Explore centuries of Asian American and Pacific Islander histories and stories

Foundations and Futures: Asian American and Pacific Islander Multimedia Textbook is the most comprehensive, scholar informed, online history of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. This collection redefines the American narrative for high school, college and lifelong learners, opening unlimited possibilities for building a more inclusive, equitable and democratic future for all.

Table of Contents

The Multimedia Textbook on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders is a narrative change project that brings together distinguished scholarship, open access technology, and ethnic studies pedagogy to deepen public knowledge about who we are, strengthen students’ historical empathy, and bring Asian American and Pacific Islander stories into every classroom.

Movements and Moments

Landmark social movements and history-making events

Labor & Activism of Filipino Farmworkers
Incarceration of Japanese Americans During World War II
Chol Soo Lee walks with two men in suits while cameras surround them.
Free Chol Soo Lee: How a Lone Immigrant on Death Row Sparked a Movement
Vincent Chin, a Chinese American man wearing a printed tie and black suit jacket, crouches in front row of group photo with similarly dressed friends.
Fighting Anti-Asian Violence: Justice for Vincent Chin
Factory worker Yook Chee Hom, seated in front of sewing machine, demonstrates a new sewing style to her factory co-worker, who stands beside her.
New York Chinatown’s Immigrant Garment Workers: Women in Action, 1970-2001

Pacific Islander Communities

Pacific Islander Communities

Haunani-Kay Trask, a woman with long, dark hair wearing lei poʻo, speaks passionately into microphone at outdoor event.
Decolonization in the Pacific
Ten men face cliff edge and perform hula pahu for the Hoʻokuʻikahi ceremonies at Puʻukoholā Heiau. A group of men walk up the slope behind them.
Kanaka ’Ōiwi: Indigenous Hawaiians
A Samoan dance troupe, wearing floral printed lavalavas and lei with no shirts, perform in front of elders and peers inside a gymnasium.
Samoans in the United States

People and Everyday Life

Influential people and insights into everyday life

The Tape Family and Chinese American Civil Rights
Preserving Community Stories: The Art and Practice of Oral History
Chinese Americans Edward Woo, wearing a t-shirt and pants, and Nancy Gee, wearing a dress, stand inside his grocery store, Eddie’s Lucky Leadway.
Asian Americans in the South
Magazine cover of Patsy Mink, a Japanese American woman wearing sleeveless dress. Mink poses holding a bill with U.S. Capitol Dome in background.
Patsy Takemoto Mink: Fierce and Fearless

Asian American Communities

The Asian American experience

Vietnamese American Experiences
Vietnamese American Experiences
Bangladeshi Americans Mohammed Chishti-Shipu, in panjabi, and his wife Cherry, in salwar kameez, beside the red wood paneled wall of their new home.
Bangladeshi Americans
A Korean military bride smiles at her husband, an American sergeant, with their child in her arms.
Korean Americans
On the U.S. quarter, Anna May Wong is shown engraved with her image and name.
Chinese Americans and the Making of American History
Bhagat Singh Thind, a Sikh man, in his U.S. Army uniform and turban, standing at attention with his rifle and gear.
Indian Americans
Itliong sitting at his desk, smiling at the camera with the phone to his ear and his signature cigar in the remaining two fingers on his right hand.
Filipinx American Histories

Influential people & movements

Pivotal moments from Asian American and Pacific Islander history.

Patsy Mink
Queen Lili’uokalani
Larry Itliong

Influential people & movements

Pivotal moments from Asian American and Pacific Islander history.

Patsy Mink
Queen Lili’uokalani
Larry Itliong
Patsy Mink
Queen Lili’uokalani
Larry Itliong

Educators, Stay in Touch

Get the latest news on the multimedia textbook, information about chapter rollouts, teacher trainings, publicity and outreach.

Sign up for updates
Foundations and Futures Logo

The Asian American Studies Center acknowledges the Gabrielino/Tongva peoples as the traditional land caretakers of Tovaangar (Los Angeles basin, So. Channel Islands) and pay our respects to the honuukvetam (ancestors), ‘ahiihirom (elders), and ‘eyoohiinkem (relatives/relations) past, present, and emerging.

© 2025 UCLA Asian American Studies Center

UCLA Institute of American Cultures Asian American Studies Center logo
Accessibility Tools
Reset All Accessibility Tools Reset All
Font Options
Text Resize
Line Height
Color Focus ButtonColor Overlay
Reading Focus ButtonReading Mask

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Accessibility
Translate