4.3.1 - Fighting for Education
The Asian American Education Project
Grade: 7-10Subject:
U.S. History, Social Science
Number of Lesson Days: 3
Communities of color have long worked together to advocate for equitable access and representation in education. In this three-day lesson, students will study examples of cross-cultural solidarity between communities in pursuit of equity in education. On Day 1, students will learn about the student activists at San Francisco State University and the University of California, Berkeley who formed the Third World Liberation Front, eventually leading to the formation of ethnic studies departments in universities across the country. On Day 2, students will research examples of cross-cultural solidarity in K-12 education. On Day 3, students will analyze and corroborate sources to learn how communities of color worked collectively to fight for access to education.
How did Asian American and Pacific Islander activists work with other activists of color to fight for educational equity?
Students will analyze and corroborate sources to learn how communities of color worked collectively to fight for access to education.
Access, Equity, and Representation in Education Essay
Background:
Access to the histories and diverse portrayals of communities of color is extremely significant and leads to greater cross-cultural understanding, greater engagement of students of color, and better self-esteem among students of color. Throughout U.S. history, communities of color have had to fight for access and representation.
Essay:
Public education in the United States has been used both as a tool for social and economic mobility and as a tool for subjugating historically marginalized groups, from segregated schools to
Eurocentric curriculum, to exclusionary enrollment policies. Communities of color have had to fight – often working together – for equitable access to education and to see themselves represented in classrooms and beyond.
In November 1968, students at San Francisco State College (now San Francisco State University, or SF State) decided to take a stand against the racial conditions of their school and announced a student strike. The Black Student Union and other student groups joined together to create the
Third World Liberation Front to improve the education the university provided them. Among their demands was a curriculum that reflected and included their own histories and experiences, a greater representation of faculty of color, and admission policies that admitted more people of color to the university.
In January 1969, students at the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) followed SF State’s lead: four student groups, the Afro-American Studies Union, Mexican-American Student Confederation, Native American Students United, and Asian-American Political Alliance, joined together to demand greater opportunities for students of color to learn about their own histories and culture.
Students from both campuses were in contact with one another as early as spring of 1968. The Asian American Political Alliance – the first to publicly use the term “Asian American” – hosted an issues forum on UC Berkeley’s campus that was attended by over ninety people including representatives from the Black Panther Party, Chicano Movement, and San Francisco Chinatown
activists.
During this meeting, each group discussed issues related to their identity and the concept of third world unity. This idea of cross-cultural and cross-racial solidarity would be pivotal to the Third World Liberation Front’s success on the SF State and UC Berkeley campuses.
At SF State, the student-led strike lasted five months, becoming the longest student strike in the history of the United States. Students of color were joined by white allies and some faculty and teaching assistants to march, organize picket lines, and conduct sit-ins.
At UC Berkeley, the strike lasted two months and students of color similarly found allies in other students and university staff. Students faced police confrontation in both strikes, with some arrested and others physically harmed.
Yet, students persevered and emerged successful. At the end of the strikes in March 1969, both universities committed to creating departments of
Ethnic Studies. Their creation inspired universities across the United States to follow their lead and develop their own Ethnic Studies departments.
At the same time, racial identity and
consciousness among the wider Asian American community was growing as well. With the
Black Power movement gaining strength and visibility in the 1960s, many Asian Americans took note and began to question their positionality as well. As a result, the “Yellow Power” movement emerged, inspired by the Black Power movement.
College campuses were one space in which many Asian Americans gained racial consciousness. By 1970, over seventy campus and community groups across the United States had emerged with “Asian American” in their name. The creation of the term “Asian American” itself is significant as it was a self-determined, pan-Asian identifier that replaced the derogatory term “
Oriental” that had previously been used to describe people of Asian descent. In addition to demanding classes that were representative and inclusive of their histories, Asian Americans began creating and sharing their own content as well in the form of self-created publications, teach-ins, and study circles.
The ethnic studies movement on university campuses supported the
multicultural education movement in K-12 public schools. Communities of color have had to fight against
segregation and other forms of racism. Collectively, their separate battles resulted in the establishment of multicultural education. James A. Banks (born 1941), a leading pioneer of multicultural education, said that, “...other groups who considered themselves on the margins of society [particularly women and people with disabilities] began to demand that the school curriculum – and later other aspects of the school – be changed.”
Starting in the 1970s, there were several responses to this demand. Textbook publishers began to include more people of color, especially African Americans. Schools were founded that centered their curriculum around the histories and experiences of Black Americans. High schools began to offer elective courses in Black history and literature. Following soon after, there have been schools, programs, and courses developed to center other cultural groups as well. Today, the fight continues as multi-racial coalitions struggle to ensure that their histories and narratives are included in school curriculums.
As the Asian American consciousness expanded, Asian Americans saw more commonalities between their own experiences and those of other oppressed communities, such as Black Americans, Latinx Americans, and Native Americans. In speaking out for their own rights and fighting for the rights of others, Asian Americans have challenged the Model Minority and Perpetual Foreigner stereotypes. They have shown that they won’t be used as a
racial wedge against other communities of color.
Bibiliography:
Banks, James A. Multicultural Education, Transformative Knowledge and Action: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives. New York, NY: Teachers College Press, 1996.
Gay, Geneva. “Multiethnic Education: Historical Development and Future Prospects.” The Phi Delta Kappan, 1983, vol. 64, no. 8, 1983, pp. 560-563.
Lee, Jaeah. “The Forgotten Zine of 1960s Asian-American Radicals.” Topic, 15 February 2018.
- Activists: people who use or support strong actions (such as protests) in support of or opposition to a controversial issue
- Black Power Movement: revolutionary movement that emphasized racial pride, economic empowerment, and creation of political and cultural institutions
- Consciousness: the quality or state of being aware of something within oneself, especially concerning a social or political cause
- Ethnic Studies: an interdisciplinary study of the histories, experiences, cultures, and issues of racial-ethnic groups in the U.S.
- Eurocentric: reflecting a tendency to interpret the world in terms of European and Anglo-American values and experiences
- Multicultural Education: teaching that incorporates the histories and perspectives of people from different cultural backgrounds
- Oriental: term used to describe Asians; reinforced the idea that Asians were/are forever foreign and could never become American
- Racial Wedge: the process of splitting up communities of color or pitting them against each other
- Segregation: forced separation based on race
- Third World: old-fashioned term used to describe developing countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin America
- In what ways has public education been used as a tool?
- What is the Third World Liberation Front? What were their demands? How did they achieve their demands? What was achieved?
- What is the “Yellow Power” movement? How was it inspired by the Black Power movement?
- What is the significance of the term “Asian American”?
- How did the Ethnic Studies movement in higher education impact K-12 schools? What is the multicultural education movement and what are some of the results of this movement?
A crowd of students and other protesters at the San Francisco State College Strike in 1968.
Activity 1: Introduction to the Lesson
- Have students complete a Quickwrite given these prompts: What communities or cultures do you identify with? Is your community or culture represented in the school curriculum? Is your community or culture represented in the media?
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Strategy: Quickwrite
A Quickwrite is an instructional practice that allows students an opportunity to quickly respond to a question or prompt. It is often timed for 3-10 minutes. It provides teachers an assessment of what students know or think at that moment in time. It provides students an opportunity to freely write down their first thoughts. It can be used at any time in a lesson.
For more on Quickwrites, see:
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- Allow students an opportunity to share what they wrote in their Quickwrites.
- NOTE TO TEACHER: Ensure students understand that white males are the most represented in school textbooks, instructional materials, school curriculum, etc. They are also the most represented in movies, television, etc. Women and communities of color are minimally represented and when they are present, they are usually subject to stereotypical or inaccurate portrayals. As an option, you can share this comment as a statement and have students discuss it. Ensure that it doesn’t turn into a debate which could further marginalize women and people of color.
- Ask students: What does it feel like to see yourself represented? Give examples.
- Ask students: What does it feel like to not see yourself represented? Give examples.
- Share the following statement: “Representation matters. If people see themselves in course materials and the media, then this increases their self-esteem, self-worth, and a sense of belonging. In regard to history, if people see themselves as part of the historical record, then they are more likely to see themselves as active agents of change.”
Scan of flyer stating the formation of the Asian American Political Alliance (AAPA) at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1969. The main AAPA organizations formed at the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) and San Francisco State College (SF State).
Credit: “Aapa-ucla-1969-side1.” by Accuracy222 (Public Domain) via Wikimedia Commons, 1969.
Activity 2: Introduction to Ethnic Studies Concepts
- Share the following statement: “Asian American communities have made many contributions in education, including but not limited to fighting for desegregation, bilingual education, and representation. They have successfully collaborated with other communities of color to fight for educational equity.”
- NOTE TO TEACHER: As part of the NYC Hidden Voices curriculum, there is a unit about the Asian American and Pacific Islander community’s contributions to bilingual and multilingual education. Consider teaching that unit to learn more.
- Distribute the worksheet entitled, “Noticings and Wonderings.”
- Have students write their noticings or observations in the left column.
- Have students write their wonderings or questions in the right column.
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Strategy: Noticings and Wonderings
This strategy is adapted from math to social studies/literacy. It is a simple tool for sense-making and for reflection. The idea is to unpack problems or texts before engaging in higher level critical thinking skills. It promotes safety by encouraging students to share their thoughts.
For more on Noticings and Wonderings, see:
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- Show the video entitled, “Ethnic Studies - The Fight to Teach Our Stories”: https://vimeo.com/687752393. Encourage students to take notes on the “Noticings and Wonderings” worksheet. Show the video several times if needed.
- NOTE TO TEACHER: The video introduces three main concepts which are also addressed in the text entitled, “Access, Equity, and Representation in Education”: Third World, Ethnic Studies, and the term “Asian American.” Students may or may not know what these concepts are. If needed, explain the following to students:
- Third World refers to the poor, economically-developing countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin America. (First World refers to the United States and western Europe. The Second World refers to the former Soviet Union, China, and Cuba.) “Third World” is an old-fashioned term that was used during the Cold War. Today, “developing countries” is more commonly used.
- Ethnic Studies is an interdisciplinary study of race and ethnicity, as understood through the perspectives of major underrepresented racial groups in the United States. It is the study of the histories, experiences, cultures, and issues of racial-ethnic groups in the United States. (Note Asian American Studies is significantly different from Asian Studies.)
- “Asian American” as a term was created to serve as a pan-Asian political strategy and as a social and political identity. Prior, communities operated and were identified separately (i.e., Chinese American, Vietnamese American, Indian American, etc.). It was coined by activists Yuji Ichioka (1936-2002) and Emma Gee in 1968. Its creation rejects derogatory terms used in the past.
- Facilitate a discussion by asking the following questions:
- What did you learn from this video?
- Which noticings and wonderings were most important to you?
- What galvanized the student movement at San Francisco State? What inspired the students to take action?
- How did the demand for Black Studies influence Asian Americans? How did the Black-led Civil Rights Movement influence the Asian American movement?
- Which groups joined in this movement? What connected them together?
- What did the student activist groups want? What were the issues with the education they were receiving?
- How did the student activist groups achieve their goals? Which tactics did they use?
Sign of the Department of Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley). The department was formed after the Third World Liberation Front student strikes.
Credit: “Ethnic studies.” by Slizardi (
CC BY-SA 4.0) via Wikimedia Commons, 10 Dec. 2018.
Activity 3: Access, Equity, and Representation in Education
- Distribute the text entitled, “Access, Equity, and Representation in Education.”
- Distribute another copy of the worksheet entitled, “Wonderings and Noticings.” (Or have students add on to the worksheet they used in the previous activity.)
- Have students write their noticings or observations in the left column.
- Have students write their wonderings or questions in the right column.
- Read the text and encourage students to take notes as they read.
- NOTE TO TEACHER: If time is limited, have students read the text and complete the worksheet the night before.
- Facilitate a discussion by asking the Discussion Questions.
- NOTE TO TEACHER: The text introduces the concept of multicultural education. Students may or may not know what this is. If needed, explain that multicultural education is the K-12 version of ethnic studies which tends to be more of a higher education concept – although today, more K-12 institutions are claiming to teach ethnic studies. Multicultural education is teaching that incorporates the histories and perspectives of people from different cultural backgrounds. K-12 teachers incorporate or modify their lessons to reflect cultural diversity; at the secondary school level, electives can be created and offered.
- Reread the last paragraph.
- Quote: “As the Asian American consciousness expanded, Asian Americans saw more commonalities between their own experiences and those of other oppressed communities, such as Black Americans, Latinx Americans, and Native Americans. In speaking out for their own rights and fighting for the rights of others, Asian Americans challenged the Model Minority and Perpetual Foreigner stereotypes. They showed that they would not be used as a racial wedge against other communities of color.”
- Have students do a close reading of this last paragraph and restate it in their own words.
- NOTE TO TEACHER: Remind students of the Model Minority and Perpetual Foreigner stereotypes as both have influenced how Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are perceived and treated in the school systems:
- The Model Minority stereotype is the notion that Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are “smart” and “hardworking.” They have achieved success through hard work and determination, and are suitable models for other minorities to emulate. This has allowed for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders to be ignored or neglected in schools that assume they will achieve no matter what. This is inaccurate because it views Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders as a monolith and not all groups of Asian ancestry are high performing.
- The Perpetual Foreigner stereotype is the idea that Asian American and Pacific Islanders are foreigners because of their appearance, language, customs, etc. They will always be seen as outsiders no matter how long they have lived in the U.S. or whether they’re American-born. This has resulted in discriminatory practices against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders including segregation, denial of bilingual support, cultural and language erasure, etc.
- If students need more support in understanding the Model Minority and Perpetual Foreigner stereotypes, consider teaching these lessons (or relevant parts of the lessons) from The Asian American Education Project: (1) “Perpetual Foreigner - Systemic Racism Against Asian Americans”: https://asianamericanedu.org/perpetualforeigner.html; and (2) “Model Minority Myth”: https://asianamericanedu.org/3.1-Model-Minority-Myth-lesson-plan.html
Activity 4: Know History, Know Yourself
Activity 1: How Would You Improve Your School?
- Ask students: How would you rate or describe your schooling so far?
- Tell students to think about their response and justify their ratings or descriptions with evidence.
- Ask students: How can our school be improved to better serve your needs?
- Allow students an opportunity to share their ideas out loud.
- Tell students to think about this question again but to consider specific perspectives. Ask the following questions and allow students an opportunity to share their responses aloud - select the questions that are most applicable to your school site:
- How can our school be improved for female students?
- How can our school be improved for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender, queer (LGBTQ+) students?
- How can our school be improved for Black students?
- How can our school be improved for Latinx students?
- How can our school be improved for Asian American and Pacific Islander students?
- How can our school be improved for Native American students?
- How can our school be improved for students with special needs?
- How can our school be improved for English Language Learners?
- How can our school be improved for students in need?
- Ask students: What are some barriers preventing or limiting public schools from being able to serve all students?
- Allow students an opportunity to share their ideas out loud.
- Share the following statement: “In this lesson, you have seen how some communities of color sought to overcome or change these barriers and limitations to improve the educational experience for all students.”
- NOTE TO TEACHER: When sharing barriers and limitations, it is important that students don’t view barriers and limitations as fixed conditions that cannot be addressed, resolved, or overcome. Rather, encourage students to treat them as challenges. Encourage students’ agency and creativity to imagine solutions to overcome the barriers and limitations they identified.
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Strategy: Role Storming
Brainstorming is an effective strategy for creative thinking and for generating new ideas. Role Storming is a special type of brainstorming which allows participants to assume a role or perspective when sharing ideas. Putting oneself into another’s point of view invites empathy and lets participants approach problems from different angles. The group brainstorming method was invented in the 1980s by Rick Griggs, who designed it for the business industry.
For more on brainstorming, see:
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Student protesters in support of a hunger strike to defend the SF State College of Ethnic Studies against a budget shortfall in May 2016. Sign reads “No History. No Self.”
Credit: “The Fight for Ethnic Studies_12” by Melissa Minton,
CC BY 2.0 DEED via Flickr, 20 May 2016.
Activity 2: K-12 Education Activism Cases
- Share the following statement: “This lesson so far has focused on the activism of the Third World Liberation Front and its impacts. Now, we are going to focus on K-12. There are many examples of how communities of color fought for education.”
- Have students refer to the text entitled, “Access, Equity, and Representation in Education.”
- Reread the third to the last paragraph: “Communities of color have had to fight against segregation and other forms of racism. Collectively, their separate battles resulted in the establishment of multicultural education.”
- Tell students that they will be researching landmark cases or events that have provided educational equity to all communities of color.
- Divide students into pairs or small groups. Assign each group to one of these historical cases or events in which a community of color fought for change in education:
- Tape v. Hurley (1885)
- Crawford v. School District No. 7 (1912)
- Piper v. Big Pine School District of Inyo County (1923)
- Mendez v. Westminster (1947)
- Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
- Civil Rights Act of 1968
- Keyes v. School District No. 1 (1973)
- Lau v. Nichols (1974)
- Hawaiian Studies Program and the Hawaiian Language Immersion Program (1987)
- Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act (introduced in 2001)
- Arizona House Bill 2281 (2010) and Appeal (2010)
- Teaching Equitable Asian American Community History (TEAACH) Act (2021)
- NOTE TO TEACHER: Allow students to propose other historical cases or events besides the ones listed above. The case or event has to be led by a community/person of color with the goal of fighting for educational equity.
Activity 3: Research Activity
- Distribute the worksheet entitled, “Research Guide - Historical Skills Thinking Chart.”
- Direct students to find at least three sources about their assigned topic. The sources must include one primary source, one secondary source, and either a primary source or secondary source.
- NOTE TO TEACHER: As a reminder, primary sources are firsthand accounts and secondary sources are secondhand accounts or information created from primary sources. Primary sources are credible as evidence but they can be unreliable as people have different experiences, opinions, and memories. They can also be hard to comprehend as they are subject to people’s literacy skills and the resources available to them at the time. Secondary sources show how primary sources relate to existing knowledge and offer explanations or interpretations that can help foster further understanding. They also take a broader view and may look at patterns and consistencies across various primary sources. However, they can be unreliable as well because they are subject to the creator’s perspectives, interpretations, and biases.
- Review the worksheet so that students understand the task. Have students complete the worksheet by answering the following questions:
- Who wrote this?
- When was it written?
- Where was it written?
- Is it a primary source or secondary source?
- Is it reliable? Why or why not?
- What was happening at the time? Explain the historical context.
- How did the historical context affect the content of the source?
- What claims does the author make?
- What evidence does the author use?
- What language does the author use to persuade the audience?
- How does the language indicate the author’s perspective?
- What does the language tell us about the author?
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Strategy: Historical Thinking Skills Chart
Historical Thinking Skills Chart is a way to help students contextualize primary and secondary sources. This strategy supports students’ historical reading skills such as sourcing, contextualization, close reading, and corroboration.
For more on Historical Thinking Skills Chart, see:
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- Allow students time to find and read sources and to complete the worksheet.
- NOTE TO TEACHER: If time is limited, have students complete the reading and worksheet as homework.
Activity 4: Reflection
- Remind students of the introductory discussion about how schools can be improved in order to better serve all students.
- Tell students to think about what they have learned about their historical event or case.
- Ask students: What did you find inspirational about the work the communities of color did to better their opportunities? What types of things can you do to improve our school?
Activity 1: Discussion on Fighting for Education
- Share the following statement: “We have learned that communities of color fought to redefine how race works, what it means to be American, and what it means to be a member of a group that experiences oppression on the basis of race or ethnicity.”
- Facilitate a discussion by asking the following questions:
- How are public schools and school curriculum important tools for this work?
- Why is it important for communities of color to fight to change education?
Activity 2: Corroboration Activity
- Tell students that it’s important to corroborate sources so that we can make reliable and accurate conclusions.
- Distribute the worksheet entitled, “Corroboration Tool.”
- Read the historical question listed at the top of the page: “How does this historical case or event impact educational equity for communities of color?”
- Direct students to complete the worksheet and encourage them to refer to their readings and notes:
- Title
- Author
- Date/Year
- What is the main claim?
- What evidence supports the claim?
- Who was involved in this event or case?
- How did this event or case address an educational equity issue affecting communities of color?
- How did this event or case impact communities of color?
- Identify elements of corroboration between the sources (On what point or facts do the texts agree?)
- Identify elements of contradiction between the sources. (On what points or facts do the texts disagree?)
- Which document is more reliable? How so?
- What further research is necessary to answer the question more accurately? What questions do you have?
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Strategy: Corroboration Tool
Corroboration is the ability to compare multiple pieces of information or sources in order to identify similarities and/or patterns. Finding corroboration between sources strengthens conclusions, especially when making historical arguments.
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- NOTE TO TEACHER: If time is limited, have students complete the reading and worksheet as homework.
Ethnic Studies & Psychology building at San Francisco State University (SFSU). Students at SFSU protested during the Third World Liberation Front for better representation and resulted in the creation of the Ethnic Studies department.
Credit: “Ethnic Studies and Psychology Building Nov 29
2023.” by Mariwlqs,
CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
Activity 3: Gallery Walk
- Have each group create a poster summarizing what they learned about the historical event or case. Encourage them to use all their notes and worksheets.
- Facilitate a Gallery Walk by hanging their posters around the room.
- Have students walk around the room and read the posters.
- Give students post-it notes to add comments and questions on each poster.
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Strategy: Gallery Walk
Gallery walks are an active learning strategy. During a gallery walk, students explore multiple texts or images that are placed around the room. Students are able to share their work with peers, examine multiple content, and/or respond to multiple content. Because this strategy requires students to physically move around the room, it can be especially engaging to kinesthetic learners.
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- Facilitate a discussion after the Gallery Walk by asking these questions:
- How do these historical cases or events impact educational equity for communities of color?
- What tactics did the communities use to achieve their goals?
- How did these separate actions lead to collective change?
- Facilitate a discussion on the entire lesson by asking these questions:
- How much have communities of color achieved in regard to educational equity?
- What still needs to be done?
- If you are teaching this lesson as part of the Cross-Cultural Solidarity unit: Summarize this set of lessons by sharing this statement: “We learned how communities of color worked together and separately (but for a collective cause) to fight for educational equity. They fought for equal access to education. They fought for equal services. They fought for equal representation. In the next set of lessons, we will learn about how Asian American and Pacific Islander communities worked with other communities of color to fight for racial justice.”
