AANHPI Heritage Month: Celebrating Pioneers Who Changed the Game

Throughout May, we will be featuring blog posts and social media spotlights on individuals across various fields – science, arts, activism, sports, and more. We aim to showcase the breadth and depth of AANHPI influence and inspire our community with their remarkable journeys.

Recognizing athletes and entrepreneurs who have achieved extraordinary feats recognizing the value and contributions of all communities. We strive to create a brand that is inclusive and celebrates the diversity of our world.

We invite you to join us this month as we learn, celebrate, and honor the incredible legacy of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders. Share your own inspirations and stories in the comments below and let's build a more informed and inclusive community together.

Groundbreakers in Sports and Travel: 

Clyde Aikau

Clyde Aikau, a legendary Hawaiian waterman and beloved figure on the North Shore, has recently passed away, leaving behind a powerful legacy of courage, community, and commitment to the ocean. Born in 1949, Clyde and his younger brother Eddie Aikau became iconic watermen after moving from Maui to the North Shore—renowned for their surfing, swimming, and ocean navigation. Eddie, the first lifeguard at Waimea Bay, tragically disappeared while attempting to get help for the voyaging canoe Hokule’a. After Eddie’s passing, Clyde honored his legacy by continuing to surf big waves, winning the Eddie Aikau Invitational in 1986 and competing in it until age 66 in 2016. A constant presence in the North Shore community, Clyde mentored generations of surfers and remained deeply dedicated to preserving his family's spirit and Hawaiian surf culture.

Eddie Aikau 

Eddie Aikau was a revered Hawaiian surfer, lifeguard, and cultural icon whose legacy continues to inspire. Born in Kahului, Maui, Aikau moved to Oʻahu in 1959. At 16, he left school to work at the Dole pineapple cannery, using his earnings to purchase his first surfboard. In 1968, he became the first lifeguard hired by the City & County of Honolulu to work on the North Shore, covering beaches between Sunset and Haleiwa. During his tenure at Waimea Bay, he saved over 500 people, often braving waves exceeding 30 feet. In recognition of his heroism, he was named Lifeguard of the Year in 1971. As a surfer, Aikau gained fame for tackling massive Hawaiian waves and won the prestigious Duke Kahanamoku Invitational Surfing Championship in 1977.

In 1978, Aikau joined the Polynesian Voyaging Society's expedition aboard the Hōkūleʻa, a traditional double-hulled canoe, to retrace ancient Polynesian migration routes. The vessel capsized approximately 12 miles south of Molokaʻi.In a heroic effort to seek help, Aikau paddled toward Lānaʻi on his surfboard but was never seen again. His disappearance prompted the largest air-sea search in Hawaiian history.

Aikau's courage and selflessness are commemorated through the Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational, known as "The Eddie," held at Waimea Bay. Established in 1984, the tournament only runs when open-ocean swells reach a minimum of 20 feet, translating to wave faces over 30 feet. The event has been held sparingly due to these stringent conditions, with the most recent competition taking place in December 2024. The phrase "Eddie Would Go" became synonymous with his fearless spirit, originating during the first Eddie contest when conditions were perilous, and someone remarked that Eddie would venture out regardless. Aikau's story has been featured in various cultural works, including the ESPN documentary "Hawaiian: The Legend of Eddie Aikau," which aired in 2013 and won an Emmy Award. His legacy endures as a symbol of bravery, aloha spirit, and dedication to others.

Duke Kahanamoku (1890–1968)

Duke Kahanamoku was a Hawaiian swimmer and surfer renowned for his Olympic achievements and for popularizing surfing globally.Born near Waikiki, Hawaii, Kahanamoku was of Hawaiian royal descent. He revolutionized competitive swimming by introducing the flutter kick, replacing the traditional scissors kick. Kahanamoku represented the United States in four Olympic Games, winning three gold and two silver medals. His Olympic journey began in 1912, where he secured gold in the 100-meter freestyle and silver in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay. He continued his success in the 1920 Antwerp Olympics with two golds and earned a silver in the 1924 Paris Olympics.

The 1916 Olympics were canceled due to World War I, potentially limiting his medal count. Beyond swimming, Kahanamoku played a pivotal role in introducing surfing to the world. In 1914 and 1915, he captivated audiences in Sydney, Australia, with his surfing demonstrations, significantly contributing to the sport's popularity there.  His efforts helped transform surfing from a Hawaiian pastime into a global sport. Kahanamoku served as the sheriff of Honolulu from 1932 to 1961. He was also known for a heroic rescue in 1925, where he saved eight fishermen from a capsized vessel using his surfboard. This act highlighted the utility of surfboards in lifesaving and influenced rescue techniques.Duke Kahanamoku's legacy endures as a symbol of athletic excellence and cultural ambassadorship, bridging his Hawaiian heritage with international acclaim.

Kristi Yamaguchi: Olympic Figure Skater

Kristi Yamaguchi developed a deep love for figure skating early in life, inspired in part by her cherished Dorothy Hamill doll, which she carried everywhere. Her family background was marked by resilience—her mother was born in a Japanese-American internment camp during World War II, while her grandfather served in the U.S. Army at the time.

Kristi Yamaguchi started her career competing in both singles and pairs with partner Rudy Galindo. In 1988, they won gold in pairs at the World Junior Championships, also winning singles. After success at the senior level, including a national pairs title, Yamaguchi chose to focus solely on singles in 1990. Her dedication paid off: she won the World Championship in 1991, after placing second at the U.S. Nationals for the third consecutive year. In 1992, she won gold at both the U.S. Nationals and the Winter Olympics in Albertville, France, becoming the first Asian American to win gold at the Winter Olympics in figure skating. She successfully defended her world title later that year.

After retiring from amateur competition, Yamaguchi turned professional, touring with Stars on Ice and winning the World Professional Figure Skating Championship in 1992, 1994, 1996, and 1997. In 1996, she launched the Always Dream Foundation, which promotes childhood literacy and provides books to underserved children in the San Francisco Bay Area. Yamaguchi was inducted into both the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame and the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 1998. That same year, she released her memoir Always Dream and later authored several children’s books, including Dream Big, Little Pig! and Cara’s Kindness. In 2018, she received the Jesse Owens Olympic Spirit Award for her lasting impact on sport and community.

Nainoa Thompson: Navigation

Nainoa Thompson, born in 1953 in Honolulu, is a Native Hawaiian navigator renowned for reviving the traditional Polynesian art of wayfinding—navigating long distances across open ocean using only natural elements such as the sun, moon, stars, ocean swells, and bird flight patterns, without the aid of modern instruments like compasses or GPS. Wayfinding had nearly vanished in Polynesia by the 14th century due to the decline of long-distance voyaging and the impacts of colonization. 

Thompson was mentored by Micronesian master navigator Mau Piailug, one of the last traditionally trained wayfinders. Under Piailug’s guidance, Thompson became the first Native Hawaiian in centuries to master this ancient practice. He used this knowledge to help guide the Hōkūleʻa, a traditional double-hulled canoe, on its historic 1976 voyage from Hawaiʻi to Tahiti—demonstrating the viability of non-instrument navigation across thousands of miles of ocean.

In the 1980s, Thompson developed the modern “star compass,” a mental model that divides the horizon into 32 directional houses, each associated with specific stars or constellations, to help determine heading and position at sea. This innovation integrated traditional knowledge with scientific understanding, aiding the teaching of wayfinding to a new generation.

Pioneers in Science and Technology:

Isabella Abbott - Ecological Science & Environmental Conservation

Dr. Isabella Aiona Abbott, born in 1919 in Hana, Maui, was a trailblazing Native Hawaiian scientist who became the world’s leading expert in the ethnobotanical study of seaweed, or limu, a vital part of Hawaiian culture and marine ecology. Her groundbreaking research highlighted the critical ecological roles of seaweed—not only as a keystone species supporting marine life and producing oxygen, but also as a tool for carbon absorption, renewable energy, and sustainable materials. Through her work, she brought scientific legitimacy to traditional Hawaiian knowledge and helped preserve it by collaborating with elders and documenting oral histories.

Abbott broke multiple barriers throughout her career: she was the first Native Hawaiian woman to earn a PhD in science and later became the first woman and person of color appointed to the biological sciences faculty at Stanford University. After retiring, she returned to Hawaiʻi to continue her work at the University of Hawaiʻi, where she established an ethnobotany program and promoted ethical ocean stewardship. Author of nearly 200 scientific texts and credited with discovering over 200 algae species, many named in her honor, Dr. Abbott left a lasting legacy in science, culture, and environmental conservation. Her life’s work continues to inspire new generations to reconnect with and protect their natural ecosystems.

Flossie Wong-Staal: Breakthrough AIDS Research

Dr. Flossie Wong-Staal was a trailblazing molecular biologist whose work fundamentally changed the fight against HIV/AIDS. Born in Guangzhou, China in 1946, she fled to Hong Kong with her family after the Communist Revolution. At 18, she moved to the U.S., earning a Ph.D. in molecular biology from UCLA.

In 1973, Wong-Staal joined the NIH and became a key figure in Dr. Robert Gallo’s lab at the National Cancer Institute. She was the first scientist to clone HIV and map its genes, proving the virus causes AIDS. Her research also revealed the virus's genetic variability—an insight that helped shape the development of effective treatment "cocktails." She played a vital role in the creation of a second-generation HIV test and helped confirm that human retroviruses can cause cancer. 

By the 1980s, she was the most-cited female scientist of the decade and had co-authored over 100 papers with Gallo. In 1990, she left NIH to found the Center for AIDS Research at UC San Diego, later co-founding biotech companies focused on gene therapy and hepatitis C treatments. Beyond the lab, she was known for her elegance, sharp mind, and love of ballroom dancing. Wong-Staal was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 2019 and remained a respected leader in science until her passing in 2020 at age 73. Her legacy lives on through the treatments she helped make possible and the many scientists she mentored.

Dr. Peter Tsai: Inventor of the N95 Mask

Born in Taiwan in 1952, Dr. Peter Tsai earned his undergraduate degree in textile engineering from National Taiwan University before moving to the U.S. to complete his master’s and Ph.D. in materials science and engineering at the University of Tennessee. He later became a professor and researcher, contributing significantly to the fields of textiles and materials science, both at the University of Tennessee and the University of Texas at Austin.

In the late 1990s, Tsai set out to design a more effective and comfortable face mask to filter airborne particles. His research led to the development of a groundbreaking electrostatic filter capable of capturing particles as small as 0.3 microns. This innovation laid the foundation for the N95 respirator, for which he filed a patent in 1995. The N95 mask became a vital tool in healthcare, especially during infectious disease outbreaks like SARS, H1N1, and later COVID-19.

Beyond the N95, Tsai was an accomplished scientist who published extensively on filtration materials and nanofibers. His contributions earned him significant recognition, including the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers in 2020.

Dr. Tsai passed away in December 2020 at age 68, but his legacy endures through the N95 mask, which has protected millions of lives worldwide. His commitment to innovation and public health continues to inspire scientists and engineers across the globe.

Inspiring Voices in Activism and the Arts:

Yuri Kochiyama: Civil Rights Activist

Yuri Kochiyama, born Mary Yuriko Nakahara on May 19, 1921, in San Pedro, California, was the daughter of Japanese immigrants. Growing up in an immigrant neighborhood, she was initially unaware of the racial prejudice against her family. However, after the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941, she and her family were forcibly relocated to internment camps under Executive Order 9066. Her father died soon after being detained by the FBI.

After the war, Kochiyama returned to California but struggled to find work due to the widespread prejudice against Japanese Americans. She moved to New York in 1946, married Bill Kochiyama, and became a mother of six. In the 1960s, she became politically active in Harlem, advocating for racial equality, ending job discrimination, and improving schools. She was involved in protests led by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and visited Birmingham, Alabama, to learn about the civil rights movement.

Her activism deepened after meeting Malcolm X, and she famously witnessed his assassination in 1965. She became a member of the Revolutionary Action Movement and participated in various radical causes, including anti-war protests and the 1977 Statue of Liberty takeover demanding the release of Puerto Rican political prisoners. She also advocated for redress for Japanese Americans interned during World War II, contributing to the passage of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988.

In her later years, Kochiyama continued to speak out against racism, including anti-Muslim bigotry after 9/11, and supported wrongfully convicted prisoners like Mumia Abu-Jamal. Her conversations with activist Angela Davis were documented in Mountains That Take Wing, and her life was celebrated in the hip-hop song “Yuri Kochiyama” by Blue Scholars. Kochiyama passed away on June 1, 2014, leaving behind a legacy of bridging divides between races, generations, and nations through her activism.

Maya Lin: Environmental Activism Through the Arts

Chinese American sculptor Maya Lin gained national recognition in 1981 at age 21, while still an architecture student at Yale, by winning a national competition to design the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC—beating even her own professor. Her gender and age drew backlash when her winning design was revealed. In recent decades, Lin has turned her focus to environmental issues, which she views as the defining crisis of our time.

She works on both large and small scales, including the Columbia River Confluence Project and more intimate pieces. In 2013, following Hurricane Sandy, she created Latitude New York City, a marble ring sculpture that maps terrain along the 40th to 41st parallels—capturing the threat of rising sea levels in Manhattan. Using computer modeling, she showed the topography descending into the ocean floor, emphasizing that the boundary between land and water is no longer fixed. Lin’s work conveys a deep sense of urgency about climate change, and she asks herself whether she can, in some small way, help improve the world—whether through addressing war or environmental issues.

Larry Itliong: Labor Rights Activist 

Larry Itliong was a Filipino American labor organizer and civil rights activist, best known for initiating the 1965 Delano grape strike that led to the founding of the United Farm Workers (UFW) union. Born in the Philippines in 1913, he immigrated to the U.S. at 15 during the Great Depression, where he faced harsh racism and limited job opportunities. He became a lifelong labor activist, first organizing cannery and farm workers along the West Coast in the 1930s and helping form the Alaska Cannery Workers Union.

After World War II, Itliong settled in Stockton, California, and continued organizing Filipino and other immigrant workers through various unions, including the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC). In 1965, he led over 1,500 Filipino workers in a grape strike in Delano, California. Recognizing the need for solidarity, he persuaded César Chávez and Dolores Huerta to join forces with AWOC, leading to the formation of the UFW in 1967. Itliong became the union’s assistant director but left in 1971 due to internal differences.

He continued organizing globally and helped establish the Agbayani Village, a retirement home for elderly Filipino workers. Itliong remained active in politics until his death in 1977. His contributions were later recognized with tributes like murals and Larry Itliong Day in California. He is now seen as a foundational figure in both the labor and Asian American civil rights movements.