AAPI Month: How to Celebrate

May was Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, but we have ways to celebrate all year! AAPI Month is a celebration of Asian and Pacific Islanders in the United States. ”Asian/Pacific” encompasses all of the Asian continent and the Pacific islands of Melanesia (New Guinea, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Fiji and the Solomon Islands), Micronesia (Marianas, Guam, Wake Island, Palau, Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Nauru and the Federated States of Micronesia) and Polynesia (New Zealand, Hawaiian Islands, Rotuma, Midway Islands, Samoa, American Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, Cook Islands, French Polynesia and Easter Island).

The month of May was chosen to commemorate the immigration of the first Japanese to the United States on May 7, 1843, and to mark the anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental railroad on May 10, 1869. The majority of the workers who laid the tracks were Chinese immigrants. Learn more about AAPI Heritage Month!

Here are some great ways you can celebrate:

Read a Zine

Check out Stilt House Food and Identity from the Cambodian American Literary Arts Association (CALAA). Nonotuck APD Samantha Chhrech shares a piece titled A Tribute To My Loving Mom, Ruom Cheng, and her niece is the Executive Director of CALAA!

Open a Care Package

Care Package is the Asian Pacific American Center’s online exhibition curated with love in difficult times. This exhibition includes short films, poems, music, and meditations.

Get Involved

Choose from this list of 21 Ideas & Activities To Celebrate AAPI Heritage Month which includes books to read, businesses to support, activists to follow, ways to volunteer, and resources for kids.

Let Us Know

Let us know how you are celebrating! Send a photo or a story of how you celebrated AAPI Month to Jannelle Robinson robinson@nonotuck.com and Josh Murray murray@nonotuck.com.