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!
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?