Asian American & Pasifika Heritage Month

2026 - Igniting Solidarity: Forging Collective Community Power

Across the United States, Asia, and the Pacific, our communities are subjected to intensifying systems of violence. At home, federal immigration enforcement criminalizes and terrorizes migrants and refugees--disproportionately targeting communities of color, including Southeast Asian and Pasifika peoples. Cambodian refugee Parady La’s death in Philadelphia exposes how systems of policing and detention endanger the very communities they claim to protect. Simultaneously, institutions move to restrict the spaces where our communities build power and care for one another. Attacks on ethnic studies, cultural centers, and student organizing attempt to erase our histories and silence student voices. Universities invest in systems of surveillance and militarism to police the students who challenge them.

Abroad, these configurations of U.S. imperialism also continue to devastate communities in the global South—from deep-sea mining in the Mariana Trench that threatens Chamorro sovereignty to the bombing of an elementary school in Iran to wage illegal war. These crises are not separate. Immigration enforcement, war, environmental extraction, institutional repression, and technological expansion are interconnected systems that shape our lives across borders and continue to reproduce long-standing inequalities.

Our communities have always resisted and challenged these violent forms of power. Asian American and Pasifika histories are rooted in generations of struggle, mutual aid, and organizing toward collective liberation. We have safeguarded one another and preserved culture as a political tool in the face of repression. As we celebrate Asian American & Pasifika Heritage Month, we invite our community to move beyond reflection into action. Together we can forge a future grounded in solidarity, community care, and the collective power to protect and uplift one another.

To have your events included in this year's calendar, please submit your event by 8:00pm PT, Monday, April 13, 2026, through our submission form. All events through the spring quarter (April through mid-June 2026) will be accepted.  However, the print calendar will prioritize events from current Stanford groups and departments that take place in the month of May due to limited space. All other events will be included on the online comprehensive calendar. If you have any questions, please connect with us over email.

Access the Event Submission Form Here 

Following a Congressional Resolution in 1978, Asian American Heritage Week was celebrated during the first 10 days of May. This timing was chosen because two important anniversaries fall during this period: the arrival of the first Japanese immigrants in the United States on May 7, 1843, and the completion of the transcontinental railroad by many Chinese laborers on May 10, 1869. 

In 1990, President George H. W. Bush and Congress voted to expand the celebration, and since 1992, May has been designated as AAPI Heritage Month. In 2021, President Joe Biden expanded the official proclamation of the month to AANHPI (Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander) Heritage Month.

At Stanford, the Asian American Activities Center (A3C), Native American Cultural Center (NACC), Asian American Studies Program, Okada House, Pacific Islander Student Association (PISA), and the Asian American Students' Association (AASA) intentionally adopt the term ‘Pasifika’ in renaming the month to "Asian American & Pasifika Heritage Month" to recognize and honor the unique histories, culture, and political movements of Indigenous Island communities that are often silenced through aggregate terms like ‘Asian American’ or ‘Asian & Pacific Islander.’ 

Each year, Asian American & Pasifika Heritage Month is celebrated with community festivals, government-sponsored activities, and educational activities for students.