Asian Pacific Islander Desi American Heritage Month celebrates the collective accomplishments of the heterogeneous communities that make up the APIDA population.

Congress passed a joint Congressional Resolution in 1978 to commemorate Asian American Heritage Week during the first week of May. This date was chosen because two important anniversaries occurred during this time: the arrival of the first Japanese immigrants in America on May 7, 1843 and the completion of the transcontinental railroad (by many Chinese laborers) on May 10, 1869. It was later expanded from a week long to a month long celebration in 1990.

Since then, the month of May has been designated as national APIDA Heritage Month, similar to monthly celebrations like Black History Month in February and Women’s History Month in March. However, because of Illinois’s academic calendar, we typically celebrate APIDA Heritage month on campus during April.