Debra Wong Yang

In honor of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, I am featuring another Asian and Pacific American that you might not know much about.

In May 2002, Debra Wong Yang was appointed the US Attorney for the Central District of California by President George W. Bush. She was the first Asian American woman to serve as a United States attorney.

Yang helped create the Chinese American Museum in Los Angeles and served as President of the museum. She also was a founding member of the first Asian American Bar Association in Chicago.

Yang’s office was the largest US Attorney’s office outside of Washington, DC. It served about 18 million people. She served as an assistant US Attorney and prosecuted various crimes. She successfully prosecuted a person who got the longest prison sentence for computer hacking.

In 2006, she resigned from her position as US Attorney. She became a partner at Gibson, Dunn, & Crutcher’s Los Angeles office.