Asian American and Pacific Islander
Heritage Month

Efforts to officially celebrate Asian/Pacific Islander Americans began in the 1970s when a resolution was introduced in the US House of Representatives by Representatives Frank Horton and Norman Mineta proclaiming the first 10 days of May as Asian-Pacific Heritage Week. Shortly thereafter, a similar bill was introduced in the US Senate. President Jimmy Carter made the week-long celebration official by signing a joint resolution in 1978. In 1990, Asian-Pacific Heritage Week was extended to a month when George HW Bush signed a bill passed by Congress, designating May as Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month.

According to a 2021 Pew Research Report, the Asian American community in the U.S. is diverse. A record 23 million Asian American people trace their roots to more than twenty countries in East and Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent, each with unique histories, cultures, languages and other characteristics. Currently, Asian American people comprise about 7% of the U.S. population. Eighty-five percent of those Asian American people have origins in six countries: China, India, Philippines, Vietnam, Korea and Japan.

The Federal Asian Pacific American Council has selected “Advancing Leaders Through Opportunity” as the theme for 2023. This theme continues the organization’s series on Advancing Leaders.

The History of AAPI Month
AAPI Month Fun Facts

Employee Spotlight

Brian Cao | NCA West Regional Staffing Director, Varsity Spirit

AAPI Trailblazing Leaders

Anika Chebrolu

A 14-year-old Indian American teen, Anika won the 3M Young Scientist Challenge taking home to top prize for her work that looked into the molecules that were responsible for the global pandemic.

CC Yin

A Chinese American, Yin, was born in Chengdu, Sichuan, China, in 1937. He and his family fled to Taiwan after Communists took over China from the Nationalists in 1949. In 1984, he brought a failing McDonald’s restaurant in Oakland and successfully made a profit. Now, Yin operates a fast-food empire with 30 McDonald’s restaurants in Northern California. He and his wife, Regina Yin, along with others, founded the nonprofit Asian Pacific Islander American Public Affairs in 2001. They were deeply concerned about the lack of Asian American and Pacific Islander representation in local, state, and federal politics.

Maya Lin

Maya is a visionary artist whose work is on display in the nation’s Capitol. While she was an undergraduate at Yale, she won a national design competition for her design of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Since then, she has gone on to design a large number of additional memorials, public and private properties, landscapes, and art pieces.

Indra Nooyi

One of the most powerful women in business for years, Indra Nooyi served as the former chairperson and CEO of PepsiCo. She is also the co-director of the Connecticut Economic Resource Center, where she will help to create the state’s new economic development strategy.

Celeste Ng

Celeste is an award-winning novelist who has moved readers around the world with her short stories and novels. Her first novel, Everything I Never Told You, received Amazon’s Book of the Year award, and her latest novel, Little Fires Everywhere, has been adapted into a popular Hulu television series.

Larry Itliong

Larry Itliong emigrated from the Philippines to Stockton, Calif., in 1929 when he was 15 years old. He had dreams of being an attorney, but due to poverty and the racism he endured, he was unable to achieve that dream. Itliong instead became a labor leader who organized West Coast agricultural workers and co-founded the United Farm Workers, and was involved in a lifelong fight for farmworkers.

Celebrating AAPI Heritage Month

  • Visit a local museum featuring AAPI art
  • Learn one of the over 2,000 Asian languages spoken by 4 billion people
  • Support AAPI owned businesses
  • Learn yoga (originating in India centuries ago)
  • Learn Chinese calligraphy or another art form in AAPI culture