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We Are Here: 30 Inspiring Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders Who Have Shaped the United States
We Are Here is the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center's first middle-grade anthology. The book and corresponding digital resources in the Smithsonian Learning Lab shares stories of resilience, adversity, and joy. The book includes profiles of AAPI activists, artists, musicians, actors, writers, scientists, and entrepreneurs.
Image credit: We Are Here, illustration by Illi Ferandez
Selected Exhibits and Collections
On Social Media 7Hide All
- 150th Anniversary of the Purchase of Alaska (National Archives Flickr Album)
- Alaskan Digitization Project (National Archives Flickr Album)
- Blog posts from the Library of Congress related to Asian American History
- Blog posts from the Library of Congress related to Pacific Islander History
- Library of Congress Pinterest board
- Smithsonian Institution Pinterest board
- Works by Asian American Artists from the Collection -- National Gallery of Art Pinterest board
Library of Congress 74Hide All
The Asian and Pacific Islander Experience in America
- Guide to Asian American and Pacific Islander Resources at the Library of Congress
- Ansel Adams's Photographs of Japanese American Internment at Manzanar
- Asian Pacific American Heritage Month: Highlights from the Veterans History Project
- Behind Barbed Wire: Japanese American Internment Camp Newspapers (illustrated StoryMap)
- Ethnic Arts Project Collection
- Chinese American Song
- Chinese Exclusion Act: Primary Documents in American History
- Collections Overviews—American Studies: Asian and Pacific-Islander Americans
- Collection Snapshot: John Katsu and the End of WWII
- Digitized Newspapers: Topics from Chronicling America
-- The Annexation of Hawaii
-- The Chinese Exclusion Act
-- Cherry Trees
-- Filipino Newspapers
-- Pacific Islander Newspapers
-- Philippine-American War
-- Rock Springs Massacre - Discrimination Against Asian and Pacific Islander Americans: A Research Guide
- Filipino American Materials: A Resource Guide
- From Snowballs to Sculptures: Material Culture that Melts
- Guam Collections in the Archive of Folk Culture (Finding Aid)
- Hawaii Collections in the Archive of Folk Culture (Finding Aid)
- Hawaiian mixed-race young adults and children photographed by Caroline Haskins, 1905-1909
- Hawaiian Song
- Japanese American Internment Camp Newspapers, 1942 to 1946
- Japanese Students Enrolled at the U.S. Naval Academy, 1904
- Laotian American Song and Dance
- Library of Congress Research Center: Asian Reading Room
- Local Legacies: Celebrating Community Roots
-- American Samoa
-- California
-- Guam
-- Hawaii - Lowell Folklife Project Collection (Finding Aid)
- Margaret Mead Human Nature and the Power of Culture
- Patsy T. Mink Papers
- Today in History: Potomac Blossoms
- Today in History: The Rock Springs Massacre
- Asian Pacific Americans: Going for Broke
- Finding Aid to Personal Narratives of Evacuation and Relocation of Japanese Americans During World War II, 1924-2018: Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Asian Pacific American Heritage Month: Highlights from the Veterans History Project
- Selected Veteran's Stories:
-- John Junji Katsu
-- Jaden Kim
-- Kurt Chew-Een Lee
-- Kimberly Mitchell
-- James Miho
-- Maginia Morales
-- Kenje Ogata
-- Veasna Rouen
-- Mary Nagano Salmen
-- Peter Young - Asian Collections: An Illustrated Guide
- The Chinese Rare Books Digital Collection
- Country Study by Continent: Asia
- Digitized Newspapers: Topics from Chronicling America
-- Krakatoa Volcano Eruption
-- Theodore Roosevelt's 'Great White Fleet'
-- Russo-Japanese War - The Fahnestock South Sea Collection
- Four Masters of Chinese Storytelling Video Collection (Finding Aid)
- Harold C. Conklin Philippine Collection (Finding Aid)
- Japanese Prints: Seasons and Places (Flickr site)
- Japanese Rare Books
- Korean Bibliography
- Korean Rare Books
- Philippine Bibliography
- Selections from the Naxi Manuscript Collection
- South Asian Manuscripts at the Library of Congress—Research Guide
- South Asian Newspapers at the Library of Congress—Research Guide
- South Asian Recordings in the Archive of Folk Culture (Finding Aid)
- South Manchurian Railway Company Publications—Research Guide
- Tai Manuscripts in the Southeast Asia Rare Book Collection at the Library of Congress—Research Guide
- Tibetan Oral History
- Vasant Panchami: A Celebration of Learning
- Yongle Encyclopedia
Voices from the Veterans History Project
Asia and the Pacific Islands
National Archives 10Hide All
- 100 Milestone Documents - The Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)
- 100 Milestone Documents - Joint Resolution to Provide for Annexing the Hawaiian Islands to the United States (1898)
- An Alleged Wife: One Immigrant in the Chinese Exclusion Era (Prologue Magazine, Spring 2004)
- Asian Pacific American Heritage Month on Flickr
- Chinese American Actress's Story Illustrates 'Othering' of Immigrants
- Images of Japanese Internment at the FDR Presidential Library
- Letters from the Middle Kingdom: The Origins of America's China Policy (Prologue Magazine, Winter 2002)
- Records of Chinese American Heritage
- Records of Japanese American Heritage
- Revisiting Korea: Exposing Myths of the Forgotten War (Prologue Magazine, Summer 2002)
National Endowment for the Humanities 16Hide All
- Beyond Island Wear
- Chinese American: Exclusion/Inclusion
- Chinese Railroad Workers in North America Project at Stanford University
- Crossing Cultures: The Art of Manga in Hawaii
- Digital Delano Archive from Bakersfield College (Supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities)
- The Fabric of Community Online Exhibit from the Natural History Museums of LA County (Supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities)
- Filipino American Library Collection from the University of Southern California (Supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities)
- Guampedia (Project Supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities)
- Hanashi Oral History Program from Go for Broke National Education Center (Supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities)
- Hmong Keeb Kwm: The Hmong Heritage Project from Catawba County Library Center (Supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities)
- Homeland Memories: Philippines Co-Curation Community Events Collection from the Field Museum of Natural History (Supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities)
- Northwest Asian American Theatre and Oral Histories Collection - Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience (Supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities)
- Preservation & Access Division Projects
- Preserving Asian American History and Culture
- South Asian American Digital Archive (Supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities)
- The Southeast Asian Digital Archive from the University of Massachusetts, Lowell (Supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities)
National Gallery of Art 4Hide All
National Park Service 11Hide All
- The Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Initiative
- Asian American and Pacific Islander Travel Itinerary
- National Register of Historic Places
- Japanese American Internment
- Kalaupapa National Historic Park
- Pu'ukohola Heiau National Historic Site
- Manzanar National Historic Site
- Manzanar National Historic Site Online Exhibition
- Minidoka National Monument
- The Places of Dr. Mabel Ping-Hua Lee
- Telling All Americans' Stories: Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage
- Tule Lake Unit of the WWII Valor in the Pacific National Monument
Smithsonian Institution 56Hide All
- Asian American Artists
- Care Package | Cultural Nutrients For Times Like This (Presented by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center)
- Celebrate! Where Asia Meets America
- Cherry Blossoms
- Chiura Obata: American Modern
- A Grain of Sand: Music for the Struggle by Asians in America
- Hung Liu: Portraits of Promised Lands
- Online exhibitions of Asian art and culture at the Freer | Sackler museums of Asian Art
- Righting a Wrong: Japanese Americans and World War II Exhibition (Smithsonian Institution)
- Standing Together Against Hate
- Transcontinental Railroad at 150
- American Ginseng: Local Knowledge, Global Roots
- Annotations on a Moment of Silence: Reflections Following the Atlanta Massacre
- Asian American Chefs Shaping D.C.'s Culinary Landscape
- Asian American Folklore: Redefining and Debating Meanings and Methodologies
- Buddha Overcomes All Obstacles: Sharing the Treasures of Cambodian Dance and Music
- Chinese Recipe: Nourishing Ginseng Chicken Soup
- A Tribute to Corky Lee and the Fight for “Photographic Justice”
- Cowboys in the Tropics: A History of the Hawaiian Paniolo
- Defining Ourselves: Multiracial Identity for Modern-Day Asian Americans
- Dynasty Center: Exclusion and Displacement in Los Angeles's Chinatown
- Eighteen Feet of Fabric Can Go a Long Way: How Monica Jahan Bose Connects Bangladesh and D.C. in Climate Action (includes video)
- From Family Photos to Filipiniana: Piecing Together My Filipino American Identity
- The Happiness Screen: A Korean Daughter’s Story of Pain and Hope
- How Foraging in My Backyard Helped Me Connect with Korean Culture
- How Green Is Your Deen? Understanding the Connection Between Environmentalism and Islam
- How I Found My Father's Memory in Flushing, New York
- In the Days of Peony Flowers: A Contemporary Reflection on Chinese Kunqu Opera
- In Fort Smith, Arkansas, a Flag Monument Holds Vietnamese American Generational Memories
- Journey to the Zest: Food Memories in Taiwanese and Middle Eastern Flavors
- Just Dance: Connecting Life, Death, Traditions, and Communities in L.A.
- Korean Recipe:Samgyetang (Ginseng Chicken Soup)
- Kulintang Kultura: Filipino Musical Musings and American Meanings
- Madame Kansuma at 102: On Confinement and Little Tokyo's Cultural Heritage
- Programming, Performance, and Public Art: Inclusion through Intrusion
- Recipe: Chả Giò, More than the “Vietnamese Spring Roll”
- Sacrifice and Stigma: Mental Health in Chinese America
- Speaking to Her People: How Rapper Ruby Ibarra Sings to and about Immigrants
- The Story of a People and a Plant: American Ginseng and the Hmong People
- Taiwanese Turnip Cake: A Taste of Luck and Grandma’s Love for Lunar New Year
- Torta — Filipino Christmas Cake, I Think
- Turkmen Pilaf to Foster Friendship and Celebrate the New Year
- Voting Their Stories: Asian Americans Reckon with Race and Community
- What Is “Authentic” Korean Bulgogi?
- What My North Korean Friend Taught Me about Home
- What They Carried When the Japanese American Incarceration Camps Closed
- What We Keep: A Single Mother’s Escape from Laos
- Where Bapsang Is Home: Korean “Cottage Foods” in America
- Why Every Filipino American Should Know about Larry Itliong (includes video)
- Art for Social Action: Soul & Ink's Asian American Identity and D.C. Community
- Atomic Nancy: Sounds of Los Angeles
- Blacktop Battles: 9-Man Volleyball and the Chinese Youth Club of Washington, D.C.
- The Chinese Community of Tacoma, Washington: A Story of Forced Migration
- Coming to America: The Muslim American Experience
- Discovering Chinese Heritage, Part 1: Chinatowns
- Discovering Chinese Heritage, Part 2: Food
- Echoes of History: Chinese Poetry at the Angel Island Immigration Station
- George Abe: Ripples of Japanese Internment
- Love of Life as Survival: Malini Srinivasan and Bharatanatyam Dance
- Names on the Move: The Stories of My Many Names
- Remembering E.O. 9066: San Jose Taiko on Musical and Historical Resonances
- The Root of Our Korean American Community
- Rumah Indonesia: Young Adults on the Move
- Ted’s Talk: A Conversation on Chinese Immigration History
- Uncle Ng and Chinese Muk’yu Music
- What Does It Mean to Be American Muslim?