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Here's an interactive gallery from PBS.

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A brief history of AAPI in the United States from the History Channel. Easy to print and it includes a few other resources to explore further.

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Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month (AAPI Heritage Month) is an annual celebration that recognizes the historical and cultural contributions of individuals and groups of Asian and Pacific Islander descent to the United States. The AAPI umbrella term includes cultures from the entire Asian continent—including East, Southeast and South Asia—and the Pacific Islands of Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia. As of 2019, there were about 22.9 million people of Asian or Pacific Islander descent in the United States. According to the Pew Research Center, AAPI people are a diverse and growing population that make up about 7 percent of the total U.S. population. AAPI Heritage Month 2022 will take place from Sunday, May 1 to Tuesday, May 31.

Origins of AAPI Heritage Month

The effort to officially recognize Asian American and Pacific Islander contributions to the United States began in the late 1970s, and took over 10 years to make it a permanent month-long celebration.

In 1977, New York representative Frank Horton introduced House Joint Resolution 540, which proposed proclaiming the first 10 days of May as Asian/Pacific American Heritage Week. Hawaii Senator Daniel Inouye introduced a similar joint resolution the same year. When the resolutions did not pass, representative Horton introduced House Joint Resolution 1007 the following year, which requested the president to proclaim a week during the first 10 days of May starting in 1979, including May 7 and 10, as Asian/Pacific American Heritage Week.

After the House and the Senate passed the Resolution, President Jimmy Carter signed it 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 102-540. Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month was renamed as AAPI Heritage Month in 2009.

Why Do We Celebrate AAPI Heritage Month?

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. In film history, AAPI people, stories, and traditions have become more visible 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, debuting Marvel’s first Asian superhero.

AAPI people have a long history in the United States, despite the stereotype that they are “perpetual foreigners,” the idea that Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are inherently foreign, other and not truly American. According to the Bering Land Bridge Theory, Asians first migrated to what is now known as North America over 15,000 years ago through a land bridge between Asia and North America. In the 16th century, Filipinos who were escaping forced labor and enslavement during the Spanish galleon trade immigrated to North America, eventually 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 and provided labor for gold mines, factories and the transcontinental railroad. In 1882, Congress enacted the Chinese Exclusion Act, which banned 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. However, 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 and allowed for the large numbers of Asians and Pacific Islanders to come to the United States with their families. In the mid-1970s, refugees from Southeast Asia like Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos came to the United States to flee war, violence, and hardship.

Today, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are the fastest growing racial group in the United States. AAPI Heritage Month celebrates the unique journey of all AAPI immigrants and citizens in the United States and their unique life experiences, traditions and cultures

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Anti-Asian Racism

Since their immigration to the United States, Asians have been met with xenophobia, racism, bias and violence. Chinese workers were abused, robbed and murdered in San Francisco in the 1850s. In 1854, the California Supreme Court ruled in People v. Hall that people of Asian descent could not testify against a white person in court, meaning that white people could avoid punishment for anti-Asian crimes.

During World War II, from 1942-1945, people of Japanese descent were incarcerated in internment camps across the nation. In 1982, Chinese American Vincent Chin was murdered by two white men in Detroit because they believed Asians were taking auto industry jobs from whites. In March 2021, a man shot and murdered six women of Asian descent at three spas in the Atlanta area.

At the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, racist and xenophobic rhetoric about the origins of the virus led to a spike in anti-Asian racism and violence, with AAPI people of all ages and cultures being verbally and physically harassed and murdered in cities across the United States. As a response to the rise in anti-Asian violence, the AAPI Equity Alliance, Chinese for Affirmative Action, and the Asian American Studies Department of San Francisco State University launched the Stop AAPI Hate coalition on March 19, 2020. The coalition tracks and responds to violence, hate, harassment, discrimination, shunning and bullying of AAPI people.

In January 2021, the White House released a “Memorandum Condemning and Combating Racism, Xenophobia, and Intolerance Against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the United States,” acknowledging their role in furthering xenophobic sentiments and proposing ways to prevent discrimination, harassment, bullying, and hate crimes against AAPI individuals.

AAPI Heritage Month 2022 commemorates the victims of the 2021 spa shootings along with all other Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders who have been lost to anti-Asian violence during the pandemic and throughout history.

AAPI Month 2022 Theme

According to the Federal Asian Pacific American Council (FAPAC), the theme for AAPI Heritage Month 2022 is “Advancing Leaders Through Collaboration.” The FAPAC encourages local and national governments to prioritize collaboration, development, diversity, transparency, and inclusion through leadership training of AAPI people.

Why the Date of AAPI Heritage Month is Significant

The month of May was chosen for AAPI Heritage Month because it commemorates the immigration of the first Japanese people to the United States on May 7, 1843. May is also a significant month because it recognizes Golden Spike Day, May 10, 1869, which marks the completion of the transcontinental railroad that was built with significant contributions from Chinese workers.

- by Minhae Shim Roth

Sources

Asian/Pacific Heritage Month, Library of Congress and the National Archives and Records Administration.
Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, May 1, 2021, U.S. Department of State.
Asian Pacific American Center, Smithsonian.
Asian Americans Then and Now - Linking Past to Present, Asia Society.
"The long, ugly history of anti-Asian racism and violence in the U.S." by Gillian Brockell, March 18, 2021, Washington Post.
Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month: May 2021, U.S. Census Bureau.

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Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month

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Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month (AAPI Heritage Month) is an annual celebration that recognizes the historical and cultural contributions of

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Queens Library Celebrates AANHPI History Month

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Queens Library Celebrates AANHPI History Month

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Queens Library's curated booklist, movie list, programs and more all celebrating AANHPI Heritage month.

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This year, Queens Public Library joins our nation in paying homage to the visionaries and trailblazers who have shaped AANHPI history, made lasting contributions to our country, and continue to influence our collective future.

Join us for our special programs, enjoy our book recommendations and resources, watch great AANHPI-related movies, and listen to the award-winning Queens Memory podcast, Our Major Minor Voices!

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This year, Queens Public Library joins our nation in paying homage to the visionaries and trailblazers who have shaped AANHPI history, made lasting contributions to our country, and continue to influence our collective future. Join us for our special programs, enjoy our book recommendations and resources, watch great AANHPI-related movies, and listen to the award-winning Queens Memory podcast, Our Major Minor Voices!

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NYPL's booklists and programs celebrating AANHPI Heritage Month.

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Join the Library in celebrating Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month throughout May. Discover reading recommendations for adults, kids, and teens, research guides, free events, and more!

Thurs, May 2 | 7 PM | Stephen A. Schwarzman Building & Online
Join author Neel Mukherjee and T Magazine editor-in-chief Hanya Yanagihara for a conversation about Mukherjee's book, Choice, which explores the tangled ethics of contemporary life and the ramifications of choice, economics, race, and appropriation.

Attend

Fri, May 17 | 2 PM | Stephen A. Schwarzman Building
Scholar Gao Yunxiang will discuss her biography-in-progress of actor Soo Yong, who played small but significant parts in major Hollywood productions and shared the screen with many film legends throughout her career. Gao's exploration of Yong's life reenvisions what multilingual and transnational Asian and Asian-American history can be.

Attend

Tues, May 28 | 6 PM | Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library (SNFL) & Online
Award-winning author Lisa Ko will talk about her new novel Memory Piece, which tells the bold and creative story of three lifelong friends trying to lead fulfilling lives in a world that is very different from what they expected.

Attend

From book discussions and conversation groups to arts and crafts and storytimes, find the right event for you at the Library as we celebrate Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander heritage this May.

Attend

Asian American, Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander Heritage Reading List

Explore books for adults, kids, and teens that spotlight a range of experiences within AANHPI communities-plus, find out which titles are available in accessible formats.

Discover Chatham Square Library's Chinese & Chinatown Heritage Collection (CHC), featuring books and other items available for research and browsing. This collection includes multi-genre materials that can be explored on site and digitally.

Learn More

Dive into Korean history and culture with a guide to conducting research at The New York Public Library. Explore rare prints, manuscripts, photographs, and more-from the 14th to the 20th century.

Get Started

Watch Now: Author Events

Explore a wide array of recorded author talks and discussions with AANHPI writers hosted by the Library.

Multilingual Resources at NYPL

The Library welcomes speakers and readers of a wide range of languages. We are committed to helping everyone navigate our free services and resources for all ages. Get a library card, learn about Library offerings, search the catalog, and more in:

Get Started with SimplyE

Download SimplyE, the Library's free e-reader app, which makes it easy to borrow e-books and audiobooks from a catalog of more than 300,000 titles. Information available in:

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Asian American, Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander Heritage Month

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Join the Library in celebrating Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month throughout May. Discover reading recommendations for adults, kids, and teens, research guides, free events, and more!

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Five short videos, two set in NYC (one in Chinatown, one on the UWS in a Chinese-Cuban restaurant) bring viewers into conversations about identity.

I have had many experiences sharing these with students and generally find that students enjoy the format and these stories whet students' curiosity.

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Celebrate Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month With Us

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Why We Celebrate from Asia Society's website

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Why We Celebrate from Asia Society's website

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This five minute video situates AANHPI Heritage Month in the American historical context of the civil rights movement and Black freedom struggle.

Showing just the first two or three minutes gives fodder for the discussion.

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At our non-secure detention sites you can sign up with your school librarian to bring students in for puzzling together the Asian continent to help students build schema.