Asian and Pacific American Heritage Month
Celebrated every May, Asian and Pacific American Heritage Month celebrates Asians and Pacific Islanders in the United States. The month of May was chosen to commemorate the immigration of the first Japanese immigrant to the United States on May 7, 1843. It also marks the anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental railroad on May 10, 1869 built primarily by Chinese immigrants. Asian/Pacific encompasses all the people coming from the entire Asian continent and the Pacific islands of Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia.