May is Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month
The United States and Canada celebrate the contributions of Asians to society and the diversity of the Asian continent
Celebrating Asian heritage since the 1990s
In the United States and Canada, we celebrate Asian Heritage Month. The United States first adopted the month in 1990 when then-President George W. Bush signed a declaration making the month official for the first time. It was also adopted in Canada around the same time and became official in 2001 by the declaration of the Senate of Canada.
Since then, in every major city in the United States and Canada, there have been celebrations around the month. Since I live in the United States, my focus has been on the history and the contributions of Asians to American history. There is so much to learn about not just the various histories of the countries being celebrated but the historical significance of those immigrants that came over.
Asians were excluded for a long time from American society
In the United States, there has been a long history of exclusion and segregation toward certain groups of Asians. It wasn’t until the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 that removed the discrimination against immigrants from a number of countries, including from many Asian countries.
My mom was a product of the new act as she immigrated over to the United States in 1980, only 15 years after the immigration discrimination rules had been lifted. Previously to that, America has had the Chinese Exclusion Act, the Tydings-McDuffie Act of 1934, and the internment of Japanese-American citizens during World War II, among many other discriminatory practices against specific Asian groups.
Some Asian-American contributions throughout history
Despite all of the legal discrimination that Asians have faced in the past, they have been a huge part in helping to build the nation into what it is today. The contributions of Asian-Americans can be seen in the field of science, technology, agricultural workers' rights, and civil rights, among many others. I was fascinated by how much I found when I did the research about Asian-American pioneers and contributions. These are just a few of many here.
Aside from helping to build the first transcontinental railroads and the agriculture industry, I had no idea that some of these modern contributions had even existed.
Asian-Americans are set to become the largest minority group in America
According to the Pew Research Center, the U.S. Asian population is projected to reach 46 million people by 2060. As it stands now, the number is around 20 million and accounts for about 7% of the population. Asians are currently also the fastest-growing minority group in the United States and are projected to pass the Hispanic population by 2055.
Income and the “model minority” stereotype
An interesting fact about Asian-Americans at the moment is that they are the families with the highest average income in America. I’m not going to speculate that there is just one reason for that. There are a number of factors that play into that that many Asian-Americans, especially in the younger generations like myself, understand far too well.
We’re held up as the “model minority,” a label in and of itself that is harmful to those people who don’t quite fit the mold of that societal expectation and harms not just Asians but other minority groups as well, especially Black children at a disproportionate rate. There is definitely a high expectation from parents in many Asian countries of a level of academic and financial success that borders on child abuse.
That, however, is a different story for another day. I want to continue to explore Asian themes without getting too dark and dense in one piece.
List of geographically Asian countries region by region
So, what constitutes the groups that are the ones that are celebrated during Asian Heritage Month? In the United States, the peoples of the Pacific Islands are also included which makes the list a lot longer. I’m just going to simplify the list by going region by region.
The countries by region included on this list would be Mongolia, China, DPRK, South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan (I know that the international recognition of this country is controversial but I’m including it here because they have a culture separate from Mainland China), Hong Kong (part of China but has their own rich history under British protection), and Macau (see Hong Kong, except with for Portugal) in East Asia.
In Southeast Asia, there are the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Brunei, East Timor, and Singapore.
In South and Central Asia, there are Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, India, the Maldives, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
In Western Asia, there are Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Bahrain, Cyprus, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.
Asian-American is such a catch-all and describes a very diverse group of people
Since Asia is such a large continent, the term Asian-American is such a large catch-all for such a diverse and populated continent. The entirety of the list of countries is geographically Asian, even if many of the countries, especially in the more Western part of the continent are more ethnically, historically, and politically grouped with Europeans and other people groups outside of Asia.
It’s just that classifying these billions of people into this one group on the census is definitely an interesting choice. The term Asian-American didn’t really even come about and popular until the 1960s and 1970s. Asian-American heritage month then becomes more of a celebration of a diversity of cultures in America spread throughout much of the globe.
The entirety of immigrants from Asia to Canada and the USA get to celebrate this heritage month
I’m happy to share this month with people from all over the Asian continent living in this part of the world. We just all get to showcase the heritage, culture, and diversity of each of the countries included in this celebration. My favorite part of the month, just like when I travel, is getting to try all of the different foods. Along with learning about the different cultures and histories of all of the different countries included in the heritage month, we get a chance to immerse ourselves in other cultures and experience and learn things we never knew about the world before. I’m excited to celebrate Asian Heritage Month.
I’m sure that the festivities in Canada are just as festive if not more than in the United States given the diverse Asian populations in the city of Toronto alone. For those of us out there with Asian heritage, what are some of your favorite celebrations here during Heritage Month that you enjoy the most?
I want to hear from you about your personal experiences around Asian Heritage Month
Which cities do you recommend and would say have the best celebrations across the month? I’ve only lived in Sacramento, Chicago, and Erie and I can say that all three cities have festivities during the month but that Chicago out of all of them had the best.
I’d also like to hear your thoughts on Asian Heritage Month and give a shoutout to some of my fellow Asian-American and Asian-Canadian writers here. Since there are too many to name, I’m not tagging anyone.
If you have any interesting Asian Heritage Month stories to tell, feel free to send them to me, briefly describe them in the comments, or leave a story here at Digital Global Traveler to share with all of us.
