Honoring Asian American, Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander Heritage Month
Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month is observed annually in May to celebrate the contributions that generations of have made to American history, society, and culture.
First established in 1978 as Asian Pacific American Heritage Week, the celebration was expanded to "Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month” in 1990. 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. The majority of the workers who laid the tracks were Chinese immigrants.