May is Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month – a celebration of Asians and Pacific Islanders in the United States. A rather broad term, Asian/Pacific encompasses all of the Asian continent and 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).

Like most commemorative months, Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month originated with Congress. A joint resolution was passed by the House and the Senate and was signed by President Jimmy Carter on October 5, 1978 to become a law. This law directed the President to issue a proclamation for the “7 day period beginning on May 4, 1979 as ‘Asian/Pacific American Heritage Week.’” During the next decade, presidents passed annual proclamations for Asian/Pacific American Heritage Week until 1990 when Congress passed a law which expanded the observance to a month for 1990. Then in 1992, Congress passed Public Law 102-450 which annually designated May as Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month.

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. Source: The Library of Congress

To help honor and celebrate Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month, the Hopewell Valley School District will share resources and information with the Hopewell Valley community. Check in on this Site to see what's happening.

Register for this event by using this link: https://www.hvef.org/news-events/heritage-month-book-club.html

to lEARN MORE ABOUT AAPI month, check out RESOURCES FROM THE LIBRARY OF cONGRESS:

Click on this link to access the AAPI site that is being hosted by The Library of Congress