Asian AMERICAN/Pacific ISLANDER Heritage Month – MAY

Asian American/Pacific Islander Heritage Month is celebrated in May to commemorate the contributions of people of Asians and Pacific Islanders in the United States.  In June 1977, Representatives Frank Horton of New York and Norman Y. Mineta of California introduced a House resolution that called upon the president to proclaim the first ten days of May as Asian/Pacific Heritage Week.  The following month, senators Daniel Inouye and Spark Matsunaga introduced a similar bill in the Senate. Both were passed.  May was chosen because two important anniversaries occurred during this month: the arrival of the first Japanese immigrants in America on May 7, 1843 and the completion of the transcontinental railroad on May 10, 1869.  The majority of the workers who laid the tracks on the Pacific side were Chinese immigrants.  On October 5, 1978, President Jimmy Carter signed a joint resolution designating the annual celebration.  In 1990 Congress voted to expand it from a week to a month long celebration and on October 23, 1992, the 102^nd Congress unanimously approved Public Law 102-450 which designated May as Asian American/Pacific Islander Heritage Month.