As the nation mourns the loss of Jimmy Carter, who died Sunday at age 100, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders look back on the historic contribution the then-president made to the community.

Following a push from several Asian American lawmakers, Carter, the country’s 39th president, signed a proclamation that designated May 4, 1979, as the start of Asian Pacific American Heritage Week. It was the first time in the country’s history that the racial group had a nationally recognized celebration. Decades later, the week would be extended, becoming the heritage month now celebrated annually. 

“Unfortunately, we have not always fully appreciated the talents and the contributions which Asian-Americans have brought to the United States,” Carter wrote in his proclamation. “Yet, Asians of diverse origins — from China, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, and Southeast Asia — continued to look to America as a land of hope, opportunity, and freedom.”

Madalene Mielke, president and CEO of the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies, said that Carter’s declaration was a profound step in acknowledging the racial group’s critical role in the country’s legacy. 

“It really created this idea that we aren’t disposable constituents,” Mielke told NBC News. “That is really how this country has started to recognize us as a community and as people who have been active citizens and participants in the growth of this country.”

Carter’s proclamation followed the work of then-Reps. Norman Mineta, D-Calif., who was Japanese American, and Frank Horton, R-N.Y., who introduced legislation in June 1977 that would have formally established a heritage celebration of 10 days. Then-Sens. Daniel Inouye and Spark Matsunaga, both Democrats of Hawaii and fellow Asian Americans, followed suit, introducing sister legislation in the Senate.

While neither bill passed, Horton pushed for a second joint resolution that would designate a week of celebration and “include the seventh and tenth of the month.” The effort was successful and eventually signed by the president. The commemorative week later became a month under President George H.W. Bush in 1992.

May was chosen for the occasion to commemorate the first Japanese immigrants who came to the U.S. on May 7, 1843. It also coincides with the completion of the transcontinental railroad on May 10, 1869, which was built in large part by Chinese railroad workers. 

Mielke underscored that the national recognition from Carter wouldn’t have been possible without decades of work from Asian American and Pacific Islander advocates and legislators themselves, who had long championed the racial group. 

“This is something that former Secretary Mineta really believed in — not having homogeneity. He really believed that we were woven pieces of cloth as a country because each of our identities really bring about the creation of this country,” Mielke said. “This type of recognition is a part of understanding that we are not blending into society; we are also becoming, changing what society looks like and what is deemed American.”

The proclamation was, in a way, a display of solidarity from Carter, she said. 

“I think his legacy is really the work that he has done to support all the people in Congress who wanted to be sure that this was a recognition for our community,” she said. 

The proclamation also served as an important symbol of allyship and encouragement for legislators from other communities to value AAPI, Mielke said.

“That does not mean it’s validation. It’s really how you work allyship,” she said.