Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month
May is Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month. Every year, this is an opportunity to listen and learn about the diversity within AAPI communities as well as how deep the connections are to all facets of American history.

Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month
May is Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month. Every year, this is an opportunity to listen and learn about the diversity within AAPI communities as well as how deep the connections are to all facets of American history.
AAPI Documentaries Premiering in May
A series of seven shorts that reflect the complexities of Asian American experiences.
New episodes streaming Tuesdays Starting May 3
Chinatown activists of the 1960s reflect on their years as young residents waging battles for bilingual education, tenants’ rights and ethnic studies curriculum that would shape their community and nation.
Airing Thursday, May 26 at 9 p.m. on Channel 5.4
Now Streaming
Try Harder!
At Lowell High School, San Francisco's academic pressure cooker, the kids are stressed out. With a majority Asian American student body, high-achieving seniors share their dreams and anxieties about getting into a top university. But is college worth the grind?
Asian Americans
Asian Americans is a five-hour film series that will chronicle the contributions, and challenges of Asian Americans, the fastest-growing ethnic group in America. Personal histories and new academic research will cast a fresh lens on U.S. history and the role Asian Americans have played in it.
A Tale of Three Chinatowns
Explore the survival of urban ethnic neighborhoods in three American cities: Washington, D.C., Chicago, and Boston.
Geographies of Kinship
Geographies of Kinship weaves together the complex personal histories of four adult adoptees born in South Korea with the rise of the country’s global adoption program.
Jamaica Heolimeleikalani Osorio: This Is the Way We Rise
Filmmaker Ciara Lacy documents Jamaica Heolimeleikalani Osorio, a Kanaka Maoli wahine poet, activist and academic, and her continued work towards justice for Hawaii’s native population.
Anna May Wong: The First Asian American Movie Star
Anna May Wong, the first Asian American woman movie star, had a long and varied career spanning silent and sound film, stage, radio, and television, while resisting racism and typecasting in Hollywood, and the practice of having white actors in yellow face play the roles of Asian characters.
Waterman – Duke: Ambassador of Aloha
Narrated by Jason Momoa, discover the inspiring story and considerable impact of five-time Olympic medalist Duke Kahanamoku. He shattered swimming records and globalized surfing while overcoming racism in a lifetime of personal challenges.
Anik Khan: Street Level
Filmmaker Sofian Khan explores the music of Anik Khan, the Bangladesh-born, Queens, NY-raised hip-hop artist whose music sketches the immigrant experience with rare poetic flare and incisive depth, with a whole masala of influences at his fingertips.
Celebrating Asian-Pacific Heritage
Travel with ROADSHOW as we turn the spotlight on incredible items with Asian and Pacific Islands origins including a Hawaiian Kou bowl, a Gandhi presentation spinning wheel, and an 1888 Joesph Nawahi painting. Which is valued at $250,000-$300,000?
Mr. Tornado
Mr. Tornado is the remarkable story of Ted Fujita, whose groundbreaking work in research and applied science saved thousands of lives and helped Americans prepare for and respond to dangerous weather phenomena.
FILM SCHOOL SHORTS: Prom
A blossoming romance between an Indian American teenager and his white date is derailed by racism. Adapted from a true story by Hasan Minhaj ('The Daily Show'). A film by Imran J. Khan.
Delano Manongs
The story of farm labor organizer Larry Itliong and a group of Filipino farm workers who instigated one of the American farm labor movement’s finest hours – The Delano Grape Strike of 1965 that brought about the creation of the United Farm Workers Union (UFW).
Asian American Violence & UNMH Stroke Center
Host Gene Grant talks with members of the local Asian American/Pacific Islander community about the rise in violent incidents here in New Mexico.
Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders: A Philadelphia Story
Explore the local history and unique experiences of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.
The Ito Sisters
Explore the lives of three Nisei sisters from the Sacramento Delta, from their childhood on a farm in the Delta to their internment during WWII and beyond.
Maia Cruz Palileo: Becoming the Moon
Filmmaker Ligaiya Romero amplifies the life and work of Maia Cruz Palileo, the multi-disciplinary, Brooklyn-based artist who explores themes of migration and the permeable concept of home in her works, inspired by the oral history of her family’s arrival in the United States from the Philippines.
Plague at the Golden Gate
Discover how an outbreak of bubonic plague in 1900 set off fear and anti-Asian sentiment in San Francisco. This new documentary tells the gripping story of the race against time by health officials to save the city from the deadly disease.
Are You “AAPI” or “Asian American”? It's Complicated.
How many A’s in AAPI? Dolly & Adrian hear from South Asian, Southeast Asian, and Pacific Islander voices to explore the pros and cons of disaggregating Asian American as a statistical category.
Now Streaming on NMPBS Passport
AMERICA REFRAMED: Far East Deep South
Charles Chiu and his family’s search for their roots takes them on an eye-opening journey through the Mississippi Delta, uncovering otherwise unknown stories and the racially complex history of Chinese immigrants in the segregated South. This Chinese American family’s unforgettable story offers a poignant and important perspective on race relations, immigration and American identity.