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Something I learned from this video is that when a war happened against Japan, Germany, Italy. Someone who was Japanese was a prisoner because people that were white thought they could've been spies. Germany and Italy people didn't get prisoned because I think they were part white or they looked. -Kyle F

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the history of Asian Pacific American Heritage month 

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the history of Asian Pacific American Heritage month 

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In 1990 George H.W signed a bill by Congress to extend Asian American Heritage Week to a month.

Lupita ortiz

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I did not know that the month of May was chosen because it commemorates the migration of the first immigrants from Japan to the United States on May 7, 1843. That is incredible.

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What suprised me was how Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have become the most fastest-growing racial or ethnic group in the United States.

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why was the u.s fighting against japan, germany, and italy?

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Kai
May marks Asian and pacific islander american heritage is a month which celebrates the histories of Americans hailing from across the Asian continent and from the Pacific islands of Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia.

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May marks Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, which celebrates the histories of Americans hailing from across the Asian continent and from the Pacific islands of Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia.

This year's theme, selected by the Federal Asian Pacific American Council, is "Advancing Leaders Through Opportunity," which builds on a leadership advancement theme series that began in 2021.

Cynthia Choi, co-executive director of Chinese for Affirmative Action and co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate says the month is a time to speak out, share stories and debunk myths about Asian communities, she said. But it's not the only time to celebrate Asian culture or diversity.

"Our history is also filled with incredible stories of resilience, of persistence, of determination, to fight for our basic rights," Choi told NPR. "This is a celebration of our history, of our culture ... and all the different ways in which our community has really demonstrated that we're not only here to stay, we are a part of this fabric - a part of this country."

Before it was a month, it was a week

The month was the brainchild of Jeanie Jew, a former Capitol Hill staffer, who shared the idea with Rep. Frank Horton, who introduced the legislation that formed it.

Jew's great grandfather, M.Y. Lee, left China for the United States in the 1800s before he helped build the transcontinental railroad, according to . Lee became a prominent businessman in California and later traveled to Oregon. He was killed during a period of unrest and anti-Asian sentiment.

"Mrs. Jew turned a personal tragedy in her family history into a positive force," Horton later told Congress in 1992.

In 1977, Horton introduced a resolution that would establish Pacific/Asian American Heritage Week. Sen. Daniel Inouye introduced similar legislation to the Senate.

In the following year, Horton, with cosponsor Rep. Norman Mineta, introduced another related resolution that passed. President Jimmy Carter signed it in October of 1978.

The resolution "authorized and requested" the president to proclaim the 7-day period beginning May 4, 1979 as Asian Pacific American Heritage Week. It also called on Americans, and especially educators, to observe the week with "appropriate ceremonies and activities."

Congress later passed legislation to extend the observance to a month in 1990. Two years later, Congress passed another public law to annually designate May as Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.

Why May was chosen to commemorate AAPI heritage

The legislation to annually designate May as Asian Pacific American Heritage Month referenced two key dates: May 7 and May 10.

May 7, 1843, marks the arrival of the first Japanese immigrants to the United States. And May 10, 1869, or Golden Spike Day, recognizes the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in the U.S., which had significant contributions from Chinese workers.

The railroad stretched from the West Coast to the East Coast, and 15,000 to 20,000 Chinese immigrants were a major part of its construction, according to History.com. Initially, construction superintendent James Strobridge deemed the immigrants unfit for the job. But the railroad needed workers, and many white people weren't interested.

Conditions were brutal in the Sierra Nevada, and Chinese workers weren't receiving the same pay as their white counterparts, according to the Chinese Railroad Workers in North America Project. Unlike white workers, Chinese workers had to pay for their own food and had to work longer hours, according to the project.

The railroad was fundamental to the development of the American West, according to History.com. It cut travel time across the U.S. from months to less than a week.

This year's theme: Advancing Leaders Through Opportunity

The Federal Asian Pacific American Council - a nonprofit that supports the interests of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders in the federal and D.C. governments - selected the theme: Advancing Leaders Through Opportunity.

The theme builds on the Advancing Leaders series, which began in 2021 and will run through 2024. Last year's theme was Advancing Leaders through Collaboration.

"When you have diversity at the leadership table, the magnitude of what you can accomplish is enormous," Fahmida Chhipa, FAPAC's vice president, told NPR. "You really expand yourself in the horizons to have something creative and innovative."

The council says this year's theme "further highlights FAPAC's efforts in advancing leaders in the Federal and DC governments," according to a press release.

Choi also emphasized the importance of collaboration.

"We do need to center the experiences of those who've been disproportionately impacted," she told NPR. "And when government not only listens, but implements the recommendations of communities who are closest to those who are being impacted right now, you get better results."

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The story behind Asian Pacific American Heritage, and why it's celebrated in May

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May marks the beginning of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. This year's theme is Advancing Leaders Through Opportunity.

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before it was a month, it was a week

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Asian and Pacific American Heritage month was the idea of former congressional staffer Jeanie Jew who first approached Rep. Frank Horton about the idea of designating a month to recognize Asian Pacific Americans, following the United States' bicentennial celebration in 1976. In June 1977, Horton and Rep. Norman Y. Mineta, introduced a resolution in the U.S. House of Representatives to proclaim the first 10 days of May as Asian Pacific Heritage Week. A month later, a similar bill was introduced in the Senate by former U.S. Senators Daniel Inouye and Spark Matsunaga.

President Jimmy Carter signed a joint resolution for the celebration on Oct. 5, 1978. In 1990, George H.W. Bush signed a bill passed by Congress to extend Asian American Heritage Week to a month. On May 14, 1991, a public law was passed unanimously by congress and then signed by Bush, proclaiming May 1991 and May 1992 as Asian and Pacific American Heritage Month. By 1992, May was officially designated as Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.

The month of May was chosen because it commemorates the migration of the first immigrants from Japan to the United States on May 7, 1843 and to celebrate the completion of the transcontinental railroad by over 20,0000 Asian immigrants on May 10, 1869. However, the first Asian immigrants arrived in the U.S. in 1587 when Filipinos first began migrating to California. Immigrants continued to come from the Asian continent and the Pacific Islands through 1920 when the first Samoans were documented in Hawaii.

What does AAPI mean?

The acronym AAPI stands for Asian American and Pacific Islander. This acronym has become more commonly used following the Stop AAPI Hate Campaign to raise awareness of the attacks and hate toward the AAPI community since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the Asian Pacific Institute, this term includes "all people of Asian, Asian American or Pacific Islander ancestry, who trace their origins to the countries, states, jurisdictions and/or the diasporic communities of these geographic regions."

According to Dr. Dawn Lee Tu, faculty director at de Anza College and former director of Asian Pacific American student development at UC Berkeley, she explains that the term "Asian American" was first used by student activists in 1968 to identify Asian groups during a time when Americans would use the derogatory term "oriental" to refer to Asians in the United States.

The U.S. Census Bureau helped evolve the term Asian American into Asian Pacific Islander in the 1980s and early 90s when this is how the organization reported this ethnic group on Census data. And finally, in 1997, the White House Office of Management and Budget made the two terms "Asian" and "Pacific Islander" two separate racial categories.

Where are Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders from?

The U.S. Census Bureau classifies people of Asian descent as "having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent," including, but not limited to China, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, Korea, India, Cambodia, Vietnam or the Philippines.

Pacific Islanders are people who descended from the islands of Polynesia, Micronesia, and Melanesia. This classification includes, but is not limited to people from Native Hawaii, Samoa, Tahiti, Guam, Fiji, and Papua New Guinea.

The following is a list of commonly used Asian American and Pacific Islander-related terms. While these terms may commonly be used, it is important to note there is a possibility some cultural identities can overlap in this larger classification of AAPI individuals.

AAPI: Asian American and Pacific Islander. This term generally includes all people of Asian, Asian American or Pacific Islander descent.

Asian: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia or the Indian subcontinent.

East Asian: A person of Chinese, Taiwanese, Japanese, Korean and Mongolian descent.

South Asian: A person of Indian, Bangladesh, Sri Lankan, Nepal and Pakistani backgrounds.

Southeast Asian: A person of Filipino, Cambodian, Vietnamese, Lao, Indonesian, Thai or Singaporean descent.

Central Asian: A person with origins in the original peoples of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

Pacific Islander: A person with origins in the original peoples of Polynesia, Micronesia and Melanesia.

West Asian: A person with origins in the original peoples of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Cyprus, Georgia, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

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The History of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month - Arlington Public Schools

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The History of Asian and Pacific American Heritage Month Asian and Pacific American Heritage month was the idea of former congressional staffer Jeanie Jew who first approached Rep. Frank Horton about the idea of designating a month to recognize Asian Pacific Americans, following the United States' bicentennial celebration in 1976.

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Celebrate Asian Pacific American Heritage Month! 🐲🍜🏮 | Nick

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Desmond Meets A Survivor of the Japanese-American Internment | Kids Meet | HiHo Kids

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Chris Hondros / Getty Images

More than 30 years ago, for the first time, Congress designated May as what's now called Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month as a way to officially recognize and celebrate the community.

Since then, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have become the fastest-growing racial or ethnic group in the United States, with a population that's expected to surpass 35 million by 2060, according to the Pew Research Center. This multicultural community encompasses people who speak more than 100 languages with roots in more than 20 countries, including China, India and the Pacific islands, such as Samoa.

This year, AAPI Heritage Month comes as the community continues to grapple with anti-Asian attacks, including against older people. But there is also plenty to celebrate.

"With the spike in anti-Asian hate and rhetoric, it's an opportunity to pause and reflect on the contributions of Asian Pacific Americans to the fabric of America," says Roland Hwang, vice president of public affairs for OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates and cofounder of American Citizens for Justice. It's "an opportunity for Americans to appreciate who we are, as members and contributors to society, and to celebrate that."

Having spent much of the past two-plus years supporting COVID-19-related public health efforts, as well as combating anti-Asian hate, AAPI community members have the chance in May to celebrate being together in person.

"With everything that's happening in our community, I'm glad we have our space and events where our communities are centered," says Emilio Manuel Camu, whose roles include director of the Asian Link Project and director of the Pilipino American Association of Utah.

Read on for ways to observe AAPI Heritage Month.

Support Asian-owned businesses and restaurants

As pandemic restrictions ease, go out and support Asian-owned restaurants and small businesses. Many Asian neighborhoods were hard hit financially and otherwise by the COVID-19 pandemic and some saw a drop-off in business due to anti-Asian rhetoric, says Debbie Chen, executive vice president for OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates.

"For a lot of small businesses, they're really struggling and taking losses just to see it through," Chen says.

To help, OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates has created a national directory of Asian-owned restaurants and food businesses. A work in progress, it launches May 1 for AAPI Heritage Month, with some of the businesses offering special restaurant promotions through early June.

"Food is such an important part of our community," Chen says. "My hope is that part of AAPI Heritage Month is to support small mom-and-pop businesses, going out to eat, ordering takeout and celebrating this month with your families and friends."

If you'd rather provide support virtually, take a tour through Gold House's Gold Rush market, featuring AAPI-owned businesses. Gold House, a nonprofit supporting AAPI entrepreneurs, creators and leaders, established the online marketplace to showcase AAPI-founded start-ups. Many of the businesses will offer special discounts during AAPI Heritage Month.

Dive into AAPI books and entertainment

Take the opportunity to learn more about the lives, experiences and rich histories of AAPI communities through books, films and shows. Throughout May, for example, the Asian Authors Alliance will post a series of YouTube videos featuring conversations with AAPI authors. The Lakshmi and Asha Show also reviews the latest books, films and television shows through a South Asian American lens. Or tune into Campu, a podcast, featuring stories about the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II, and produced by Densho, an organization that preserves Japanese American stories.

CAAMFest40, the annual film festival organized by the Center for Asian American Media, will run May 12-22 with a full lineup of virtual and in-person showings, plus food and music in the San Francisco Bay Area. Pacific Islanders in Communications also offers compelling documentaries and films, including the documentary series Pacific Heartbeat, an authentic look at Pacific Islander culture and issues. OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates is also launching a series of videos during May highlighting the relationship and deep history between AAPI and Black communities.

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Find Out How to Celebrate AAPI Heritage Month in 2022​

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Chris Hondros / Getty Images More than 30 years ago, for the first time, Congress designated May as what's now called Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month as a way to officially recognize and celebrate the community.

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May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. In a time where eight in 10 Asian Americans say that violence against them is rising, it's especially important to honor the accomplishments of our communities.

While we at YR Media recognize that Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are not a monolith by any means, there's also value in celebrating young AAPI influencers using their platforms to bring about change in their communities.

So here's a list we've compiled of AAPI creators making waves in all sorts of areas from art to politics.

POLITICS
Alex Lee
Alex Lee made history last year, after becoming the youngest legislator to be elected to the California State Assembly in over 80 years. Although some of his first co-authored bills have hit a roadblock, he's continuing to push forward on advocating for things like banning political contributions from corporations and taxing the state's wealthiest.

Lee's election also marks other milestones, including being the first California lawmaker to come out as bisexual. And he represents one out of only 15 Asian or Pacific Islander legislators and elected state office holders.

BEAUTY
Nina Davuluri
Nina Duvuluri is the first person of Indian descent and the second Asian American to win Miss America. Since winning the competition in 2014, Davuluri uses her platform to talk about topics such as diversity and inclusion and to spread resources for things like COVID relief in India.

Currently, Duvulari serves as a documentarian with her latest project, " Complexion." The documentary explores the impact of colorism in the beauty industryand her personal struggle as someone with a darker complexion competing in beauty pageants and for Miss America.

PHOTOGRAPHY
Kapulei Flores
Kapulei Flores is an activist and photographer who uses this medium to preserve the beauty of her homeland Hawaii. Born in 2000, Flores has been capturing the Protect Mauna Kea movement, protests that date back to 2009 in an order to stop the building of a thirty meter telescope on Mauna Kea. Mauna Kea is a sacred space for Hawaiians.

Her work can be seen on The 400 Years Project, which focuses on preserving the legacy of native Hawaiians and on her Instagram account dedicated to photography.

CLIMATE
Kevin Lionga Aipopo
Kevin Lionga Aipopo leads the 350 Pacific movement, an environmental justice initiative led by Pacific Islanders around the world. They and other "Pacific Climate Warriors" uplift their voices as leaders in the movement to stop climate change. The website serves as a central hub where environmentalists can sign petitions for global campaigns for climate justice.

In addition to being an activist, Aipopo is also a storyteller and poet. They speak from the perspective of a Black, Indigenous, Queer and Trans Samoan person. While everyone in the world is impacted by climate change, Aipopo puts an emphasis on intersectionality when it comes to conversations around climate justice. Especially since Oceanic peoples are the communities who have seen the consequences first.

MUSIC
Rudy Ibarra
Artist and rapper Ruby Ibarra, from the San Francisco Bay Area, is known for using her music to express her experiences as a Filipino American and an immigrant - often including Tagalog and Waray in her songs.

She reached over 1.4 Million Streams on Spotify in 2020. Her hit single "A Thousand Cuts" music video features a brown mother on a quest to gain freedom and leave an impact on this world. During the pandemic, she also released "7000 miles: Homecoming" - a docu-film that follows her journey to the Philippines with her Filipino American band members.

FASHION
Aditi Mayer
Aditi Mayer is a photojournalist and fashion blogger. Her work centers on decolonizing the fashion industry, often calling it out on sustainability issues and the exploitation of labor from the global South.

Mayer posts infographics and mini-explainer style videos detailing environmental and social injustice through an intersectional lens. She also frequently hosts guest panels on her Instagram live to break down social justice movements to inform her followers.

FILM
William Yu
William Yu is very vocal in speaking out on Hollywood and its practice of casting predominantly white actors and actresses in lead roles. Yu took to photoshop to prove his point, cropping out white Americans and replacing them with Korean American actor, John Cho.

Yu's photoshop work went viral back in 2016 in a series of memes on Twitter. And through this imaginative approach, Yu was able to showcase the problem Hollywood still faces today. Yu continues his work in advocating for more authentic Asian American representation in mainstream media.

Art
Anne Castro
As a Filipina American, Anne Castro has many experiences with microaggressions and stereotypes assumed about her. In an interview with Insider, she said she's been asked, "You eat with chopsticks, don't you?" and "Is it your people who do nails?"

To address these microaggressions, Castro created a cartoon image of herself and depicts her surrounded by all the things people assume about her. She even draws from her followers, who write to her about their experiences, curating it all together into a series. In the captions, she includes all the questions or comments that were assumed about her or her followers.

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8 AAPI Activists and Creators You Should Pay Attention To - YR Media

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May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. In a time where eight in 10 Asian Americans say that violence against them is rising, it's especially important to honor the accomplishments of our communities.

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Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center

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Standing Together Against Hate
March 24, 2021
Even as we try to take in and understand the tragic news of the March 23, 2021 shooting in Boulder, Colorado, the Smithsonian Institution mourns the loss of eight people-seven of them women, six of whom were of Asian descent-who were killed when a gunman opened fire inside three spas located in Georgia. We extend our condolences and stand in compassion with the families and friends of Daoyou Feng, Delaina Ashley Yaun González, Paul Andre Michels, Xiaojie Tan, Soon Chung Park, Hyun Jung Grant, Suncha Kim, and Yong Ae Yue; and we share in the sorrow and outrage expressed by Asian American community members nationwide. It is clear that this is a tragedy at the confluence of misogyny and racism directed toward Asian and Asian American women.

History is replete with examples of heritage and gender being used as an excuse to dehumanize and isolate people. Asian and Asian American women have long been the victims of objectifying and degrading stereotypes, based on notions of dominance over people, places, and bodies. Such objectification denies them their dignity, their agency, and their humanity, making them particularly vulnerable to acts of violence.

At the Smithsonian, we condemn xenophobia, misogyny, and racial and gendered violence. Reaching for real systemic change, however, requires an unpacking of the entangled systems that perpetuate oppression. To these ends, the Smithsonian collaborates with communities and acknowledges the work of colleagues who are counteracting exploitative narratives and practices, uplifting marginalized voices, and sharing in the work of community care.

Organizations such as the National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum , Red Canary Song, Georgia NAACP , and Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta are among the many in Georgia grappling very directly with this tragedy. In support of critical work happening at the local level and in keeping with our mission to diffuse and increase knowledge, the Smithsonian offers educational resources and direct learning opportunities that we hope can contribute to deconstructing systemic oppression and affirm the dignity of all people. Through our scholarship, collecting, educational programming, training, and exhibitions, we will continue working to bridge communities and foster understanding and respect.

Lonnie G. Bunch III, Secretary, Smithsonian Institution,
and the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center

In solidarity with:

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Standing Together | Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center

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March 24, 2021 Even as we try to take in and understand the tragic news of the March 23, 2021 shooting in Boulder, Colorado, the Smithsonian Institution mourns the loss of eight people-seven of them women, six of whom were of Asian descent-who were killed when a gunman opened fire inside three spas located in Georgia.

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On Asian Heritage Month why do we always do a color run?

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The history of Asian Pacific American Heritage month.

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The history of Asian Pacific American Heritage month.

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The Asian pacific American heritage month is celebrated in May and in 1990 George H.W signed a bill to make Asian Pacific American from a week to a month.

CJ.R

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May is known for being the month that represents and celebrates Asian and Pacific Islander month. they celebrate their history of their heritage from across the American continent and the Pacific Islands of  Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia

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The History of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month

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The History of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month

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In 1990, George H.W. Bush signed a bill to extend Asian American Heritage Week to a month,1991 a public law was passed unanimously by congress.
Minh

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I am surprised that the kid was interested to this guys story

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I am surprised that the kid was interested to this guys story

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What's the significance behind the, "Sun Color", or color run?

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While World War ll, Japanese-Americans were sent to internment camps. What I found interesting was that they thought that they were spies. 

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While World War ll, Japanese-Americans were sent to internment camps. What I found interesting was that they thought that they were spies. 

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Why were Japanese people put in prison for no reason.

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I never knew that May was the month chosen for heratige month because the first immigrants came from Japan and came to the US on May 7th 1843 which is incredible. And i think they came on land or boat.

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I never knew that May was the month chosen for heratige month because the first immigrants came from Japan and came to the US on May 7th 1843 which is incredible. And i think they came on land or boat.

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Something I learned and thought was interesting was that during World War II the Japanese-Americans were put in concentration camps which were prisons. -Leilani

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One thing that I found surprising was that Asian American and Pacific Islander month was only celebrated for a week in 1977
-Dulce

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The history of Asian Pacific American Heritage month

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The history of Asian Pacific American Heritage month

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Patsy was the first Asian Woman in the congress. She also overwrote laws for women in sports and education.

-Joelle

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Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month

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Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month

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Asian AMerican and Pacific Islander week changed to a month because congress passed a law to expand it to a month.
Lemon

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Why do we do color runs?

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is the color run connected to the holiday holi?
-PB

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Patsy Mink never gave up even though she lost many times when running for president. Patsy was a brave and inpatient women who did make a change, Patsy spoke up for what was right, she was a life changing champion!

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I think its a good thing that younger kids are getting into history like this, because it teaches them what happened in the world before they were born.

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when do you think we will have women as a president

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What had suprised me from reading this article is that some people in the community actually speak more than 100 languages! I only Semi-know two, and I´m still struggling with one of them! I can´t imagine how much patience these people have, and how much effort they put into life!

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what can you do as a person to help with this empowerment?