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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.  

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  • Bangladeshi American English professor and author Nadeem Zaman holds a stack of his books "The Inheritors" wearing glasses and a jacket inside a home.

    Image

    Nadeem Zaman Holding a Stack of His Book The Inheritors

    Author Nadeem Zaman with his book, The Inheritors (2023). An English professor at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, Zaman arrived in the US in 1991 at fifteen. The legacy of the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War features heavily in his writing.

    Featured in:

    Bangladeshi Americans, Module 3
    View multimedia
  • Cover of Bangladeshi American Diruba Ahmed's book "Bring Now The Angels" featuring a statue of a worn-down, headless angel.

    Text

    Front Cover of Bring Now the Angels

    Author Dilruba Ahmed’s Bring Now The Angels (2020). This book of poetry moves away from exploring notions of identity and belonging and instead deals with themes of grief and forgiveness.

    Featured in:

    Bangladeshi Americans, Module 3
    View multimedia
  • Bangladeshi American author Diruba Ahmed uses one hand to take off her glasses while holding a pen and the other hand to keep a book open on a table.

    Image

    Headshot of Dilruba Ahmed

    Bangladeshi American author and poet, Dilruba Ahmed, at a bookstore reading. Her writings defy stereotypical representations of the exoticized Bengali and non-Western woman, emphasizing identity as fluid and multi-dimensional.

    Featured in:

    Bangladeshi Americans, Module 3
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  • Headshot of Bangladeshi American author and perfumer Tanaïs dressed in a sparkly blue sheer off-the-shoulder top and metal choker necklace.

    Image

    Headshot of Tanaïs

    Tanaïs, a Bangladeshi American author and perfumer, grew up in Bangladesh, Illinois, Texas, Alabama, and Missouri. “I write from spaces of discomfort, the syncretic spaces of blending cultures.”

    Featured in:

    Bangladeshi Americans, Module 3
    View multimedia
  • Headshot of Bangladeshi author Mahmud Rahman wearing a fleece jacket, smiling in front of sunlit foliage and a brick wall in the background.

    Image

    Headshot of Mahmud Rahman

    Author Mahmud Rahman moved to the US from Dhaka, Bangladesh, as an undergraduate student. His writing reflects on movement and dislocation: from village to the city, from war to peace, from Bangladesh to the US.

    Featured in:

    Bangladeshi Americans, Module 3
    View multimedia
  • Headshot of Bangladeshi American Sharbari Ahmed wearing a red dress and smiling with her long hair partially covering her face.

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    Headshot of Sharbari Ahmed

    Author and screenwriter Sharbari Ahmed is the first Bangladeshi to write for an American network TV show, Quantico, on ABC.

    Featured in:

    Bangladeshi Americans, Module 3
    View multimedia

  • Video

    Tribal Dance Performed at Bangladeshi American Folk Festival

    A tribal dance performance from 2024 at a Bangladeshi American folk festival in New York City celebrates Bangladeshi culture.

    Featured in:

    Bangladeshi Americans, Module 2
    View multimedia
  • Refugees carry their belongings while trekking across a dry riverbed in the Ganges Delta at Kushtia.

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    Refugees Stream Across the River Ganges Delta at Kushtia

    Refugees stream across the delta of the Ganges river in 1971 as they flee the violence in East Pakistan during the ongoing West Pakistani military campaign, known as Operation Searchlight.

    Featured in:

    Bangladeshi Americans, Module 2
    View multimedia
  • A circular, mosaic-patterned flower bed with reds, yellows, and greens in front of a monument.

    Image

    The Shaheed Minar in Dhaka

    The Shaheed Minar (Martyr’s Monument) in Dhaka, Bangladesh, commemorates the lives of students who died fighting for the right to use their native Bengali language.

    Featured in:

    Bangladeshi Americans, Module 2
    View multimedia
  • A map of South Asia that is color coded to show the different countries in the region.

    Image

    Map of South Asia

    A map of South Asia, with Bangladesh between India and Myanmar.

    Featured in:

    Bangladeshi Americans, Module 2
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  • Chinese American chef Joyce Chen holds chopsticks and samples her food while smiling. Multiple dishes of food are displayed on the table before her.

    Module

    Module 3: The Taste of Success

    Susie J. Pak

    Chapter:

    Asian American Pioneer Entrepreneurs: Realities of the American Dream
    View module
  • TIME magazine cover entitled, "Those Asian American Whiz Kids." Six Asian American students pose, sitting and standing, in classroom.

    Module

    Module 4: Asian Americans and the Different Realties of the American Dream

    Susie J. Pak

    Chapter:

    Asian American Pioneer Entrepreneurs: Realities of the American Dream
    View module

  • Chapter

    Chapter Overview: Asian American and Pacific Islander Workers’ Organizing

    Tracy Lai and Kim Geron

    View chapter
  • A group of male laborers, wearing protective clothing and hats in a field, cut sugarcane and place them in wooden carts pulled by mules.

    Module

    Module 1: Overview of Asian American Workers

    Tracy Lai and Kim Geron

    Chapter:

    Asian American Workers’ Organizing
    View module
  • Painting of a vibrant sugarcane plantation and a snaking river that leads to a mill. Workers harvest sugarcane and use oxen to pull wagons.

    Module

    Module 2: Hawaiian Plantation Workers Organize for Justice

    Tracy Lai and Kim Geron

    Chapter:

    Asian American and Pacific Islander Workers’ Organizing
    View module
  • Five female cannery workers, dressed in aprons, overalls, rubber boots, and bandanas, rest on a dock by the ocean and drink out of paper cups.

    Module

    Module 3: Alaska Cannery Workers

    Tracy Lai and Kim Geron

    Chapter:

    Asian American and Pacific Islander Workers’ Organizing
    View module
  • A Vietnamese female nail tech in an apron, face mask and latex gloves gives a customer a pedicure while seated in front of the customer and foot bath.

    Module

    Module 4: Nail Salon Workers: Ethnic Labor Migration

    Tracy Lai and Kim Geron

    Chapter:

    Asian American and Pacific Islander Workers’ Organizing
    View module
  • Union leaders, community organizers, and worker activists visit the wall at the U.S.-Mexico border. The wall is topped with barbed wire and crosses.

    Module

    Module 5: Contemporary Asian American Labor Organizing

    Tracy Lai and Kim Geron

    Chapter:

    Asian American and Pacific Islander Workers’ Organizing
    View module
  • Set against gray fabric, this detailed story cloth shows Hmong people as they walk through lands with colorful buildings bisected by long river.

    Chapter

    Hmong Americans

    Ma Vang

    View chapter
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.

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