ON BECOMING
FILIPINO AMERICAN
CARLOS BULOSAN
AND THE MANONG GENERATION
PHILIPPINE
REVOLUTION
• March 17, 1521 – Ferdinand Magellan claims Philippines
for Spain
• Aug 1896 – Andres Bonifacio begins armed revolt against
Spanish authorities
• 1898:
• April - Rebel leader Emilio Aguinaldo makes unofficial
alliance with the U.S. at start of Spanish American War
• June 12 – Aguinaldo declares independence
• Dec – US and Spain sign Treaty of Paris – US buys
Philippines, Guam, Puerto Rico for $20million
SPANISH
AMERICAN
WAR
• 1823 – Monroe Doctrine
• 1868 – Cubans fight for independence – Ten Years War
• 1895 – Jose Marti leads second Cuban rebellion
• Feb 1898 – the sinking of the USS Maine in Havana harbor
• April 1898 – Declaration of War against Spain
• American forces battle Spanish forces in Philippines,
Cuba, Guam and Puerto Rico
THE PHILIPPINE
AMERICAN WAR
•
Feb 1899 – start of armed conflict between U.S. & Filipino forces
•
1902
•
•
•
•
declared official end of Philippine American War
Philippine Insurrection begins – guerilla fighters continue to resist
American use of scorched earth campaigns, concentration camps
and waterboarding
• Estimated # of casualties is anywhere from 250,000 to 1 million
The contradiction of US Democracy and Empire:
“There is the case of the Philippines... I thought we should act as
their protector—not try to get them under our heel. We were to
relieve them from Spanish tyranny to enable them to set up a
government of their own... It was not to be a government according
to our ideas, but a government that represented the feeling of the
majority of the Filipinos, a government according to Filipino ideas...
But now—why, we have got into a mess, a quagmire from which
each fresh step renders the difficulty of extrication immensely
greater.” –Mark Twain
McKinley
contemplates
map of the
Philippines
while Lady
Justice pulls
back the
curtain to show
him reality of
Philippine
American War.
Political cartoon from Judge
The caption reads: the
Filipino’s first bath.
President McKinley stands
in the pool of civilization in
front of the white house.
In the background, Puerto
Rico and Cuba have just
had their bath.
Caption reads: The White Man’s Burden
Uncle Sam follows John Bull to the Lady of Civilization.
MIGRATION &
MANONGS
1902 – 1934
• Philippines under direct U.S. military control
• Filipinos could travel to the U.S. as “nationals” with a U.S.
passport
• First major wave of Filipino migration:
• Pensionados – students
• Laborers – Hawaiian plantations, Alaskan canneries, west
coast agriculture
• Now known as the “manong” generation – “manong” is
Ilocano term of respect for your male elder
• Mostly young and unmarried – anti-miscegenation laws and
alien land laws prevented their settlement and ensured their
lives as migrant farm labor
• 1930s – anti-Filipino riots up and down west coast
CARLOS BULOSAN
• Nov 24, 1913 – born in the province of Pangasinan, Philippines
• July 22, 1930 – arrived in Seattle
• Worked in Alaskan canneries and as migrant farm labor
• 1935 – started involvement in workers movement and labor
organizing
• 1936 – hospitalized for tuberculosis
• 1944 – Laughter of my Father
• 1946 – America is in the Heart
• 1950 – blacklisted for membership in CPUSA
• 1956 – died of tuberculosis in Seattle
INDEPENDENCE & IMMIGRATION
• 1934 – Tydings McDuffie Act
• In response to onset of Great Depression
• 10 year preparation period for independence
• Philippine immigration limited to 50 per year
• 1935 – Filipino Repatriation Act
• July 4, 1946 – Philippine independence recognized by US
• Clark Air Base remains largest U.S. base in Asia until 1991
• 1965 Immigration Act – banishes national quotas and
institutes immigration preferences of occupation and family
reunification – largest wave of immigration
• 2011 – 4 million Filipino Americans
• 25% live in California
• San Diego = 2nd largest Fil Am population in nation; Fil Am
constitutes largest Asian minority in SD
SHORT STORIES OF
CARLOS BULOSAN
• How does Bulosan depict the
Philippines? America?
• Why do Bulosan’s characters
choose to immigrate?
• How would you describe the
relationship Bulosan’s narrators and
characters have with America?