Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month
May is Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month – a celebration of Asians and Pacific Islanders in the United States.
Like most commemorative months, Asian-Pacific Heritage Month originated in a congressional bill. In June 1977, Reps. Frank Horton of New York and Norman Y. Mineta of California introduced a House resolution that called upon the president to proclaim the first ten days of May as Asian-Pacific Heritage Week. The following month, senators Daniel Inouye and Spark Matsunaga introduced a similar bill in the Senate. Both were passed. On October 5, 1978, President Jimmy Carter signed a Joint Resolution designating the annual celebration. Twelve years later, President George H.W. Bush signed an extension making the week-long celebration into a month-long celebration. In 1992, the official designation of May as Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month was signed into law.
Stand Against Hate
Want resources for standing against anti-Asian hate? Here are several, compiled by Asian American organizations in Chicago and across the nation.
Curriculum Collection
Streaming Videos
To Be Takei
Oh my! This award-winning documentary features Star Trek legend, marriage equality advocate, and spokesperson for racial justice; superstar George Takei. Best known for his groundbreaking role of Hikaru Sulu on a certain epic starship and its multi-ethnic crew, Takei is one of the most visible Asian-American actors of all time.
Bad Rap: The Lives and Careers of Four Asian-American Rappers
This award-winning documentary follows the lives and careers of four Asian-American rappers trying to break into hip-hop culture, which often treats them as outsiders. Sharing dynamic live performance footage and revealing interviews, these artists are driven to make the most skeptical critics into believers.
Who Is Arthur Chu?
This acclaimed documentary follows the controversial 11-time Jeopardy! champion Arthur Chu as he attempts to leverage his viral celebrity to make a positive social change online.
95 and 6 to Go
In this award-winning documentary, filmmaker Kimi Takesue finds an unlikely collaborator while visiting her resilient Japanese-American grandfather in Hawai'i. A recent widower in his 90s, Grandpa Tom immerses himself in his daily routines until he shows an unexpected interest in his granddaughter's stalled romantic screenplay and offers advice both shrewd and surprising.
Dreaming Lhasa
Karma, a young Tibetan woman from New York City comes to Dharamsala, the exile headquarters of the Dalai Lama in India, in search of her roots. She is making a documentary film about former political prisoners who have escaped Tibet.
Terminal USA
Dignity, tradition, and stereotypes are trashed in this psychedelic look at a dysfunctional Japanese American family – a drug dealing nihilist with a girlfriend from outer space, a computer nerd twin brother who has a passion for phone sex, an oversexed cheerleader sister, a nymphomaniacal mother, and an upright and honorable father.