The Chinese Exclusion Act and Immigration in America

FAIN: ES-231160-15

Museum of Chinese in America (New York, NY 10013-3601)
Joy Liu (Project Director: February 2015 to July 2016)
Lauren Nechamkin (Project Director: July 2016 to present)

A two-week institute for twenty-five school teachers on the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act and its legacy.

On June 18th, 2012 Congress passed a resolution expressing “regret” for its 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, the first such statement in the 130 years since the Act’s passing. Such Congressional action prompted three humanities projects that address Chinese Exclusion and its legacy: a major NEH-supported traveling exhibition of the New-York Historical Society on view from September 2014 – April 2015, the NEH-supported historical documentary by Ric Burns that will air nationally in fall 2015, and the proposed NEH Summer Institute for Teachers at the Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) scheduled for July 10-23, 2016. The Summer Institute will enable 25 K-12 teachers to learn from leading scholars and work with primary materials and artifacts. Participants will also develop pedagogical approaches for integrating these unique objects and original documents into their local school curricula and explore new perspectives on the history of immigration, citizenship, and what it means to be American.