Facts for Features: Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month - May 2009
In 1978, a joint congressional resolution established Asian/Pacific
American Heritage Week. The first 10 days of May were chosen to coincide with two important milestones in
Asian/Pacific American history: the arrival in the United States of the first Japanese immigrants (May 7, 1843)
and contributions of Chinese workers to the building of the transcontinental railroad, completed on May 10,
1869. In 1992, Congress expanded the observance to a monthlong celebration. Per a 1997 Office of
Management and Budget directive, the Asian or Pacific Islander racial category was separated into two
categories: one being Asian and the other Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander. Read
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