Asian Pacific American Heritage Month

How One Woman’s Story Led to the Creation of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month

The observance now takes place every May in the U.S. and is marked by communities within the country’s 22.2 million Asians and 1.6 million Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islanders.

During the Congressional hearing in 1992 in which then New York Congressman Frank Horton introduced the bill that called for the month of May to get that designation, he made a point of singling out the inspiration for the bill. Jeanie Jew, a former Capitol Hill staffer had first approached Horton about the idea in the mid-1970s. She had witnessed the U.S. Bicentennial celebrations of 1976, and was concerned about the lack of recognition given to Asian Pacific Americans.