Memorial Daymay be the first holiday people think about when May rolls around , but that ’s not this calendar month ’s only major jubilation . Each May for more than 40 years , America has devote testimonial to the Brobdingnagian cultural contributions of its Asiatic American and Pacific Islander citizen . Given that the first Asiatic immigrants arrived on U.S. shore more than 430 years ago , it ’s a tribute that was long delinquent — and one worth celebrating . Here are a few captivating facts about how Asiatic American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month came to be .
Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month takes place in May to mark the arrival of the first Japanese immigrant to the United States …
The earliest known Asiatic immigrant go far in what ’s now the United States in1587 . They sailed from the Philippines ( then the Spanish East Indies ) to California ’s glide . Later , Filipino sailors root just outside New Orleans , Louisiana , in the 18th hundred , create what ’s believed to be theoldest Asiatic American settlementin the U.S. But immigration from Asia to the U.S. did n’t really pick up steamuntil the 1800s .
For the first one-half of the nineteenth C , Japanremained isolatedfrom much of the world . That begin to change on May 7 , 1843 , the day that a 14 - class - onetime fisher named Manjiro stepped off a whaling ship and onto U.S. ground , becomingthe first Japanese person to immigrateto the country . He had previously spent five months strand on an island with his crew after a terrible storm send off their fishing vas off course . When an American whaling ship jaw the island to pull together some sea turtles , its captain , William Whitfield , invited Manjiro aboard . Whitfield later bring Manjiro habitation to Massachusetts , where he survive for a while before returning to Japan in1852as an adult .
… And the completion of the transcontinental railroad.
The windup of the United States ’s transcontinental railroadon May 10 , 1869connected the nation in a way that would forever change its fortunes . But this dream of cross - country change of location would have never been realized without the campaign of Chinese jack , who were paid scrimpy heart and soul to worksix days a weekon the railroad ’s expression from1864 to 1869 . It ’s said that anywhere from 10,000 to20,000Chinese immigrantscontributed to the projectby lay down data track and blast tunnelsfrom Sacramento , California , to Promontory , Utah , where the Union Pacific play the Central Pacific Railroad . The hazards of the occupation , including tunneling explosion , avalanches , androck slides , lead to the deaths of 100 , if not thousands , of Chinese workers .
America’s bicentennial celebrations led one former Capitol Hill staffer to push for an AAPI Heritage Month.
In the 1970s , a former Capitol Hill staffer namedJeanie Jewapproached Rep. Frank J. Horton , a New York Republican , and proposed establishing an AAPI heritage calendar month . Jew — whose root , M.Y. Lee , was a Chinese immigrant worker on the transcontinental railway — believed that the country ’s bicentenary celebration had not adequately acknowledged the contributions of Asian and Pacific Americans . Jew ’s forbearbecame a businessmanwho was toss off in what Horton would later call “ a time of anti - Chinese and anti - Asian sentiments . ”
In 1977 , there were several resolutions introduced with the destination of honor AAPI in May , includingone put forthby Senator Daniel Ken Inouye of Hawaii ; none passed . Then , in 1978 , Horton and Democratic Representative Norman Mineta of California co - shop at a bill to fate “ Asian / Pacific American Heritage Week ” in May , which was signed byPresident Jimmy Carter . It was n’t until 1992 that Horton was capable to introducelegislation , which President George H.W. Bush signed into law , making May of each year AAPI Heritage Month . The actstatedthat “ Asiatic and Pacific Americans have contributed importantly to the growth of the arts , sciences , government , military , DoC , and Department of Education in the United States . ”
The Asian Pacific American Heritage Festival takes place each year during AAPI Heritage Month.
For43 years , the Coalition of Asian Pacific Americans has hosted a festival in celebration of AAPI Heritage Month . In atypical year , the event , which takes station in New York City ’s Chinatown , includes food , art , and musical performance highlighting AAPI polish in its many forms .
The theme of AAPI Heritage Month 2025 is “A Legacy of Leadership and Resilience.”
The Federal Asian Pacific American Council ( FAPAC)—which is a nonprofit , nonpartisan organization representing Asian Pacific Americans in the federal politics — chose“A Legacy of Leadership and Resilience ” as the report of 2025 ’s AAPI Heritage Month . The establishment said that the subject “ observe the unvoiced oeuvre of AANHPI leaders who establish a foundation for future generations to thrive and adapt to change and adversity . ” The poster FAPAC make in honor of AAPI Heritage Month 2025 features bamboo “ as a symbolic representation of strength , survival , and resilience for its power to resist the harsh conditions … The bamboo also recognize the colloquial ‘ bamboo ceiling ’ and the cultural , organisational , and single barriers that hinder advancement for AANHPIs in the work . ”
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A version of this article ran in 2021 ; it has been updated for 2025 .
