Though there are many narratives of Asian American and Pacific Islander experiences within the American South, few of these experiences are centered in our curriculums nor are AAPI Americans frequently featured as historical actors within Southern history as a whole. Here, we have created resource guides to remedy this issue. These collections include authors, scholarly work, literature, databases of primary source documents, and audiovisual narratives that blend together to tell essential stories. By assembling a collection of diverse AAPI histories of the South, this guide will serve as a tool for students and educators alike who wish to recover these experiences.
Here we have created an index for our resource guides that each tell their respective stories of AAPI histories in the South. In addition to these collections, below there are more generalized resources and author highlights that can further aid in centering AAPI experiences in the classroom.
Resource Index:
- Filipino Louisiana
- History of the Hmong in Arkansas
- Japanese Internment
- Marshallese Community in Northwest Arkansas
- Mississippi Delta Chinese
How Asian Americans are Changing the South
The following article, released by The Pew Charitable Trust, an independent nonprofit nongovernmental organization, summarizes data on the growing AAPI population in the Southern United States, as well as the possible reasons for and consequences of this trend, both economic and political. "Between 2000 and 2010, Asian Americans were the fastest-growing ethnic group in the South, increasing by 69% during that period, according to an analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data by the group Asian Americans Advancing Justice... State by state, the growth is even more striking. Some states saw their AAPI populations nearly double between 2000 and 2010: in both North Carolina and Georgia, the increases top 80 percent."
Asian American Archives | Encyclopedia of Arkansas
The Central Arkansas Library System: Encyclopedia of Arkansas is a free, authoritative source of information about the rich history, geography, and culture of the Arkansas state. Text and media galleries as well as links to external historical resources on Arkansas are available to you through this website. Above, you will find a link to the list of resources available on AAPI history in Arkansas. These resources include information on Chinese, Hindu, Hmong, Marshallese, and Indochinese migration to the state as well as AAPI experiences as a result of relocation to Arkansas during the Japanese American internment program of World War II.