But the vote isn't the end of the story, the congresswoman said. She's thinking about how to educate all Americans about the exclusion laws and their legacy.

The Chinese Exclusion Laws were passed by Congress between 1879 and 1904. The laws violated the civil rights and liberties of Chinese immigrants by severely restricting their status and movement in the country, barring them from becoming US citizens, and for a decade prohibiting Chinese laborers from entering the US.

Although the laws were repealed in 1943 once China had become a US ally during World War II, Congress has never formally acknowledged that they singled out and ostracized an ethnic group, an invalidation of the United States' founding principles.

Now, more than 4 million Chinese-Americans live in the US, and their contributions have long been recognized by the broader society.

Two years ago, a petition signed by about 160 Chinese-American organizations was delivered by hand to Chu, the first Chinese-American woman elected to Congress. It urged lawmakers on Capitol Hill to formally apologize for the acts, the first major restriction on immigration to the US.

A working group, the 1882 Project, was later set up to push for passage of the House and Senate resolutions. The nonpartisan, grassroots group was led by the Chinese-American Citizens Alliance, the Committee of 100 and the National Council of Chinese Americans.

Because Japanese and Filipinos were also affected by the laws, the Japanese American Citizens League joined the effort.

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