Q 01/05

In which month is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month observed in the United States?

A) May

B) November

C) March

D) September

Answer · why

A) May

It began as a ten-day week in 1978, was stretched to a full month in 1990 and formally designated in 1992.

Q 02/05

What event on May 10, 1869 is one of the two reasons May was chosen for the heritage month?

A) The end of the Chinese Exclusion Act

B) The annexation of Hawaii

C) Completion of the transcontinental railroad

D) The founding of Chinatown in San Francisco

Answer · why

C) Completion of the transcontinental railroad

The golden spike was driven at Promontory Summit on a line built largely with Chinese labour.

Q 03/05

The first Japanese immigrant, Nakahama Manjirō, arrived in the US on May 7 of which year?

A) 1882

B) 1868

C) 1843

D) 1900

Answer · why

C) 1843

He was a shipwrecked teenage fisherman rescued by a New England whaling captain who took him home to Massachusetts.

Q 04/05

Which president signed the 1978 joint resolution creating the original Asian-Pacific Heritage Week?

A) Ronald Reagan

B) Gerald Ford

C) Richard Nixon

D) Jimmy Carter

Answer · why

D) Jimmy Carter

The idea came from congressional staffer Jeanie Jew; Frank Horton and Norman Mineta introduced the House resolution.

Q 05/05

Which president signed the 1990 bill extending the heritage week to a full month?

A) Bill Clinton

B) Barack Obama

C) George H. W. Bush

D) Ronald Reagan

Answer · why

C) George H. W. Bush

May was officially designated Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month two years later.