Unearthing Stories of Immigration and Belonging in Chicago's Chinatown

Image credit @ Aric Cheng

Join the CPS Department of Social Science and Field Museum at the Chinese American Museum of Chicago in Chinatown on Wednesday, August 6, 2025, from 9:30am-2pm for an engaging professional learning opportunity designed to help educators bring Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) narratives into their classrooms. This workshop will explore practical strategies to meet the requirements of the TEAACH Act as we reflect upon the questions:

• Who (or what) gets to be included in the definition of what it means to be American? Who is excluded?
• How has the Chinese American community shaped, and how does it continue to shape, Chicago? 
• In what way has race-based exclusion of Chinese immigrants impacted the formation – and even current location/boundaries – of ethnic enclaves such as Chicago’s Chinatown? 
• What can we learn about American identity through the lens of Chinese immigrant history?
• How can culturally responsive, inquiry-based experiential learning aid students in answering these questions?

Participants will:

• Engage in culturally responsive, inquiry-based experiential learning in Chinatown as our partners from Coalition for a Better Chinese American Community lead us on a 1-hour outdoor walking tour of Chinatown.
• Think like an anthropologist and explore how places, images, objects, and individual and collective wisdom can serve as primary sources.
• Preview two brand-new Field Museum educator toolkits centering Chinese American stories!

Learn how to develop a culturally responsive inquiry arc, discover valuable tools to celebrate AANHPI voices year-round, and enrich your students' learning experience. Don't miss this opportunity to connect, learn, and elevate AANHPI storytelling in education!