Background

It is Asian American and Pacific Islander heritage month in May! This month celebrates and recognizes contributions from Asian Americans and Pacific Islander Americans. This month originated in 1977 and became a thing ever since then.

The reason why May is the month that is used to commemorate anyone in the AAPI community is because the first Japanese person immigrated to the U.S. on May 7th, 1843. This month also marks the point in history where the transcontinental railroad was completed on May 10th, 1869.

This heritage month includes people from the islands of Melanesia (New Guinea, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, etc.), Micronesia (Marianas, Guam, Wake Island, Palau, etc.), and Polynesia (New Zealand, Hawaiian Islands, Samoa, Tonga, etc). This month also celebrates people in different regions of Asia like East Asia (Japan, China, Korea, etc.), and Southeast Asia (Vietnam, The Philippines, Cambodia, etc).

Some People to Recognize

Hung Lui: A Chinese American contemporary artist. Her paintings included imagery from historical Chinese photographs of women, children, military members, and refugees. She has won the National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship twice and has also received a Lifetime Achievement Award in printmaking.

Isamu Noguchi: A Japanese American landscape architect and artist, well known for his sculptures and public art. Noguchi has also founded and designed the Isamu Noguhi Foundation and Garden Museum in Queens, New York.

Tony Hsieh: A Taiwanese American internet entrepreneur. He is known for being the CEO of Zappos, an online shoe website, for 21 years. The company reached $1 billion and was listed in Fortune for one of the best companies to work for. He also founded LinkExchange, but sold it to Microsoft for $265 million.

David Chang: A Korean American restaurateur, author, and television personality. He has developed Netflix originals including Ugly Delicious and Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner. Chang has also founded the Momofuku restaurant group which has restaurants all around the world. His restaurant group earned two Michelin stars.

Cristeta Comerford: She served in the White House as a sous chef during Bill Clinton’s presidency and eventually became appointed to execute chef by Laura Bush. Comerford was the first minority and first woman to ever serve in a position of executive chef at the White House.

Kamala Harris: Harris is the current Vice President of the U.S. and is the first woman/Asian and African American to serve as the vice president. Before she was elected, she was a U.S. senator in California as well as the attorney general.

Celeste Ng: She is a Chinese American author and essayist. In her first novel, Everything I Never Told You, the story portrays a Chinese family struggling with tragedy including the intersection of race and gender. Her second novel, Little Fires Everywhere has been turned into a Hulu miniseries.

Connie Chung: Chung is a Chinese American broadcast journalist who reported for many major television news networks including ABC, CNN, and NBC. She has won an Emmy award for her journalism throughout her career.

Margaret Chung: She was the first American-born Chinese woman doctor. She helped establish the first Western hospital in San Francisco’s Chinatown. Due to all of her help during World War II, Chung was able to connect to high ranking politicians in the U.S. and founded the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Services.

Jōkichi Takamine: Takamine is a Japanese American scientist and activist. He was the first person to separate the chemical adrenalin from the suprarenal gland. He dedicated a lot of his life to improving Japanese life, and one of his contributions included funding a gift of 2,000 cherry trees to decorate the Tidal Basin area in Washington, D.C.

Victoria Manalo Draves: The first Filipino American to win an Olympic gold medal from placing first in the 1948 Summer Olympics during the women’s three meter springboard event. She opened a diving school and was inducted in the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1969.

Celebrate

Take the time to research and learn on your own! Recognizing people who are part of this community allows for better cultural insight and shows you just how much minorities do for this country, then and now.