"The only time I was taught anything about Cambodia was the Khmer Rouge," Thy said, referring to the communist regime that ruled the country in the 1970s. According to her history teachers, Cambodians were victims of genocide and war under that regime. There was no mention of the refugees who had formed a thriving community in Long Beach, nestled along the city's Anaheim corridor called Cambodia Town.
"I believe that there's so much more to our culture than just that piece of history," Thy said.
"It's really important to center the people who experienced those histories and cultures," said Marika Manos, the history and social sciences manager at the Orange County Department of Education, who spearheaded the creation of the curriculum for the California Department of Education. "To me, that's what's missing in our history books."
The curriculum offers dozens of lesson plans that feature Asian Americans living in the diaspora and the histories of how they arrived in the U.S.
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