Story at a glance
- Last Friday, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a bill into law mandating Asian American history be taught in public schools.
- The law targets the rampant violence against Asian Americans spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Similar legislation was introduced at the federal level.
Last week, Illinois made history by being the first state to mandate that Asian American history be taught in all public schools, thanks to new legislation signed into law by Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D).
The bill, called the Teaching Equitable Asian American Community History (TEAACH) Act, passed through the Illinois General Assembly with relative ease, especially in the Senate, where all 57 state senators voted in favor of the bill during the end of May.
After House approval, the bill was sent to Pritzker’s desk for ratification. As a law, it requires every public elementary and high school to include a curriculum studying Asian American history, with an emphasis on the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, along with the history of the Asian American-dominated 100th Infantry Battalion and 442nd Regimental Combat Team of the U.S. Army.
Future curriculums will also include notable contributions of Asian Americans in civil rights, government, arts, humanities, economics and sciences.
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This law is particularly timely as instances of violent Sinophobic — anti-Chinese — attacks have spiked amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Today, we are reaffirming our commitment to creating more inclusive school environments. We’re making Illinois the first state in the nation to require that Asian American history will be taught in public schools, including a unit about the Asian American experience,” Pritzker said in comments. “We are setting a new standard for what it means to truly reckon with our history. It’s a new standard that helps us understand one another, and, ultimately, to move ourselves closer to the nation of our ideals.”
The new curriculum will be implemented in the 2022-23 school year.
The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) will be tasked with implementing the material used in the new curriculum, although each school district will decide how to implement the curriculum and decide its passing requirements.
“This TEAACH legislation will not only better educate all of our young minds about the contributions of Asian Americans and their communities and culture, but it will give our Asian Americans students a chance to learn about the experiences and stories they have a personal connection with,” said House Speaker Emanuel Welch (D). “Illinois is now a leader for the entire nation, and it’s our children, our future, who will be better because of it.”
Welch was one of the many sponsors of the bill, guiding it through the House.
While no other state or body has passed legislation spurring mandatory Asian American history classes, President Biden recently signed the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act into law, which allocates more resources to reporting and investigating hate crimes against Sinophobic violence.
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“My message to all of those who are hurting is: We see you and the Congress has said, we see you. And we are committed to stop the hatred and the bias,” Biden said at the signing.
New York Representative Grace Meng (D), a leader in Congress against the rampant outbreak of anti-Asian American hate crimes, introduced a similar bill into the U.S. House of Representatives, titled the Teaching Asian Pacific American History Act. The bill was introduced in October 2020.
She recently spoke out in support of Illinois’s TEAACH Act.
“Kudos to Illinois for requiring #Asian American history to be taught in public schools. Our classrooms must include ALL of America’s history & I will continue pushing my legislation to promote this effort in schools across the U.S.,” she wrote on Twitter.
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