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Celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month

Join us at the Wilson Center in celebrating Asian Pacific American Heritage Month in May 2021.

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Resources on Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month

  • The following proclamation from the White House celebrates the Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander Heritage Month. The proclamation recognizes the history and achievements of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (AANHPIs) across the United States. In the midst of a difficult year of pain and fear, the proclamation reflects on the tradition of leadership, resilience, and courage shown by AANHPI communities, and recommit to the struggle for AANHPI equity.

    The Library of Congress' Veteran's History Project honors those veterans who have shared their stories, veterans such as Kurt Chew-Een Lee, Jaden Kim, Kenje Ogata, Maginia Sajise Morales, Peter Young and Veasna Rouen. The digital collection Asian Pacific Americans: Going for Broke highlights additional stories from World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq.

    The Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Collection was established in the Library of Congress Asian Division in 2007 after receiving a mandate and annual appropriation from Congress. The development of the collection was initiated by Congressman Michael Honda, after a survey of collections in the Library of Congress delineated AAPI primary and reference resources housed in twenty-six divisions. The AAPI Collection consists of papers and collections from individuals and organizations such as sociologists and historians Moreover, the collections relate chiefly to Asian American assimilation, communities, demography, education, exclusion laws, health, history, identity, immigration, labor, performing arts, and World War II internment.

  • Asian Americans is a five-hour film series that delivers a bold, fresh perspective on a history that matters today, more than ever. As America becomes more diverse, and more divided while facing unimaginable challenges, how do we move forward together? Told through intimate personal stories, the series will cast a new lens on U.S. history and the ongoing role that Asian Americans have played.

    Celebrate Asian Pacific American Heritage Month this May and every day with a special PBS collection of stories that explores the history, traditions and culture of Asians and Pacific Islanders in the United States.

  • In response to the alarming escalation in xenophobia and bigotry resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Asian Pacific Planning and Policy Council (A3PCON), Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA), and the Asian American Studies Department of San Francisco State University launched the Stop AAPI Hate reporting center on March 19, 2020. The center tracks and responds to incidents of hate, violence, harassment, discrimination, shunning, and child bullying against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the United States.

    The Young Oak Kim Center for Korean American Studies at UC Riverside endeavors to become the preeminent research institution on Korean American studies. The Center is also dedicated to understanding what it means to be a Korean American in the 21st century, the history of Korean Americans, the Korean diaspora in the United States and globally, and the role of Korean Americans in the reunification of South and North Korea.

    The Center hopes to also study the impact of the 1992 Los Angeles Riots on the Korean American identity. Through cultural and academic study, the center aims to empower the Korean American community and bridge ethnic and generational gaps.