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Asian American and Pacific Islander studies resources for the classroom
All chapters of Foundations and Futures include lesson plans and curricular tools that are designed for high school students and grounded in ethnic studies pedagogy. Feel free to search our repository of primary sources and material that helps bring Asian American and Pacific Islander histories and experiences into the classroom.
Multimedia
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Chapters
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Video
Brianna Fruean’s UN Climate Summit Address
Brianna Fruean from Pacific Climate Warriors (350 Pacific), spoke at the UN Climate Summit in 2021. She shared an important message to world leaders from Pacific youth: “We are not drowning, we are fighting!”
Featured in:
Pacific Islanders, Module 4
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Climate Activist Ursula Rakova
In this clip, Ursula Rakova, a climate activist from Carteret Islands, shares her experiences of the ongoing impacts of climate change on Carteret Islands and its peoples.
Featured in:
Pacific Islanders, Module 4
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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Questions Exxon Scientists
In 2019, scientists who worked at Exxon in the 1980s testified before the US Congress Committee on Oversight & Reform. Here they respond to Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s questions regarding Exxon’s knowledge of the impact of burning fossil fuels as early as the 1970s.
Featured in:
Pacific Islanders, Module 4
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Sea Level Rise Visualization
This 2024 video from NASA Scientific Visualization Studio tracks the average rise in global sea level from 1993-2023. In some places, such as Oceania, local sea levels are rising much faster than the global average.
Featured in:
Pacific Islanders, Module 4
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Jellyfish Lake in Palau
Millions of golden jellyfish migrate daily across Ongeim’l Tketau, also known as Jellyfish Lake, a marine lake in Palau.
Featured in:
Pacific Islanders, Module 4
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1970 Ulawun Eruption
One third of the world’s volcanic gasses come from the volcanoes of Melanesia. This 1970 photo features an eruption from Ulawun, an active volcano in Papua New Guinea, with its rising ash plume.
Featured in:
Pacific Islanders, Module 4
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Map of Small and Large Island States
This map from the Center for Pacific Islands Studies, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa highlights the land masses of the smaller and larger island states in Oceania. Reproduced with permission.
Featured in:
Pacific Islanders, Module 4
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Video
Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner’s UN Address
In this excerpt from poet Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner’s performance at the United Nations, she passionately assures her newborn child, Matafele, that she will resist rising ocean waters and greedy entities polluting the environment, and that their family will not become climate change refugees.
Featured in:
Pacific Islanders, Module 4
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Nuclear Free Pacific Poster
In the aftermath of World War II, the US detonated nuclear devices on Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands from 1946-1958, displacing people from their homes. Bikini Atoll remains uninhabitable due to radiation from US nuclear testing.
Featured in:
Pacific Islanders, Module 3
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Map of U.S. Military Installations in Pacific
This map from a 2023 US Congress Report identifies select US military installations and defense sites in the Pacific region.
Featured in:
Pacific Islanders, Module 3
Chapters
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Module
Module 3: To Do Something or Nothing: The Decision to Take Action
Helen Zia
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Module
Module 4: Building a Pan-Asian American Civil Rights Movement
Helen Zia
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Module
Module 5: The Continued Impact and Legacy of Vincent Chin’s Story
Helen Zia
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Chapter
Japanese Americans
Brian Niiya and Kristen Hayashi
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Module
Module 1: Still Here After Five Generations and Counting
Brian Niiya and Kristen Hayashi
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Japanese Americans
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Module 2: Building Homes and Community in the Shadow of Two Empires (1885-1941)
Brian Niiya and Kristen Hayashi
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Japanese Americans
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Module 3: Looking Like the Enemy (1942-1945)
Brian Niiya and Kristen Hayashi
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Japanese Americans
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Module 4: From Pariahs to “Model Minorities”
Brian Niiya and Kristen Hayashi
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Japanese Americans
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Module 5: Balancing Past and Present (1970s to the present)
Brian Niiya and Kristen Hayashi
Chapter:
Japanese Americans
