Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month (APAHM)

APAHM is celebrated in May to commemorate the contributions of people of Asian and Pacific Islander descent in the United States. Congress passed a joint Congressional Resolution in 1978 to commemorate Asian American Heritage Week during the first week of May. This date was chosen because two important anniversaries occurred during this time: the arrival of the first Japanese immigrants in America on May 7, 1843 and the completion of the transcontinental railroad (by many Chinese laborers) on May 10, 1869. In 1990 Congress voted to expand it from a week to a month long celebration and in May 1992, the month of May was permanently designated as “Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month.”

Here are some helpful sites to learn more about this special month as we honor our cultural heritage:

• Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month
• Crayola.com Calendar
  If you have kids, work with them, or you're just a "kid-at-heart", here are some fun and informative learning activities for APAHM.
  
• OCA National
  About APA Heritage Month
• Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Program
  Today the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Program works to better reflect the APA experience in Smithsonian exhibitions, programs, and research.
  
• US Census Facts for Features
  Interesting facts relating to the 2010 Census and the Asian/Pacific American community.
  

Other Asian American community websites:

• AArisings
  Entertainment resource about Asian Pacific Americans
  
• angry asian man
  An internet blog founded in 2001 by Korean American Phil Yu to discuss racism and representation of Asian Americans in mainstream media in America.
  
• Asian American Entertainment
  channelAPA.com - Broadcasting Asian America
  
• Asian Fortune
  Asian Pacific American Community news in the Washington DC metropolitan area
  
• DISGRASIAN
  Jen Wang and Diana Nguyen are the co-creators and authors of DISGRASIAN.com.
  
• GIANTROBOT.com
  Asian and Asian-American pop culture
  
• Hyphen Magazine
  News and culture publication exploring the Asian-American experience through investigative reporting, commentary, events, and more.
  
• Where to Party @ SFIAAFF
  Blog about Asian American and Pacific Islander news, events, organizations, issues and people.