MAY IS ASIAN Pacific American Heritage Month
WAKEFIELD — May is Asian/Pacific American Heritage (APAH) month, a celebration of Asians and Pacific Islanders in the United States.
The Wakefield Human Rights Commission (WHRC) will present its annual celebration of the diversity of AAPI culture on Saturday, May 27 from 1 to 4 p.m., at the American Civic Center in Wakefield. A full afternoon of performances, interactive demonstrations and crafts is planned: Chinese Lion Dance, Diablo Yo-Yo, henna tattoo art, Muay Thai Martial Arts, Bollywood and Nepalese Dance, calligraphy, origami, Korean sweets and more. The event is free to all.
Asia is the biggest and most populous continent in the world encompassing 48 countries and three other territories. A rather broad term, Asian/Pacific includes all of the Asian continents from the Mediterranean and Red Sea to the Pacific, and the Pacific islands of Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia (which includes New Zealand & the Hawaiian Islands).
Through the 1970 – 1990s, a series of resolutions were passed to commemorate Asian/Pacific American heritage for days then for weeks. In 1992, Congress passed Public Law 102-450 (PDF, 285kb) which annually designated the entire month of 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 workers who laid the tracks were Chinese immigrants.
The May 2023 theme for the observance of Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month is Advancing Leaders Through Opportunity. The AAPI community has played a vital role in shaping our nation and contributed much to the arts, governance, science and technology, medicine and culture of the United States.
