Put the power of primary sources to work in the classroom. Browse ready-to-use lesson plans, student activities, collection guides and research aids.
Featured Resource
Teacher's Guide: Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage and History in the U.S.
This Teacher's Guide offers a collection of lessons and resources for K-12 social studies, literature, and arts classrooms that center around the experiences, achievements, and perspectives of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders across U.S. history.
(Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center)
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Image credit: Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Selected Resources For Teachers
The Library of Congress 7Hide All
- Chinese New Year Celebrations: Primary Sources Reflecting a Cultural Tradition
- Immigration—Primary Sources & Student iBook
- Japanese American Internment (ebook)
- Japanese American Internment: Fear Itself
- Japanese American Internment—Primary Sources & Student iBook
- Presentation—Japanese Immigration
- Presentation—Chinese Immigration
National Archives 11Hide All
- The Chinese Exclusion Act interactive book on iBooks and iTunes U course
- The Chinese Exclusion Act and Related Primary Sources
- Chinese Exclusion Broadside Analysis
- The Chinese Village Exhibit at the 1899 Export Exposition
- Contextualizing a Photograph: On Exhibit at the "Chinese Village"
- Japanese American Incarceration During World War II
- Petition Against Annexation of Hawaii
- Primary sources and teaching activities on the Vietnam War
- Primary sources related to Chinese immigration to the United States
- Primary sources related to Hawaii
- Primary sources related to Japanese internment during World War II
National Endowment for the Humanities 22Hide All
- Asian American and Pacific Islander Perspectives within Humanities Education
- Asian American Civil Rights in Civil Rights Movements of the 20th Century
- BackStory: To Be A Citizen? The History of Becoming American
- Beyond Island Wear
- Challenging School Segregation: The Fight of Chinese Americans
- Citizenship, Race, and Place: Frontiers in Asian American History
- Exclusion or Inclusion? The Japanese Struggle to Own Land in California
- Hamlet Meets Chushingura: Traditions of the Revenge Tragedy
- Hawai'i's Annexation and Statehood: How the Island Nation Became an American Frontier
- Highlights of Preservation & Access Division Projects
- An Introduction to Japanese Noh Plays
- I Remember: Japanese Incarceration During WWII
- Japanese American Internment Camps During WWII
- Landmarks of American History: From Immigrants to Citizens: Asian Pacific Americans in the Northwest
- Life in the Floating World: Ukiyo-e Prints and the Rise of the Merchant Class in Edo Period Japan
- Lu Shih: The Couplets of T'ang
- NEH Virtual Bookshelf: Asian American and Pacific Islander Experiences
- Online Learning Center from the Bishop Museum in Honolulu (Sponsored by the National Endowment for the Hunanities)
- Outside the Frame: How Asia Changed the Course of American Art (Site supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities)
- Tanka: Japanese Poetry
- Why Here?: Heart Mountain, Wyoming and Japanese Incarceration
- The World of Haiku
National Gallery of Art 5Hide All
National Park Service 12Hide All
- “Breathing Fire”: Asian/Pacific American Chapter from the LGBTQ Theme Study
- “A Brief Glimpse: Asian American Pacific Islander National Historic Landmarks Theme Study” (.pdf) [PDF: 2.51 MB]
- Educator Resources – Teachers
- Finding a Path Forward: Asian American Pacific Islander National Historic Landmarks Theme Study
- Find Your Place: Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (.pdf) [PDF: 2.13 MB]
- “Japanese Americans in WWII” (.pdf) Theme Study [PDF: 8.68 MB]
- “WWII and the American Home Front” (.pdf) Theme Study [PDF: 4.1 MB]
- Interning Japanese-Americans
- Locke and Walnut Grove: Havens for Early Asian Immigrants in California
- Teach It! - Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage
- The War Relocation Centers of World War II: When Fear Was Stronger than Justice
- Asian Reflections on the American Landscape: Identifying Asian Heritage (.pdf) [PDF: 944 KB]
Smithsonian Institution 8Hide All
- Asian America
- Asian Pacific American Heritage Teaching Resources
- BookDragon—a round-up of the latest titles in children's and young adult literature for diverse readers
- Island Soundscape: Musics of Hawai'i, the Solomon Islands, and Papua New Guinea
- Learning Together
- Music & Migration: “We Are the Children” (Smithsonian Learning Lab collection)
- Standing Together Against Hate
- Vincent Chin Legacy Guide: Asian Americans Building the Movement (Research assistance provided by the Smithsonian Institution)