The Asian Pacific American Heritage month, which is marked by communities within 22.2 million Asians and 1.6 million Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islanders during May in the United States, originated from one woman in the 1970s.

Jeanie Jew was a former Capitol Hill staffer who approached New York Congressman Frank Horton over 15 years ago, about the concerning lack of recognition given to Asian Pacific Americans.

Jew’s great-grandfather, M.Y. Lee, was among the estimated 20,000 historically forgotten Chinese railroad workers who made America’s first transcontinental railroad a reality through deadly, backbreaking work in the 1800s.

The Chinese laborers' work ranged from moving earth and snow to tunneling, blacksmithing and carpentry -- handling explosives, boring tunnels, laying tracks. Most of this was done by hand, without power driven-machines. It also included being lowered in cliffs to plant explosives and the threat of being buried in snow by avalanches.

In the late 19th century, “U.S. federal law openly targeted Chinese immigrants. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 prohibited the immigration of Chinese laborers to the U.S. for 10 years, and was renewed by the Geary Act, which additionally required immigrants from China to carry permits at all times or face possible deportation,” TIME reports.

Although Congress repealed the exclusion in 1943, only 105 Chinese people were allowed to enter the country in a year, and it was common for them to face violence, which is how Jew’s great-grandfather, Mr. Lee, who became a businessman, died.

“When the Chinese were having difficulties in Oregon, Mr. Lee traveled to Oregon and was killed during that period of unrest,” said Horton, TIME reports. “Mr. Lee and the story of Asian Americans led this one woman to believe... all Americans must know about the contributions and histories of the Asian-Pacific American experience in the United States.”

Jew and Congressman Horton worked towards getting support for a proclamation, which first established a Asian Pacific American Heritage Week in 1978, and was later transformed into a month-long annual celebration during May in 1992 through additional legislation.