While Asian Pacific American Heritage Month (APAHM) is officially celebrated in the month of May, UMass Lowell celebrates APAHM in April by honoring the rich history, cultural diversity, achievements and contributions of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI). A rather broad term, Asian, Desi and Pacific Islanders encompasses all of the Asian continent and the Pacific islands of Melanesia, which spans over 65+ distinct countries, cultures and languages. “Desi" refers to the people and culture of the Indian subcontinent and South Asia, including Bangladesh, India and Pakistan.
Resources
The resources listed below will help you educate yourself and become an ally to the AAPIA Community during this time of hate and violence towards this community. Stop the hate towards this community.
- UMass Lowell Library: AAPI LIBGUIDE - A digital resource that provides online access to texts, images, and audio/video files showcasing Asian American Heritage.
- Bystander Intervention Training To Stop Anti-Asian/American and Xenophobic Harassment
- Resource card with statistics, updates, resources to educate yourself, ally ship and many other items as well.
- Washington Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs: Statement on Violence Targeted at Asian Women and Communities.
- U.S. News: Asian Americans reported 3,800 hate-related incidents during the pandemic, report finds
- Advocacy Groups:
- NBC: Anti-Racism Resources to Support AAPI communities
Center for Asian American Studies:
- The Center for Asian American Studies (CAAS) furthers education and research on Asian Americans with a focus on Southeast Asian Americans in the New England area. They develop way to improve and identify disparities in health, education, innovation and other areas with communities as partners.
Southeast Asian Digital Archive:
- A research project done through the Center for Asian American Studies, the Southeast Asian Digital Archive (SEADA) educates the public about Southeast Asian Americans' resilience and diversity through collecting, preserving, and sharing different historical materials about Southeast Asians in the Greater Lowell area.
Virtual Field Trips
Here are some third party virtual field trips to get some more information about this heritage month!
- Smithsonian Asian American Pacific American Center: Heritage IRL - Heritage IRL is a web series engaging Asian Americans heritage "in real life" in progress, across a range of media and communities.
- Smithsonian Asian American Pacific American Center: Our Stories Docu Series - Native Hawaiian filmmaker Conrad Lihilihi presents a four part historical Docu-series examining the 1896 Hawaiian Language Ban from public education. This series approaches the subject culminating a rich and diverse panel of academics in language, history, and politics.
- Virtual Asian American Art Museum (VAAAM) - This museum is a multi-year, inter-institutional digital project that was initiated and led by major partners such as Getty Research Institute, Smithsonian Institution, NYU Libraries, and many others as well.
- Wing Luke Museum of the Asian American Experience - Wing Luke Museum offers a unique online experience through virtual tours as they give a live inside look at the historic and culturally rich Chinatown-International District whether you're a first time visitor or a long time local resident.