Heritage Month

Just as Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are not monolithic groups, individuals belonging to these communities are unique.  As we celebrate 2024 AAPI Heritage Month, we invite you to join us in exploring and recognizing the intersectional identities of the AAPI community.  What are the legacies, histories, cultures, and other individual characteristics that combine with one another and give meaning to a person’s identity? How do they impact the collective? And how do we honor these overlapping identities as springboards to forming solidarities with other groups? We invite you to reflect on these questions as we commemorate AAPI Heritage Month. Let us make the celebration reflect the diversity within the larger umbrella of AAPI by learning and uplifting their stories, accomplishments, and contributions in making progress possible where we live.

We look forward to including your event in the 2024 Asian and Asian Pacific Islander Heritage Month.


Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month (AAPIHM) is a month-long celebration which recognizes the contributions of Asian American and Pacific Islanders. In 1977, congressional lawmakers proposed bills for the creation of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. After passing a law for a 7-day commemoration in 1978, Congress passed Public Law 102-450 in 1992 which annually designated May as Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month. Nationally celebrated in May, AAPIHM is celebrated in April at Indiana University to allow the entire campus and community to take part in the activities before the semester ends.


The Asian Culture Center is the heartbeat of the Asian/Asian American/Pacific Islander Community here at IUB. Partnering with the ACC on various events and activities has energized Asian American Studies by drawing new audiences and extending our impact throughout the campus into Bloomington and beyond. We are so grateful for the synergy and dynamism of the ACC!

Ellen Wu, Associate Professor, History Department