Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month was enacted by Public Law 102-450 on October 28, 1992. The purpose of the law was to
honor the achievements of Asian/Pacific Americans and to recognize their contributions to the United States. This recognition
was the culmination of Jeanie Jew's efforts in the 1970's to establish Asian Pacific American Heritage Week. Following the
United States bicentennial in 1976, Jew realized that Asian Pacific Americans were ". . .were excluded from those stories
during celebrations of the country's bicentennial. We were literally ignored even though we were part of building this
country."
A year later, Jew enlisted the support of Rep. Frank Horton (R-NY) who, along with Rep. Norman Mineta, (D-CA), introduced
House Resolution 540. This resolution proclaimed the first ten days of May as Asian Pacific American Heritage Week. Senators
Daniel Inouye and Spark Matsunaga introduced similar legislation into the Senate.
May was selected for the recognition because two significant events in history took place in that month: Japanese immigrants
first arrived in the United States on May 7, 1843, and the transcontinental railroad was completed on May 10, 1869 (Golden
Spike Day). Furthermore, since school is still in session during May, educators could capitalize on the opportunity to include
APA history into the curriculum.
On Oct. 2, 1978, President Jimmy Carter signed the Joint Resolution and the first Asian Pacific American Heritage Week was
celebrated in May 1979. In 1992, the week was expanded to a month-long recognition when President George Bush signed the law
permanently designating May of each year as Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. The law was unanimously supported by both
the House of Representatives and the Senate.
全美亞裔人口：一千四百四十萬華裔：三百三十萬菲律賓裔：二百八十萬印度裔：二百五十萬越南裔：一百五十萬韓裔：一百四十萬日裔：一百二十萬
14.4 million Asians in U.S.
3.3 million Chinese
2.8 million Filipions
2.5 million Asian Indians
1.5 million Vietnamese
1.4 million Koreans
1.2 million Japanese
55,000 Chinese Americans at great St. Louis area.
亞太裔傳統月始自1990年，由老布希總統George
Bush頒訂每年五月為亞太裔傳統月。選擇五月的原因為第一位移民美國之日本人於1843年5月7日抵達美國，和主要由移民華工所建，橫跨美國東西兩岸之鐵路於1869年5月10日完成。
和黑人歷史月，婦女歷史月一樣，亞太裔傳統月在全美各地以節慶方式展開系列文化、教育、語言，藝術等慶祝活動，彰顯亞太裔促進和豐盛美國多元文化之事實和成就。
聖路易亞太裔移民社區委員會聖路易移民政治警醒委員會 |
