Asian American & Pasifika Heritage Month

A Dream Worth Fighting For: Rekindling Solidarity and Resistance

This year’s Asian American & Pasifika Heritage Month theme urges collective resistance and solidarity against the rising tide of imperialism and repression. As war, genocide, and attacks on people of color, transgender and nonbinary individuals, immigrants, and student activists escalate—including the forcible disappearance of student activists like Yunseo Chung, Ranjani Srinvasan, and Mahmoud Khalil—we recognize the urgency of collective action. The dismantling of education, the erasure of marginalized voices, the violent suppression of dissent, and the complicit silence of institutions in the face of this injustice demand a response. We will not be silent.

Now more than ever, we must rekindle solidarity, challenge dehumanization, and reclaim the power to dream and build alternative futures.  Heritage Month groups together very different communities, from Pasifika peoples to the diversity of our specific Asian diasporas, but it is through joined struggle against war, racism, and displacement that we find solidarity and unity.  A world free from militarism, incarceration, and systemic oppression is not only possible, but necessary. Our responsibility—whether we be scientists, artists, workers, or students—is to build it. We all have a place in this movement. This month, discover in one another a renewed commitment to create and fight for a world worth dreaming of.

To have your events included on this year's calendar, please submit your event by Wednesday, April 16, 2025 at 12:00 p.m. through our submission form. All events through the spring quarter (April through mid-June 2025) will be accepted.  Due to the number of events submitted, space on the print calendar may be limited so we will prioritize events in the month of May from current Stanford groups and departments.  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.