May is Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month. This month has been federally designated as Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month consistently since 1992 but was first recognized as Asian/Pacific American Heritage Week in 1979. In recent years, there has been a push to expand the name to include Native Hawaiians who have historically been forgotten in these celebrations. In Proclamation 4650, the first proclamation recognizing AANHPI heritage, President Carter stated, “Asian-Americans have played a significant role in the creation of a dynamic and pluralistic America, with their enormous contributions to our science, arts, industry, government and commerce.”
Each year during AANHPI Heritage Month, the Federal Asian Pacific American Council selects a theme that is used to help guide celebrations across the nation. This year, they have selected the theme “A Legacy of Leadership and Resilience.” The goal of the theme is to serve as a tribute to those who paved the way and to serve as a call to action. Additionally, the imagery selected for this year’s celebration features the “bamboo ceiling,” which is a term used to describe the barriers AANHPI individuals face.
In honor of this theme, the Michigan School of Psychology is sharing the stories of just a few AANHPI leaders and innovators whose resilience has helped to change our world.
Norman Mineta spent a significant part of his childhood in a Japanese internment camp in Wyoming. He would go on to serve in the US Army, before being elected as the Mayor of San Jose, and then to the U.S House of Representatives. Mineta was one of the representatives who introduced the original resolution asking President Carter to recognize Asian Pacific Heritage Month. He would later serve as the Secretary of Commerce under President Clinton and the Secretary of Transportation under President George W. Bush. As Secretary of Transportation, Mineta was instrumental in the post-9/11 and Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.
Dr. Isabella Abbott was the first Native Hawaiian woman to earn a doctoral degree in the sciences. She was also the first person of color and the first woman to serve as faculty in the Biological Sciences Department at Stanford. Outside of academia, Dr. Abbott worked with Hawaiian elders to cultivate safe Hawaiian ocean stewardship and discovered over 200 species of algae.
Despite receiving significant opposition due to rising anti-Asian sentiments during WWII, Lieutenant Susan Ahn Cuddy became the first woman gunnery officer in the United States Navy. Lieutenant Cuddy would later go on to work as a codebreaker and eventually the liaison with the Library of Congress for the Naval Intelligence Office. Much of her work in these roles was facilitated by her ability to speak Korean, one of the very attributes that originally caused superiors to view her with hesitation.
Larry Itliong spearheaded the Delano grape strike in the 1960s. He would then join forces with other worker rights advocates to form the United Farm Workers, a labor union that fights for the rights and protections of farmworkers. The strike would last for five years leading to increased wages and better conditions for the farmers and is one of the most notable labor movements in US history.
Yuri Kochiyama channeled her own experiences during Japanese internment into a life of social justice advocacy. Kochiyama successfully lobbied for the hearings on Japanese incarceration that would lead to formal restitution, worked closely with Malcolm X and other leaders of the 1960s civil rights movement, and protested against nuclear weapons.
