According to the NBC4 web page about the meaning of May being a month to celebrate Asian Americans:

Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month is a month to celebrate and pay tribute to the contributions generations of Asian and Pacific Islanders have made to American history, society and culture.

… Why was May picked as the official heritage month? According to the Library of Congress, it 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.”

A few things I found about this month:

President Obama’s Presidential Proclamation — Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, 2012.

UCLA compiles this 2012 Statistical Portrait of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Other Pacific Islanders

The U.S. Census Bureau will host a forum with the Asian American Justice Center on the Asian population at the Rayburn House Office Building. This event will highlight statistics from the American Community Survey and 2010 Census, providing a portrait of the Asian population in the U.S. Following the presentation, an expert panel will discuss the statistics and their implications. When: Wednesday, May 2, 2012; noon to 2:30 p.m. (EDT) The event will be broadcast on the Census Bureau’s Ustream channel at www.ustream.tv/channel/us-census-bureau. Viewers will be able to submit questions via Facebook and Twitter (#ProfileAmerica)

Asian American & Pacific Islander Christian women leaders are gathering this week for the 1st national conference May 3-5, 2012 near Los Angeles. This event will empower women leaders through a safe, honest and challenging environment for women to grow their voice and to learn from other women leaders.

And to our team of contributors here at NextGenerAsianChurch.com: what makes our heritage as Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders worth celebrating? What are you and/or your community doing to celebrate?

Share and Enjoy