Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have resided in the United States since its founding, and generations of AAPIs have helped shape our nation's story. Yet 53% of Americans cannot name a single significant historical event or policy involving Asian Americans, according to The Asian American Foundation’s (TAAF) 2025 STAATUS Index.
Despite this lack of awareness, the desire of Americans to learn more about AAPIs is on the rise. Since 2021, multiple states have enacted or are actively considering laws requiring the teaching of AAPI history in public school curriculums. As of August 2025, 13 states have statutes that include Asian American studies requirements, 16 states have content standards related to the histories, experiences, and/or contributions of Asian American populations, and 3 more states are currently considering bills that include Asian American studies requirements. The new standards have left K-12 educators with a challenge: where can one find trusted resources to effectively teach AAPI history across all grade levels?
To meet these needs, TAAF launched the AAPI History Hub in September 2024, a first-of-its-kind online platform that provides hundreds of vetted, high-quality curricular resources covering AAPI history. TAAF had three objectives when developing the free interactive tool:
1. Establish a centralized repository of high-quality curriculum for educators to effectively teach AAPI history.
2. Expand access to resources and digital experiences that deepen educator engagement and student impact.
3. Track state-level policies and standards to help policymakers and the public monitor the adoption of AAPI history curricula.
The story of our nation would be incomplete without the stories of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, and TAAF sought to create an infrastructure to pave the way for AAPI history to be taught in classrooms, schools, and districts across all 50 states. To make that goal more achievable, TAAF developed the AAPI History Hub in 2024 following years of extensive conversations with nonprofit partners, K-12 educators, experts, and students.
The need to build the AAPI History Hub was brought to light in 2021 when Illinois passed the Teaching Equitable Asian American Community History (TEAACH) Act, becoming the first state to require all public schools to make Asian American history part of the K-12 curriculum. TAAF helped form the TEAACH Implementation Collaborative to support the mandate’s implementation for the 2022-23 academic year.
EXECUTION
With more states following in Illinois’ footsteps, TAAF decided to build a centralized digital repository to meet growing demand for high-quality K-12 teaching materials and teacher training opportunities.
We co-created the AAPI History Hub with more than a dozen partners and contributors, including Asian Americans Advancing Justice | Chicago, The Asian American Education Project, and OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates, and partnered with historians, educators, nonprofits, and cultural institutions to help us collect unique, impactful materials. The DataFace, an award-winning data storytelling agency, was tapped to design and build the platform’s infrastructure. And we engaged with the K-12 inclusive education experts at Social Studies Accelerator (SSA) to lead on content curation and development, with SSA identifying and vetting resources through a rigorous taxonomy and quality review process. Every step was completed with the input of an advisory committee of K-12 educators, social studies experts, historians, and leaders of AAPI-focused organizations.
The AAPI History Hub was formally launched in September 2024, and an expanded version was unveiled in April 2025. To spur adoption, TAAF launched a sustained press and social media campaign to spotlight fascinating figures and lesson plans available on the Hub.
KEY FEATURES
While just around a year old, the AAPI History Hub has become an essential tool for teachers across the country.
IMPACT
