May Celebrations

Asian American, Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander Heritage Month

May is Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month (AANHPI), a celebration of Asians and Pacific Islanders in the United States and their contribution to American culture and history. A rather broad term, Asian/Pacific encompasses all of the Asian continent, the Pacific islands of Melanesia (New Guinea, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Fiji and the Solomon Islands), Micronesia (Marianas, Guam, Wake Island, Palau, Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Nauru and the Federated States of Micronesia), and Polynesia (New Zealand, Hawaiian Islands, Rotuma, Midway Islands, Samoa, American Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, Cook Islands, French Polynesia and Easter Island).

Did you know? 

According to research, 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.