If you’re an Asian-American, Native Hawaiian, or Pacific Islander, then you’ll be celebrated and honored this month. Every year in May, we celebrate every Asian-American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander and honor them for changing our lives and our world. It refers to the influence and contributions of these kind people to the history, culture, and interesting goals of the U.S.

It began back in 1587 when the Filipinos landed in California. Between 1898 and 1946, the Philippines was part of the American possession. Many groups of documented Asians had been arriving in America since then. Then, in 1635, the Indians arrived in Jamestown, Virginia. More of these people kept coming to the U.S. and settling there. In 1778, the Chinese first arrived in Hawaii; Ten years later, the first Native Hawaiian arrived in Oregon. Fast forward to 1806, and that’s where the Japanese arrived in Hawaii, just like the Chinese. In 1884, the Koreans came to America; in 1898, the U.S. ceded Guam. Two years passed, and then, the U.S. annexed Hawaii. A few years later, the Chamarros began migrating to both California and Hawaii. In 1904, the U.S. ceded Samoa, and several years later, the Samoans migrated to Hawaii and the continental U.S., with the first documented Samoans in Hawaii in 1920. Finally, in 1912, the first Vietnamese was documented in the U.S.

But this was part of the beginning of the annual month after the first Japanese immigrant arrived in the U.S. in 1843, and the golden spike was driven into the first transcontinental railroad, which used Chinese labor, a couple of decades later. Then one day in the 1970s, a former congressional staffer came up with an idea to designate a month that will recognize Asian Pacific Americans. In 1977, the first ten days of May became Asian-Pacific Heritage Week. In 1990, the annual week was about to be extended into a month, and that’s how this month of May became Asian American and Pacific Islander Month two years later (later recognized as Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month).

As I said, if you’re an Asian-American, Native Hawaiian, or Pacific Islander, you will be celebrated once the month of May arrives. So Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, often called Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, is not just about Hawaiians and Asian-Americans. It’s about their culture, history, pride, contributions, influence, and many other interesting facts about them.