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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.

    Image

    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
    View multimedia

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  • Laotian refugees debark from a bus parked in front of a building at Hamilton Air Force Base. They carry their belongings.

    Module

    Module 1: Introduction: Laotian Americans

    Davorn Sisavath

    Chapter:

    Laotian Americans
    View module
    Lesson Plan
  • A drawing in markers of a farming village in Laos being bombed by a plane on the top right. Villagers are lying dead and fires are burning the houses.

  • Family portrait of Indian American Kar Dhillon sitting on her father's lap. Six men and two boys wear turbans. A sibling sits on her mother's lap.

    Chapter

    Chapter Overview: South Asian Americans Before 1965

    South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA)

    View chapter
  • Cover of "The United States of India" with a drawing of a woman wearing saree and blowing into a long bugle rising from India to hover over the globe.

    Module

    Module 1: Overview

    South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA)

    Chapter:

    South Asian Americans Before 1965
    View module
  • Indian Vaishno Das Bagai in a black vest, pants, bowtie, long sleeved collared shirt stands at the counter of his general store with hands in pockets.

    Module

    Module 2: Early Immigration and Citizenship

    South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA)

    Chapter:

    South Asian Americans Before 1965
    View module
  • Pandita Ramabai and her daughter, both wearing saree, sit at center for formal portrait. Mukti Mission workers sit and stand beside them.

    Module

    Module 3: Early Pioneer South Asian American Women

    South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA)

    Chapter:

    South Asian Americans Before 1965
    View module
  • Indian Uday Shankar poses with his arms outstretched and hands in mudras. He stands with one leg raised and crossed in front of the other.

    Module

    Module 4: Arts and Culture

    South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA)

    Chapter:

    South Asian Americans Before 1965
    View module
  • Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King, wearing floral garlands around their necks, stand with a group of Indian delegates on tarmac.

    Module

    Module 5: Connections

    South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA)

    Chapter:

    South Asian Americans Before 1965
    View module
  • Twelve members of the Laotian American National Alliance attend a meeting around a conference table. Snacks and office supplies cover the table.

    Module

    Module 3: Laotian American Activism and Advocacy

    Davorn Sisavath

    Chapter:

    Laotian Americans
    View module
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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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