Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month pays tribute to the generations of Asian and Pacific Islanders who have enriched America's history and are instrumental in its future success.

Asian/Pacific encompasses all of the Asian continent and the Pacific islands of Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia. This recognition originated in 1977, with a congressional resolution proclaiming the first 10 days in May as Pacific/Asian American Heritage Week. Presidents passed annual proclamations until 1990 when Congress expanded the observance to a month for 1990. In 1992, Congress passed a law annually designating 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. 

Source: Library of Congress