It is important to remember that October is Filipino-American History month: a month not only dedicated to Filipino heritage, but also to Filipino roots in America. Dr. Dawn Bohulano Mabalon, a historic preservationist and activist, explains the importance of the distinction: “History is inclusive of heritage and culture, but it’s also about the ways we have built and changed this nation—our stories, political struggles, transformations, labor, migration, activism, impact of imperialism and war, victories—whereas ‘heritage’ is more limited to what we pass down in terms of culture, tradition, legacies.”
According to documents, the first Filipino immigrants, the “Luzones Indios,” came to America in October 1587 near the Morro Bay area in California. The first documented Filipino-American settlement was in Louisiana in 1763 by the “Manilamen,” who served in the Battle of New Orleans. Manilamen also began to immigrate and settle in the kingdom of Hawaii during the early 19th century. In the west, during the 1800s, Filipinos began to work as cowboys and ranch hands. However, these scattered cases of Filipinos in America started to increase when the Philippines briefly became a territory of the United States from the Treaty of Paris of 1898, following the Filipino-Spanish Revolution and Filipino-American War. Mass immigration began to occur, whether by choice or force. Filipino people, specifically the Igorots, were imported and displayed by the US government to be a part of the human zoo at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition alongside the Apache and Tlingit peoples.
On the other hand, during the 1920s, many Filipinos immigrated to the United States for unskilled labor to provide for their families back home. During the 1900s to 1940s, “sakadas,” which roughly translates to “Filipino migrant workers,” were recruited from the Ilocos and Visayas regions by the Hawaiian Sugar Planters’ Association (HSPA) to immigrate and work as laborers for them in Hawaii. When the Philippines finally gained independence from the United States on July 4, 1943, immigration began to increase as people searched for a better life and a way to provide for their families back home in the Philippines.
Despite Filipino-Americans having been a part of American history as early as 1587, and possibly earlier, the first Filipino American Studies classes were taught only 50 years ago, in 1968. This change came about due to Fil-Am students participating in the longest academic and student-led strike in American history, alongside the Third World Liberation Front (TWLF), in response to the Eurocentric education at San Francisco State College. In response to the lack of documentation of Filipino presence in American history, Dorothy Laigo Cordova founded the Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS) in 1982. The goal of this organization is “to educate the public about Filipino American historical experience through conferences, workshops, lectures, films, and artwork.” Before that, Cordova also founded Filipino Youth Activities (FYA) in 1957 to develop an organized sense of community for Filipino-American youths. She also served as the director of the Demonstration Project for Asian Americans (DPAA) in the 1970s, “which conducted a wide variety of studies on the problems Asian Americans faced in the 1970s,” before she went on to create the FANHS together with her husband Fred Cordova. Filipino American History Month was first proposed by FANHS in 1991, recognized in California in 2006, and later by Congress in 2009. Coincidentally, a few years after Fil-Am History Month was first nationally celebrated, the Andrews University American-Filipino International Association, also known as AFIA, was conceived in 1992 and established in 1993.
To appreciate and celebrate Filipino-American History Month, what events is AFIA holding this year? On October 4, during the Tuesday Choices, AFIA hosted guest speaker Andre Rodrigues. Mr. Rodrigues relayed his time acting as a missionary in the Philippines for three years. Most of the talk described the wild beauty of the jungle and how the village children interact with one another, especially with their devotion to learning and God. On October 6th, AFIA supplied a cultural appetizer, lumpia, after the Kinetic worship. Lumpia, a more widely known cultural food of the Philippines, is their take on “eggrolls.” On October 18, AFIA hosted another Tuesday Choice at the Rec Center. AFIA hosted a short tutorial and demonstration on tinikling, a traditional dance involving rhythm and bamboo sticks. Lastly, on October 22, the “AFIA Aunties” are hosting a potluck featuring Filipino dishes to eat and savor after the church service.
Regardless of one’s ethnicity or origins, everyone is welcome to celebrate Filipino-American History Month this October.
The Student Movement is the official student newspaper of Andrews University. Opinions expressed in the Student Movement are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, Andrews University or the Seventh-day Adventist church.