AAPI Heritage Month

AAPI Heritage Month

• AAPI Heritage Month is an annual celebration recognizing the historical and cultural contributions of people of Asian and Pacific Islander descent to the United States.
• AAPI Heritage Month 2024 takes place from May 1 to May 31.

Origins of AAPI Heritage Month

• The effort to officially recognize Asian American and Pacific Islander contributions began in the late 1970s.
• In 1977, New York Representative Frank Horton introduced House Joint Resolution 540, proposing the first 10 days of May as Asian/Pacific American Heritage Week.
• Hawaii Senator Daniel Inouye introduced a similar joint resolution in 1977.
• President Jimmy Carter signed House Joint Resolution 1007 into Public Law 95-419 on October 5, 1978.
• From 1980 to 1990, each president passed annual proclamations for Asian/Pacific American Heritage Week.
• In 1990, Congress expanded the observance from a week to a month.
• May was annually designated as Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month in 1992 under the George H.W. Bush administration with the passing of Public Law 102-450.
• Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month was renamed as AAPI Heritage Month in 2009.

AAPI Contributions and History

• Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have contributed significantly to many facets of American culture and society, including science and medicine, literature and art, sports and recreation, government and politics, and activism and law.
• In 2021, Kamala Harris became the first Asian American Vice President of the United States.
• AAPI people, stories, and traditions have become more visible in film, with South Korean director Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite winning the Academy Award for Best Picture in 2019 and the release of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings in 2021.
• AAPI people have a long history in the United States, despite the stereotype that they are “perpetual foreigners.”
• According to the Bering Land Bridge Theory, Asians first migrated to what is now known as North America over 15,000 years ago.
• In the 16th century, Filipinos escaping forced labor and enslavement during the Spanish galleon trade immigrated to North America, establishing a settlement in St. Malo, Louisiana in 1763.
• During the California Gold Rush of the 1850s, a wave of Asian immigrants came to the West Coast, providing labor for gold mines, factories, and the transcontinental railroad.
• In 1882, Congress enacted the Chinese Exclusion Act, banning Chinese immigration for 20 years.
• Japanese and Koreans began immigrating to the United States by 1885 to replace Chinese labor in railroad construction, farming, and fishing.
• In 1907, Japanese immigration was restricted by a “Gentlemen’s Agreement” between the United States and Japan.
• The civil rights movement assisted the liberalization of immigration laws.
• The 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act changed restrictive national origin quotas, allowing for large numbers of Asians and Pacific Islanders to come to the United States with their families.
• In the mid-1970s, refugees from Southeast Asia came to the United States to flee war, violence, and hardship.

The AAPI Community

• Today, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are the fastest growing racial group in the United States.
• Between 2000 and 2019, the Asian population in the United States grew significantly.