About Us

The Localized History Project, housed at the Asian American/Asian Research Institute@CUNY, is a youth-led and community-driven participatory history collective working to uplift working-class, solidarity-oriented, and peoples’ histories of Asian American, Pacific Islander, and Native Hawaiian New Yorkers. We are funded via City Council’s Educational Equity Action Plan to help produce New York City’s first ever Asian American Studies program. 

Long Bio: 

The Localized History Project@AAARI-CUNY is a youth participatory history collective building Asian American Studies for New York City Public Schools. Founded in 2023 by Dr. Shreya Sunderram, the project seeks to challenge what histories are typically taught in our classrooms, and also, who we typically define as historians. Through a Youth Participatory Action Research Model, which posits "nothing about us, without us," LHP is co-led by Youth Researchers who are New York City public school students in their sophomore, junior, or senior year of High School, as well as Youth Organizers who are graduates of the program and of the New York City public school system. The YPAR aspects of our project include youth leadership in hiring, budgeting, and empirical research for journals like Educational Studies, and conferences like Association for Asian American Studies, and the American Educational Research Association Conference. In June of 2025, the project was funded $625,000 by New York City Council to develop a youth-led curricula for NYC public schools. Our model of intervention involves the youth-creation of historical exhibits using rich primary sources and oral history interviews, which are then scaffolded and annotated by Education Fellows (NYC classroom teachers) for classroom use. In 2026, we were funded $1,005,000 to pilot this work in 50 schools across the city. 

Our Commitments

The Localized History Project ethos is grounded in a love for inclusivity and community. It centers young people as pedagogues and as agents of transformative change. We define localized history as histories drawn from archives—both traditional and intimate, family oral histories, and the memories of our neighborhoods, friends, and elders.

Specifically, by learning histories relevant to students’ neighborhoods, families, and identities, we are encouraged to challenge oppressive systems and build equitable ones that better serve us all. Localized history challenges us to be more connected to each other, and encourages us to participate in the world around us.

More than ever, we need to learn localized Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander history. As ethnic studies remains under attack, implementing local Asian-American Pacific Islander studies into New York City classrooms is essential. However, we do not believe in teaching a version of AAPI Studies that pits us against other communities of color or working-class New Yorkers. Thankfully, AAPI history has always been that of labor organizing, solidarity-building, and collectivity. Be it the 1998 Taxi Workers’ Strike, exchanges between B.R. Ambedkar and W.E.B. Du Bois, the Chinatown Art Brigade, the labor of Filipino nurses and Vietnamese nail salon workers, or the musical beats of Richmond Hill’s Indo-Caribbean communities, we’ve continued to make waves of influence locally and within broader global lineages of resilience.

New York City is a historic site of critical AAPI history, and we want this history taught in our schools. Uplifting these struggles for justice provides all of us with models for collective liberation. Moreover, illuminating the vibrant contributions of AAPIs combats notions of otherness and the omission of marginalized narratives.The AAPI community has and will continue to be a powerful force in our nation and city. We hope you will join us in honoring our stories by bringing our youth-driven, community-led histories to life in your classrooms.

Guiding Pillars

Localized New York City History How does this project uplift the local stories of our neighbors, elders, and communities? How does it center the unique and underrepresented histories of NYC’s AAPI community?

Cross-Racial and Transnational Solidarity How does this project uplift and incorporate moments of transnational and cross-racial solidarity across AAPIs and other communities?

Counter-Stories and Memorywork How does this project uplift history through the lens of community, intimate, and family histories, and/or how does it counter pervasive stereotypes, omissions, or narrative erasure?

Resistance, Organizing and Community How does this project uplift stories of resistance, organizing, and community building? How does this project center peoples’ or movement history?

Joy, Celebration, Achievements How does this project center joy and celebration, or the achievements of the AAPI community?

About the Staff

East Kaufhold Youth Director East Kaufhold East Kaufhold is a junior at Brooklyn Technical High School, majoring in Law and Society. He is avidly interested in the stories of community organizing and cross-racial political movements. His research specifically focuses on South Asian resilience and community building post-9/11, and he hopes to uplift the voices of those who could not express themselves authentically during an era of mass surveillance and racial profiling. As a youth researcher and a member of the leadership team at the Localized History Project, he hopes to continue to uplift meaningful South Asian stories across New York City.

Ruiyu Tang Youth Organizer Ruiyu Tang Ruiyu Tang is a senior at Hunter College High School in New York City. His research interests include Asian American history and literature, community organizing in ethnic enclaves, and urban revitalization. In addition to archival and oral history research, Ruiyu enjoys documentary filmmaking and other creative outlets like drawing and photography.

Shreya Sunderram Director Shreya Sunderram Shreya is the director of the Localized History Project, and is a PhD Candidate at the CUNY Graduate Center in the Urban Education program. Her research studies the ways in which the history classroom and other sites of knowledge production uphold colonial violence, and how youth resistance and worldbuilding is central to the creation of truthful and just learning spaces. Shreya has lived and taught in New York City for a decade.

Eva Schmidt AD, Youth Programming Eva Schmidt Eva is LHP's Assistant Director of Youth Programming. Entering her third year with the Localized History project and is excited to continue to find ways to amplify histories of AANHPI communities and peoples with our youth researchers and to see real change implemented into classrooms. Relocated from the Sonoran Desert, she is a CUNY alum and is involved in the dance and theatre community here in NYC!

Ana Serna AD, Community Organizing Ana Serna Ana is LHP's Assistant Director of Community Organizing. Hailing from Long Island, Ana is a labor organizer and community archivist who is passionate about activist storytelling – especially in the Filipino diaspora. She loves learning about social movements (especially through oral history!), tending to her houseplants, and working on fiber arts projects.

Josie Naron Archivist Josie Naron Josie is LHP's Archivist and Historian. She received her MA from NYU's Archives and Public History program. Her work is interdisciplinary and draws on oral history and public history, often focusing on the intersections of social movements and the arts. Josie is a transplanted Midwesterner who has called Brooklyn home for almost 8 years. In her spare time, she loves watching the Mets (mostly lose), caring for her adopted alley cat, and making zines.

Anurima Kumar School Partnerships Coordinator Anurima Kumar Anurima is the School Partnerships Coordinator! Originally from Michigan, she has been based in NYC and Queens for the past five years. She is an interdisciplinary public health worker with a background in anti-incarceration, democratizing health, and youth arts education, driven by justice, curiosity, and creativity. Anurima is excited to bring these lenses to LHP and support teachers in integrating localized AAPI curriculum into their classrooms.

Samantha DeNinno Operations & Communications Coordinator Samantha DeNinno Samantha is the Operations & Communications Coordinator! Raised on Long Island with familial roots in Brooklyn & N. Jersey, she is deeply captivated by New York and its immigrant, working-class history & memory. She is a researcher and visual artist motivated by a central thesis: archiving as a radical act of love and remembrance. At LHP, she aims to showcase LHP’s rich archival materials through print and digital graphics, zines, and chapbooks.

Clarissa Kunizaki Youth Director Emeritus Clarissa Kunizaki Clarissa is a high school senior and has been part of LHP since its inception. She enjoys researching local histories centering AAPI diasporic identity and cross racial solidarity. As Youth Co-Director of Community and Historical Research, she hopes to foster joy and exploration with fellow youth and community members to uncover radical histories.

Our Research

Localized Histories and Pedagogical Revolutions: Youth-Driven Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander History Curriculum in New York State

The Localized History Project is a youth participatory action research project that investigates to what extent AANHPI history is taught in K‑12 history classrooms in NY State. This article, jointly written by 12 youth and two adult researchers, presents initial findings about the state of AANHPI curriculum in NY as determined through Youth Action Boards, surveys, interviews, and field‑notes. The article concludes by sharing examples of, if youth‑driven, localized, and critical, what an AANHPI archive and curriculum could look like. Findings confirm what literature has shown, that AANHPI history is largely invisabalized and omitted from curriculum, and that the impact of this on young people is deflating, but also, spurs a desire to change the education system. The Localized History Project is ongoing, and updates about our work and research can be found by following @LocalizedHistory.

Constellations and Collectivity: Youth Storytelling as Re-Rooting Methodology

In this collectively-written autoethnographic piece by youth and adult allies from The Localized History Project—a youth-driven participatory action research project advocating for the inclusion of radical, solidarity oriented and movement driven Asian American Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander history—we share and analyze the experiences of our youth during a three day Storytelling Retreat. We frame the storytelling as a “re-rooting” methodology, by which AANHPI youth are able to anchor themselves in histories of resistance, solidarity, and liberation. Through an analysis of photographs, written reflections, and survey collection, we share the following reflections: Firstly, storytelling is a “re-rooting” process as AANHPI youth were able to anchor themselves in histories of resistance, solidarity, and liberation. Secondly, storytelling is a form of a living archive, by which we move from individual stories to a broader sense of collectivity. Finally, we find that storytelling as a practice helps us deepen our commitments to collective liberation both within and beyond our community.

Community Coalition

The Localized History Project is proud to have the continued support of our Community Coalition: a network of 60+ affiliate organizers, scholars, community members, and research institutions across NYC. LHP’s Community Coalition sustains our work by building meaningful intergenerational connections between youth and the broader NYC community, rooting our archive in lineages of collectivity, solidarity, and struggle.

It is so inspiring to be in the room with youth doing such powerful, community-minded projects. LHP gives me so much hope for the future.

— Betty Yu, Community Partner and Co-Founder of Chinatown Art Brigade

Our Community Coalition includes:

• Adhikaar
• Apex for Youth
• CAAAV-NYC: Organizing Asian Communities
• Chinatown Art Brigade
• Chinatown Youth Initiatives
• Circle Keepers
• Coalition for Asian American Children and Families
• Jahajee
• Malaya Movement NYC
• Mekong Center
• New York Public Library
• The New York Historical
• New York Civil Liberties Union
• The People’s Torch @ Another World
• Queens Memory Project
• South Asian American Digital Archive
• South Asian Youth Action
• Village Preservation
• Yuri Kochiyama Solidarity Project

…and more!

Want to build NYC’s first AAPI Curriculum and Pan-Asian Archive with us? Please contact Ana Victoria Serna (aserna@aaari.info), Assistant Director of Community Organizing

Contact Us

The Localized History Project is excited to launch Teacher Residencies for the 2026-2027 School Year!

School Based Residencies, funded by NY City Council's Educational Equity Action Plan, are year long-programs where LHP staff support NYC public school teachers in either: 

1. Crafting an Asian American Studies Elective Course, Unit, or Club for their schools

   LHP will provide educators with educator guides, scope and sequence guides, and professional development training to construct an Asian American Studies course that is aligned with localized history frameworks of NYC based AAPI history, state standards, and Portrait of a Graduate alignment. We can also support with the creation of a lunch or afterschool club if this is more feasible for your school! 

2. Building a Localized History Project Youth Action Board for their school 

   LHP will support educators in creating their own youth action boards made up of high school researchers interested in conducting oral history interviews, archival research, and historiography. This work can apply solely to Asian American studies, or it can be crafted to fit a schools' student population, for instance, Localized History of Caribbean NYC. 

We'd love to hear from you! Whether you want to collaborate or are interested in signing your school up for a workshop, please reach out.

Email us at localizedhistory@aaari.info