May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
Asia is home to 48 countries, including Mongolia, Pakistan, Korea, India, while 24 islands constitute the Pacific Islands, including Guam, Hawaii, Fiji, the Solomon Islands and more.
The people from each of these places have vastly unique cultures, religions, and traditions. Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have made and will continue to make valuable contributions to our collective culture in the United States. In fact, the month of May was chosen to commemorate the immigration of the first Japanese person 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.
Here are some individuals from the Asian American and Pacific Islander community who have enriched our society, both in the U.S. and abroad:
- Ajay Bhatt, an Indian American computer architect is known for developing the Universal Serial Bus (USB) to transfer data from one device to another.
- Mable Ping-Hua Lee, a Chinese immigrant, helped lead a suffrage parade of ten thousand people fighting for women’s voting rights at 16-years-old. She went on to become the first Chinese woman to earn a Ph.D. in economics from Columbia University.
- Larry Itliong was a Filipino American labor leader best known for orchestrating the Delano grape strike for farm workers. This five-year strike resulted in better pay and benefits for agricultural workers, as well as the formation of the United Farm Workers union.
- Rell Kapoliokaehukai Sunn, also known as the “Queen of Makaha,” was a world champion surfer and native Hawaiian. She was a pioneer for women in surfing, establishing a pro women’s competitive surfing circuit for generations to come.
For more information please visit: https://asianpacificheritage.gov/
In solidarity,
Kayla Miller
Technical Assistant
Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
k.miller1@hvcc.edu
Published: Mon, 09 May 2022 12:00:25 +0000 by k.miller1