CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Illinois is one step away from becoming the first state to require public schools to teach Asian American history.
The sponsor of the bill is a third generation Chinese American: state Representative Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz of Glenview. She was educated in Illinois public schools.
“And it wasn’t until I was in law school that I first learned about the Chinese Exclusion Acts, and in that process discovered that my own family - my grandparents - fought deportation under the racist policies codified in the Chinese Exclusion Acts,” the lawmaker said.
Her bill, which has cleared the Illinois General Assembly, is the Teaching Equitable Asian-American History Act.
“It was evident that what we were doing was groundbreaking, and that measures like this had been introduced in some other states — I think maybe Connecticut and California — but they had not passed.”
Gong-Gershowitz on Tuesday said she’s gotten calls from all over the country, from people who want to mount a successful effort in their own states.
Gov. Pritzker has indicated he’ll sign the bill, she said.
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