- Western Region

FEW Western RegionDiversity Team

May 2013

2013 Asian American &Pacific Islander Heritage Month

"Building Leadership: Embracing Cultural Values and Inclusion."

Presidential Proclamation -- Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, 2013

Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month

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ASIAN AMERICAN AND PACIFIC ISLANDER HERITAGE MONTH, 2013BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

A PROCLAMATION

Each May, our Nation comes together to recount the ways Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) helped forge our country. We remember a time 170 years ago, when Japanese immigrants first set foot on American shores and opened a path for millions more. We remember 1869, when Chinese workers laid the final ties of the transcontinental railroad after years of backbreaking labor. And we remember Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders who have made our country bigger and brighter again and again, from Native Hawaiians to the generations of striving immigrants who shaped our history -- reaching and sweating and scraping to give their children something more. Their story is the American story, and this month, we honor them all.

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Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month

For many in the AAPI community, that story is one also marked by lasting inequality and bitter wrongs. Immigrants seeking a better life were often excluded, subject to quotas, or denied citizenship because of their race. Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders endured decades of persecution and broken promises. Japanese Americans suffered profoundly under internment during World War II, even as their loved ones fought bravely abroad. And in the last decade, South Asian Americans -- particularly those who are Muslim, Hindu, or Sikh -- have too often faced senseless violence and suspicion due only to the color of their skin or the tenets of their faith.

This year, we recognize the 25th anniversary of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 and the 70th anniversary of the Chinese Exclusion Act's repeal -- milestones that helped mend deep wounds of systemic discrimination. And with irrepressible determination and optimism, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have prevailed over adversity and risen to the top of their fields -- from medicine to business to the bench. But even now, too many hardworking AAPI families face disparities in health care, education, and employment that keep them from getting ahead.

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Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month

My Administration remains committed to addressing those disparities. Through the White House Initiative on AAPIs, we are working to ensure equal access to Federal programs that meet the diverse needs of AAPI communities. We are standing up for civil rights, economic opportunity, and better outcomes in health and education. We are fighting for commonsense immigration reform so America can continue to be a magnet for the best and brightest from all around the world, including Asia and the Pacific.

Meeting those challenges will not be easy. But the history of the AAPI community shows us how with hope and resolve, we can overcome the problems we face. We can reaffirm our legacy as a Nation where all things are possible for all people. So this month, as we recognize Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders who are fulfilling that promise in every corner of our country, let us recommit to giving our children and grandchildren the same opportunity in the years ahead.

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Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim May 2013 as Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. I call upon all Americans to visit www.WhiteHouse.gov/AAPI and www.AsianPacificHeritage.gov to learn more about the history of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, and to observe this month with appropriate programs and activities.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this thirtieth day of April, in the year of our Lord two thousand thirteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-seventh.

BARACK OBAMA

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Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month

Initially, the week beginning May 4, 1979, was designated as “Asian/Pacific American Heritage Week.” In 1990 the week-long celebration was extended to a month-long celebration designating the month of May as “Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month.”

The month of May was chosen to commemorate the immigration of the first Japanese people to the U.S. on May 7, 1843 and to mark the anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental railroad by many Chinese laborers on May 10, 1869.

BackgroundWestern Region

Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month

Because of the two important anniversaries mentioned earlier, many people today assume the Chinese or the Japanese were the first Asian Americans to set foot on American soil; however, the first Asian Americans were Filipino men. In 1763, they fled mistreatment aboard Spanish ships, settled in Saint Malo, Louisiana, and married Cajun and Native American women.

Fifteen years later in 1778, Chinese sailors settled in Hawaii and married Hawaiian women. When Hawaii and the Philippines became U.S. territories in 1898, residents who were mostly Asians received U.S. citizenship. Later in the mid-19th century, Chinese and Japanese immigrated into the U.S.

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Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month

Asian Americans are Americans of Asian descent having origins in any of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian sub-continent; including Chinese, Filipino, Indian, Vietnamese, Korean, and Japanese.

According to the 2010 Census, Asian Americans comprise 5.6% (17,320,856) of the U.S. population and grew 46% faster than any other racial group between 2000 and 2010. Census projections expect the number to increase to more than 40 million by 2050.

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Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month

Pacific Islanders are Americans who have ancestry in Polynesia (including Hawaii, American Samoa, New Zealand), Melanesia (including Fiji Island, New Guinea), and Micronesia (including Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Marshall Islands, Palau).

According to the 2010 Census, Pacific Islanders make up 40% (1,225,195) of the U.S. population and grew 40% faster than any other racial group between 2000 and 2010. Census projections expect the number to increase to more than 2.6 million by 2050.

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Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month

The month of May is designated as a time to recognize, appreciate, and celebrate all the contributions of our Asian and Pacific Islander Americans.

Please take the opportunity this month to celebrate and learn more about the culture and history of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders who have helped fulfill the promise of the American dream.

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Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month

Filipino sailors jumped from the Spanish vessels plying the famous Manila-Acapulco galleon trade during the Spanish colonization of the Philippines. While the galleon was docked in the west coast of Mexico, many Filipinos escaped the oppressive colonial conditions and traveled east to Vera Cruz where they boarded another ship or traveled by land until Louisiana.

First Filipino Settlement in the U. S. 1763

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Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month

Hawaii's first Japanese

The Gannen Mono, or the "first year men", arrived in Hawaii from Yokohama in 1868. They numbered approximately 150 men and women of diverse background, largely urban dwellers, displaced samurai and an assortment of rogues.

These immigrants were the first of what would become wave after wave of Issei, the first generation. Each Issei group was as anxious as the next to find new wealth in Hawai'i. By 1924 so many Japanese had come to the islands that they constituted over 40% of the population. Working for low wages in the sugar and pineapple fields, day-after-day, year-after-year, hauling, cutting, slashing and burning cane, the Issei gave their muscles, blood and sweat to buttress the great plantation fortunes.

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Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month

Hawaii's first Chinese

The official arrival of Chinese in the Islands came in late 1788, when the Iphegenia and North West America stopped on their fur trading voyage, returning to China from the northwest coast of America. The ships carried 50 Chinese crewmen, many of them carpenters or smiths. They stayed in Hawaii during the first three months of 1789 while their ships refueled and sheltered from winter seas. Another 45 Chinese crewmen arrived later in 1789 aboard the Eleanora under Captain Simon Metcalf.

A decade later, Chinese brought the first sugar mill to Hawaii from China. It was not until 1823, however, that the first Chinese - a trader with a stock of goods to sell - took up permanent residence in Honolulu. By 1840, there were 40 or so foreigners living in Honolulu. Of these, 30 or more were Chinese.

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Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month

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Hawaii's first Filipinos

Hawaii Sugar Planters' Association (HSPA) began recruiting workers from the Philippines in 1906 after their access to Chinese, Japanese and Korean labor was limited by immigration legislation. The end of the Spanish-American War in 1898 ceded the Philippines to the United States and allowed movement of Filipinos between and among American territories.

By 1909, HSPA undertook large-scale importation of Filipino workers and by 1930 approximately 100,000 had arrived in the Islands.

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Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month

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Hawaii's first Koreans

The first Korean contract laborers arrived in Hawaii on the S.S. Gaelic on January 12, 1903, to work on Hawaii's sugar plantations. 102 Korean workers arrived in Hawaii that day including 56 men, 21 women, and 25 children.

Between 1903 and 1905, nearly 8000 Koreans arrived in Hawaii; but about that time, the Korean government halted immigration to Hawaii because of reports that Korean workers were mistreated in Mexico. Korean brides arrived in Hawaii between 1921 and 1925. There was a second wave of Koreans immigrating to Hawaii between 1965 and 1980.

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Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month

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Samoa

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Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month

AmericanSamoa

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Fiji

Guam

Chamorro Dance

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Tahiti

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Tonga

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Hawaii

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Japan

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China

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Korea

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Philippines

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