May 2008
In 1990, President George H. W. Bush designated the month of May to be Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. Originally, the first 10 days of the month of May were recognized.
Dalip Singh Saund is the first Asian American elected to US Congress. He became an American citizen in 1949.
Angel Island was known as the “Ellis Island of the West.”
Due to the fear Chinese immigrants were taking all the jobs, the Chinese Exclusion Act 1882 banned immigration of Chinese laborers for 10 years.
Chinese worked side by side with the Irish during construction of the transcontinental railroad.
Patsy Takemoto Mink was the first female Asian American elected to the US Congress.
Ellison Onizuka was the first Asian American in space in 1985. He died in the 1986 Challenger disaster.
Norman Yoshio Mineta was the first Asian American elected to the Presidential cabinet (Secretary of Commerce). He was also the first Mayor of a major city (San Jose).
Architect I.M. Pei designed the glass pyramid (as seen in the DaVinci Code) of the Lourve in 1987.
Leroy Chiao was the first Asian to perform a spacewalk.
Designer Vera Wang was a figure skater for 15 years.
George R. Ariyoshi was the first Japanese and Asian governor. (Hawai’i, 1974)
Governor Gary Locke was the first Chinese American governor (Washington, 1996)
Bobby Jindal is elected governor of Louisiana and is the first person of Indian descent to be elected governor of an American state
Anna May Wong is widely acknowledged to be the first Asian-American movie star.
Pat Morita was the star of his own sitcom, Mr. T and Tina in 1976.
All American Girl was the first all Asian sitcom that happened to star comedian Margaret Cho.
The first Asians to land in America were Filipinos.
Connie Chung is the first Asian American to become a news anchor on national news for a major network. She and Ken Kashiwahara were the first Asian Americans to become TV news reporters in 1974.
Balamurali Ambati was the world's youngest doctor at age 17.
Le Duc Tho was the first Vietnamese and Asian to be awarded the Nobel Peace prize. Le and Henry A. Kissinger were awarded jointly for negotiating the Vietnam peace accord in 1973. Le declined on the grounds Vietnam was still not at peace.
Eisaku Sato, Prime Minister of Japan was the first to accept the Nobel Peace prize in 1974.
Other notable winners, the Dalai Lama, Aung San Suu Kyi, Kim Dae Jung, Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank.
Herbert Choy was appointed Federal court judge in 1971 to the U.S. court of appeals for the ninth circuit.
Wing F. Ong was elected to the Arizona House of Representatives as state legislator in 1946.
The 442nd Regimental Combat Team comprised of Japanese Americans is the most decorated unit in U.S. military history.
Chang-Lin Tien became the first Asian American chancellor of major research university when he was named chancellor of the University of California at Berkeley.
Random Sports Facts . . .
Al Lolotai of the Washington Redskins was the first Samoan in the NFL while the first big college star was Bob Apisa, an All-American for the Michigan State Spartans in the 1960s.
Eugene Chung was the first Asian American drafted in the first round of the 1992 NFL draft by the New England Patriots.
Dat Nguyen was the first Vietnamese American to play in the NFL. He played for the Dallas Cowboys from 2001-06.
Masanori "Mashi" Murakami was the first Japanese to play in the majors for the San Francisco Giants
Wat Misaka was the first Japanese to play in the NBA for the New York Knicks.
Walter Tin Kit ("Sneeze") Achiu was the first Chinese to play in the NFL for the defunct Daytona Triangles.
Yutaka Fukufuji is the first Japanese hockey player to play in the National Hockey League for the Los Angeles Kings.
Larry ('King') Kwong was the first Chinese and Asian hockey player to play in the NHL. He played for the New York Rangers for one season 1947-48.
Jim Paek was the first Korean to play in the NHL. He played for the Pittsburgh Penguins from 1990-95.
Pancho Villa (Francisco Guilledo) was the first Asian to win a championship belt in boxing’s flyweight division back in 1923.
Ki Soo Kim was the first Korean boxing champion capturing World, WBA and the WBC championships in 1966.
Ken Niumatalolo in the first Samoan head coach in NCAA history. He coaches the Navy Midshipmen.
Dr. Sammy Lee was the first Korean American to win a gold medal in the Olympics (1948, London). He specialized in diving.
Duke Kahanamoku was the first Hawaiian to win a gold medal in the Olympics. He won 3 gold, 2 silvers and 1 bronze in his Olympic appearances (Stockholm, 1912, Antwerp, 1920, Paris, 1924 and Los Angeles, 1932). His specialty was the freestyle.
Japan was the first Asian country to hold the Olympics (Summer, Tokyo 1964) with Korea (Summer, Seoul 1988) and China (Summer, Beijing, 2008) respectively. Japan also hosted the Winter Olympics in 1998 at Nagano.
Isao Aoki was the first Japanese golfer to win the US PGA title in 1983.
Hisako Higuchi was the first Asian golfer to win a major US championship and also the first Asian golfer to become a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2003.
Michael Chang was the first Asian to be seeded in the top 10 in tennis. He is also the youngest to win a Grand Slam.
Hiroaki “Rocky” Aoki, Benihana’s founder was a Japanese Olympic wrestler who won a place on the US Olympic team during its Olympic trials. Because his petition to be a permanent lawful resident was denied, he couldn’t compete for the USA.
