An angry woman can make a lot happen. Like making a president sign a law.
May 1: Every year, AAPI Heritage Month begins, made possible by one woman named Jeanie Jew in 1977.
In 1976, America celebrated its Bicentennial — 200 years of independence, resilience, and progress. But as festivities unfolded across the nation, Jeanie Jew, a Capitol Hill staffer and fourth-generation Chinese American, noticed something painfully obvious:
Asian Americans were nowhere to be found. They were invisible, as they had often been throughout American history.
At the time, celebrations for Black History Month and Hispanic Heritage Week were already in place. While Black History Month was decreed by President Gerald Ford in 1976 to become a national observance, Hispanic Heritage Week was designated as a national celebration by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1968.
But for Asians, no tributes. No acknowledgment. No mention. Yet her own family’s story was deeply intertwined with the American story.
James Rhoads of the National Archives, Washington DC
America celebrated its 200th birthday in 1976. The flags waved, the cake was cut, and the nation honored its past. But Asian Americans were largely absent.
Courtesy of Ford Library Museum
By 1976, Black History Month had already been established. The federal government had formally recognized the contributions of African Americans.
In 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed Hispanic Heritage Week into law. By the time of the 1976 Bicentennial, national recognition for other communities already existed.
Courtesy of UC Berkeley, The Bancroft Library
Jeanie Jew’s great-grandfather was one of thousands of Chinese laborers who helped build the transcontinental railroad. They united the country in steel and sweat.
Courtesy of British Columbia Archives
In 1882, the Chinese Exclusion Act became federal law. It was the first time the United States banned immigration based solely on race and nationality.
Courtesy of History San Jose
San Jose’s Chinatown was burned more than once in the 19th century. In 1887, arson destroyed the community again. More than a century later, the city formally apologized.
M.Y. Lee
Her great-grandfather, M.Y. Lee, was one of thousands of Chinese laborers who came to the United States in the 1800s. He helped build the transcontinental railroad, a project that literally united the country. For his efforts, he was met not with gratitude, but racism and discrimination.
In 1882, the Chinese Exclusion Act prohibited the immigration of Chinese laborers and was later strengthened by the Geary Act, which required Chinese immigrants to carry permits at all times or face deportation.
During the wave of anti-Chinese violence in the late 19th century, Chinese communities were attacked and destroyed. Seventeen men and boys were murdered in the Chinese Massacre of 1871 in Los Angeles. San Jose’s Chinatown was burned in 1887. M.Y. Lee was also killed in a racially motivated attack — one of many stories erased from mainstream history.
Proud Asian American History
Standing on the shoulders of that painful legacy, Jeanie Jew refused to let Asian American history be erased.
She took her idea to Capitol Hill. Jew proposed the creation of a week dedicated to honoring Asian American contributions.
She found powerful allies in Congress, including Frank Horton and Norman Mineta. Thanks to their efforts — and Jew’s unrelenting advocacy — President Jimmy Carter signed the bill establishing Asian Pacific American Heritage Week in 1978.
The movement didn’t stop there. Over the next decade, advocates fought to expand the observance. In 1990, president George H.W. Bush signed a declaration to extend the celebration to the entire month of May, which is now known as Asian/Pacific American Heritage month.
Courtesy of Densho, Frank Sato Collection
Former Congressman Frank Horton and Frank Sato at the signing of the Asian Pacific American Heritage Week
Courtesy of Bettmann Archives
In 1978, President Jimmy Carter signed legislation establishing Asian Pacific American Heritage Week. It began with one staffer who didn’t want her community remain invisible.
Courtesy of Senator Spark M. Matsunaga Papers
Representative Norman Mineta, Senator Daniel Inouye, and others honoring the Asian Pacific American Heritage Week legislation, May 3, 1979
Courtesy of George H.W. Bush Library & Museum
In 1990, President George H. W. Bush signed the proclamation expanding Asian Pacific American Heritage Week into a month-long, annual observance.
Courtesy of Senator Spark M. Matsunaga Papers
Ruby Moy and Senator Spark Matsunaga honoring the Asian Pacific American Heritage Week, May 3, 1979
Photography by Andrew J. Russell
The celebratory photograph of the Transcontinental Railroad’s completion, May 10, 1869. Thousands of Chinese laborers built it. None appeared in the frame.
Courtesy of New Bedford Free Public Library
Rescued by an American whaling ship, John Manjirō Nakahama became the first known Japanese person to live in the U.S., decades before formal immigration was allowed.
Courtesy of New Bedford Free Public Library
When the nation celebrated its 200th birthday, Asian Americans were missing from the story. Jeanie Jew remembered. And she made the country remember too.
The Significance
The month of May was also selected on Jew’s behalf to honor her grandfather and the other Asian Americans who completed the building of the Transcontinental Railroad on May 10, 1869.
The second reason was to commemorate the arrival of the first Japanese immigrant, John Manjirō Nakahama, to the United States on May 7, 1843.
Because of Jeanie Jew’s vision, May is now a time to celebrate the stories, struggles, and achievements of millions of Americans — stories that might have otherwise been forgotten.
Jeanie Jew made sure her great-grandfather didn’t come all the way to America and die for nothing. And that Asian Americans are clearly visible in the American story.