Illinois Bets on Teaching Asian American History to Fight Racism
The state passed a landmark law this month amid a surge in anti-Asian hate and debates on critical race theory.
People holding signs take part in a Stop Asian Hate rally in Chicago’s Chinatown on March 27, 2021. A new Illinois law requires schools to teach about the contributions of Asian Americans toward advancing civil rights.
Photographer: Vincent Johnson/Xinhua News Agency via Getty Images
Illinois State Representative Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz attended public schools in Oak Park, a liberal town near Chicago, yet it wasn’t until law school that she learned anything about Asian American history, including how her Chinese immigrant grandparents fought deportation from Portland, Oregon.
That won’t be the case for the current generation of students in Illinois, which this month became the first U.S. state to require public schools teach Asian American history starting in the 2022-2023 school year. Governor J.B. Pritzker signed the Teaching Equitable Asian American Community History (TEAACH) Act into law on July 9, calling it a new standard “that helps us understand one another.” The landmark law broadly mandates that Illinois public elementary and high schools teach a unit of Asian American history.