Celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month
May 3, 2021
The month of May is a celebration of Asians and Pacific Islanders in the United States.
The term “Asian/Pacific” encompasses all of the Asian continent and the Pacific islands of Melanesia (New Guinea, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Fiji and the Solomon Islands), Micronesia (Marianas, Guam, Wake Island, Palau, Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Nauru and the Federated States of Micronesia) and Polynesia (New Zealand, Hawaiian Islands, Rotuma, Midway Islands, Samoa, American Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, Cook Islands, French Polynesia and Easter Island).
The month of May marks two particularly significant events for AAPI community in the United States. On May 7, 1843, the first Japanese immigrant arrived in America, and on May 10, 1869, the transcontinental railroad, which roughly 20,000 Chinese immigrants worked on, was completed.
President Jimmy Carter signed the first presidential proclamation for Asian/Pacific American Heritage Week in 1979. In 1992, Congress passed an amendment to observe Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month.
Head to asianpacificheritage.gov to find information on online events put on by Library of Congress, National Park Service, The National Archives, and more.
Check out some fiction book recommendations, all available through the Lackawanna County Library System, below:
Homeland Elegies by Ayad Akhtar (adult)
The Leavers by Lisa Ko (adult)
Listen, Slowly by Thanhhà Lại (children)
Parachutes by Kelly Yang (young adult)
Shooting Kabul by N.H. Senzai (children)
This Time Will Be Different by Misa Sugiura (young adult)
