12 Ways to Celebrate Asian Pacific American Heritage Month

Over 20 million people of Asian and Pacific Islander descent live in the United States totaling about 6 percent of the U.S. population, representing a wealth and diversity of cultures and experiences within the United States. 

Explore what it means to be American in this in-painting tour with Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery. What if George Washington were Japanese American? Get up close to Shimomura Crossing the Delaware where Roger Shimomura poses this thought-provoking question. 

However, for many, to live in the U.S. on an H-1B visa is to live a life of uncertainty. Feel the anxiety, dignity, isolation, and opportunity associated with this life-changing immigration category. 

Experience San Francisco’s Chinatown, reborn with Chinese Historical Society of America. The Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906 provided an opportune time for the Mayor and developers to call for the destruction of this now historic landmark. Instead, Chinese leaders in San Francisco united to rebuild their community with an ignited spirit of fortitude and resilience.

When you imagine India, what comes to your mind? India conjures up many things: elephants, saris, and spices; gurus, gods, and goddesses; turbans, temples, and a billion faces drawn from ancient history, modern-day Slumdog Millionaires, and the pulsating energy of Bollywood movies. Beyond Bollywood curated by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center explores Indian American contributions far beyond these stereotypes. 

Among the many notable Asian American trailblazers, March Fong Eu broke many barriers in her long career in public service, from being the first woman to serve as division chair of the University of California San Francisco's Dental Hygiene Department in 1951 to being the first Asian-American woman to serve as acting-Governor of California in 1976. 

Born in California to Japanese immigrants, Asawa embodied a uniquely expansive vision, regarding herself as a “citizen of the universe,” saying, “I don’t think of myself as Japanese. I think of myself as somebody with an idea, a human idea rather than an ethnic idea.”

"Representation matters, and we all benefit due to the efforts and hard work of scores of writers, historians, and artists.” - Stephen Gong, CAAM’s Executive Director

Did you know that Bruce Lee was not only the first Asian American in a lead role to appear in a Hollywood produced movie, but that he was also the Crown Colony Cha-Cha champion of Hong Kong?

Admire the photographs by the Japanese Camera Pictorialists of California (JCPC) based in Los Angeles’s Little Tokyo neighborhood from the J. Paul Getty Museum collection. The members, of this lesser-known part of 20th-century American art history, were a mix of amateurs, hobbyists, and professional photographers who developed their modernist styles during the 1920s - 1940s.

The mural "Pattern Recognition" highlights the cultures of Asian immigrant communities in the Bay Area, including the signature “spiral” design of Carlos Villa and the pottery silhouettes of Jade Snow Wong.