The road to Asian Pacific American Heritage Month was not a smooth one. After several failed attempts to pass a bill in Congress, in June 1978, Rep. Frank Horton (New York) introduced House Joint Resolution 1007 proposing that the president should “proclaim a week, which is to include the seventh and tenth of the month, during the first 10 days in May of 1979 as ‘Asian/Pacific American Heritage Week.’” This joint resolution, according to asianpacificheritage.gov, was passed by the House and then the Senate and was signed by President Jimmy Carter on Oct. 5, 1978 to become Public Law 95-419 (PDF, 158kb). This law amended the original language of the bill and directed the President to issue a proclamation for the “seven-day period beginning on May 4, 1979, as ‘Asian/Pacific American Heritage Week.’” During the next decade, presidents passed annual proclamations for Asian/Pacific American Heritage Week until 1990, when Congress passed Public Law 101-283 (PDF, 166kb) which expanded the observance to a month for 1990. Then in 1992, Congress passed Public Law 102-450 (PDF, 285kb) which annually designated May as Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month.
From Ignite a Brighter World, read: Bringing Big Island Spirit to the Bluff.
The month of May was chosen to commemorate the immigration of the first Japanese to the United States on May 7, 1843, and to mark the anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental railroad on May 10, 1869, for which Chinese immigrants were a majority of the workers who laid the tracks.
Fifteen of LMU’s student organizations represent a broad scope of Asian and Asian American cultures, and the Asian American Pacific Islander Faculty and Staff Association, the API ambassadors, Asian Pacific American Law Student Association address a range of concerns. The approaches include scholarly investigation, creative and performance endeavors, and cultural celebrations, including Nā Kōlea since 1973.
In celebrating AAPI Heritage Month, this PBS special examines the career of Norman Y. Mineta, secretary of Transportation during the Clinton administration and the first Asian American to join a president’s Cabinet.
