Asian Pacific American Heritage Month

May is Asian Pacific American (APA) Heritage Month—a celebration of Asians and Pacific Islanders in the United States. Much like Black History and Women's History celebrations, APA Heritage Month originated in a congressional bill. This poster was created by Debbie Blankenship, District Secretary in the Jackson Field Service Center in Tennessee. It is also available to be downloaded and printed out for posting in your office during Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.

This poster is available in Adobe Acrobat format.

Asian Pacific American Month Poster (PDF; 210 KB)

• Asian American/Pacific Islander Quiz

Congressional Bills Establish Celebration

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. On October 5, 1978, President Jimmy Carter signed a Joint Resolution designating the annual celebration.

APA Becomes Month-long Celebration

In May 1990, the holiday was expanded further when President George H. W. Bush designated May to be Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. 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. The majority of the workers who laid the tracks were Chinese immigrants. Asian Pacific American Heritage Month is celebrated with community festivals, government-sponsored activities, and educational activities for students. This year's theme is "Lighting the Past, Present, and Future."

• Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month, 2008 Proclamation by the President of the United States of America

Asian American/Pacific Islander Emphasis Program Newsletters

• The February 2008 Newsletter is available on the Asian Pacific Islander Organization Web page.

Additional Information on Other Web Sites

• Ansel Adams’s Photographs of Japanese-American Internment at Manzanar Library of Congress
• Asian American Heritage Reading List National Park Service
• Asian-Nation website
• Asian Pacific American Network in Agriculture website
• Asian Pacific Islander Heritage Month page on the Asian Pacific Islander Employee Organization website
• Asian Reflections on the American Landscape: Identifying and Interpreting Asian Heritage National Park Service
• National Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Department of Veterans Affairs
• The 70 Most Inspiring Asian Americans of All Time Goldsea.com Asian American Daily