#APAHM Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month 2020

The Park HS Asian American Club is hosting 4 ZOOM panels, open to all Park students, focused on growing up Asian American and careers. Please visit the registration to learn more about each guest.

  • Mon., 5/4/20 3pm – 4:30pm: Maisie F. (Government employee), Jon T. (Educator), & Daniel L. (Lawyer)
  • Mon., 5/11/20 3pm – 4:30pm: Fuchi H. (Medical School), Chris H. (Sales), Lyly V-Y (Politics), Mikayla Y. (Current College Student)
  • Mon., 5/18, 2020 3pm – 4:30pm: Gaosong H. (Art Administration), Cat N. (Youth Work), Bee X. (Sales)
  • Weds., 5/20/20 3pm – 4:30pm Koua Y. (School Administrator) Others to be announced at a later time.

Required Registration: https://tinyurl.com/PARKAPI2020

  • Registration is open until 11am the day of each panel.
  • Participants will receive a confirmation reminder e-mail with the ZOOM information for the meeting by 1pm the day of the panel.
  • This opportunity is for Park students and invited guest only.
  • FREE

If you have any questions please contact Mason Fong, Park Multicultural Specialist, at mfong0@sowashco.org or 651.300.2376

According to AsianPacificHeritage.gov, “May is Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month – a celebration of Asians and Pacific Islanders in the United States. A rather broad 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).

“Like most commemorative months, Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month originated with Congress. In 1977 Reps. Frank Horton of New York introduced House Joint Resolution 540 to proclaim the first ten days in May as Pacific/Asian American Heritage Week. In the same year, Senator Daniel Inouye introduced a similar resolution, Senate Joint Resolution 72. Neither of these resolutions passed, so in June 1978, Rep. Horton introduced House Joint Resolution 1007. This resolution proposed that the President should “proclaim a week, which is to include the seventh and tenth of the month, during the first ten days in May of 1979 as ‘Asian/Pacific American Heritage Week.’” This joint resolution was passed by the House and then the Senate and was signed by President Jimmy Carter on October 5, 1978 to become Public Law 95-419. This law amended the original language of the bill and directed the President to issue a proclamation for the “7 day period beginning on May 4, 1979 as ‘Asian/Pacific American Heritage Week.’” During the next decade, presidents passed annual proclamations for Asian/Pacific American Heritage Week until 1990 when Congress passed Public Law 101-283 which expanded the observance to a month for 1990. Then in 1992, Congress passed Public Law 102-450 which annually designated 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 the workers who laid the tracks were Chinese immigrants.”

The Park HS Library celebrates with social media posts of information about Asian & Pacific American history, links to articles about Asian & Pacific American people who have made a difference, and poems by Asian & Pacific American authors on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Usually, we have displays of books by & about Asian & Pacific Americans displayed around the library, but while the school building is closed, you can see those titles and other links in this collection of resources for Asian & Pacific American Heritage Month. You can look for ebooks of those titles to borrow online at the Washington County Public Library.

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