Like most commemorative months, Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month originated with Congress. In 1977 Reps. Frank Horton of New York introduced House Joint Resolution 540 to proclaim the first ten days in May as Pacific/Asian American Heritage Week. In the same year, Senator Daniel Inouye introduced a similar resolution, Senate Joint Resolution 72. Neither of these resolutions passed, so in June 1978, Rep. Horton introduced House Joint Resolution 1007. This joint resolution was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Jimmy Carter on October 5, 1978. During the next decade, presidents passed annual proclamations for Asian/Pacific American Heritage Week until 1990 when Congress passed Public Law 101-283 (link to PDF, 166 kb), which expanded the observance to a month for 1990. Then in 1992, Congress passed Public Law 102-450 (link to PDF, 285kb), which annually designated May as Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month.
Here are a few examples of books from our library that you could use to research topics on Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander heritage and experience.
Asian American Chronology by 
Minor Feelings by 
The Vietnamese American 1. 5 Generation by Diabetes Education Events, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Photo: Jessica Christian / The Chronicle 2019
United States Senate, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
By Wazzu Cougs - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0
Use these library databases to explore topics on Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander heritage.
Why search here? Use this database for preliminary reading as you start your research. You'll learn about your topic by reading authoritative topic overviews on a wide variety of subjects.
What's included: Gale eBooks is comprised of subject, specialized encyclopedias with articles written by scholars and experts.
Why search here? This is a great database to use when you need to find information about a person.
What's included: This Gale database includes more than 500,000 individuals from throughout history and from around the world.
Why search here? Use this database to find information on U.S. and Canadian history and culture from prehistory to the present.
What's included: Academic journals, magazines, books, conference papers, and dissertations
Why search here? Use this database when you want topical, in-depth coverage of world history from antiquity to the present. Read about the background, outcomes, and contemporary points of view for the major topics in history from every region of the world. This is a great database for finding primary sources.
What's included: You'll find pro/con articles, timelines, and primary sources.
Why search here? When you want to find broad coverage on almost any topic you need to research at MJC, use Gale databases to search over 35 databases simultaneously.
What's included: Gale databases include articles previously published in journals, magazines, newspapers, books, and other media outlets.
Why search here? Search 22 databases at the same time that cover almost any topic you need to research at MJC. This is a good resource to use when you want to delve deeper into your subject.
What's included: EBSCO databases include articles previously published in academic journals, magazines, newspapers, books, and other media outlets.
