace Pai, executive director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice Chicago.

"It is not enough to respond to hate incidents after they have occurred," Pai said. "We must be proactive and teach our youth to build bridges across lines of difference. Education alone will not solve racism, but it is an important first step."

State Superintendent of Education Carmen Ayala said history has been incomplete and inaccurate for too long. She said Asian American students had provided heartbreaking testimony about their classroom experiences.

"Culturally inclusive and responsive education empowers all our students to learn about the diverse communities that make our state so great, so that they can be proud of their own cultures and appreciate the backgrounds of their neighbors and peers, ultimately, so they can thrive in a global social economy," Ayala said ahead of the bill's signing.

"Asian Americans are the second-fastest-growing demographic group in the nation, with a population of about 800,000 right here in Illinois," she added. "Asian American students are the only ethnic demographic group that has seen an increase in enrollment year-over -year for the past 10 years."

The Illinois State Board of Education will draw up guidelines, but it will be up to individual districts to design their own curriculum and determine how much time to devote to the instructional unit, according to the new law. Regional school superintendents will be responsible for monitoring compliance with the requirements during their annual visits.

In remarks before he signed the bill, Pritzker noted that Illinois also made history three decades ago when it became the first state in the nation to require schools teach about the holocaust. Illinois law already requires public school curriculum to include units on the history of the African Americans, Irish, Hispanic and LGBT communities.

Co-Sponsor Villivalam, one of four Asian American state legislators in Illinois and the only Asian American in the state senate, said that growing up as the only Asian American in his class in Chicago Public Schools left him and his peers questioning the nature and history of his community.

"Those questions were left unanswered in some cases, and then in other cases wrong assumptions were made," said Villivalam, the son of Indian immigrants who represents one of the state's most diverse senate districts. He said Friday's bill signing was a result of the deep partnerships across the community, which included advocacy by students and educators.

"The Asian American Community is incredibly diverse, we have so many communities within our community," he said. "And to work together to ensure that we're all at the table, we're all represented and we're moving legislation forward that benefits our entire community is so important."

Traditionally, he said, it is California that is the first state to pass laws that affect Asian Americans.

"We hear from the Asian American legislators there, and they usually have legislation as it relates to the Asian American community, and we and other states follow them," Villivalam said. "But this time we're first, and I'll be bringing that up to them."