This tenth day of Filipino American History Month brings a new and often uncelebrated part of Filipino American history—Sakadas. Sakadas are Filipino recruits to Hawaii.

Besides the many “moral” reasons that the United States of America (USA) wanted to have the Philippines as its colony, there were also economic reasons.

Around 1900, The Hawaiian Sugar Planters Association (HSPA) needed people for manual labor. They turned to the Philippines, where there was a large rural population. They recruited from two regions, the Visayas and Ilocos, looking for “unskilled laborers” to do ten hours of manual work a day on the plantation. In December of 1906, fifteen Filipino men arrived in Honolulu, Hawaii on the Doric. Eleven of them were single and four were married, all leaving behind their wives. The oldest was 56, and the youngest was 14. Five belonged to one family, headed by their father, Simplicio Gironella, and his four sons. The “First Fifteen” were sent to the Big Island of Hawaii, to Olaa Plantation, south of Hilo, and were assigned to live in the Japanese camp.

A total of 126,147 Filipinos came to Hawaii through the HSPA during four time periods between 1906 to 1946. The first period, 1906 to 1919, a total of 29,800 arrived, including 3,056 women and 2,338 children. From 1920 to 1929, the second wave of arrivals brought in 73,996, with 5,286 women and 3,091 children among them. The next groups came in 1930 to 1934, bringing in 14,760 – 610 women and 662 children. Finally, the last wave came after World War II in 1946, which drew in 7,361 Filipinos – 6,000 of which were men. The 1946 Sakadas amounted to the last major recruitment to Hawaii. These were more educated Filipinos and professionals, who brought their wives and children., mostly Ilocanos and Visayans-all indentured to a three-year contract. Within a span of 37 years, these Sakadas are known to have planted the “roots” of the Filipino experience in Hawaii.,

Sakadas were the first among Filipinos, outside of the Philippines, to experience economic oppression, superimposed poverty, overt racial bigotry, labor exploitation, social rejection, educational neglect, political disenfranchisement, societal denials, civil wrongs, and empty promises. Although they came as American nationals, they did not have full rights like American citizens.

In Hawaii, the first-generation Filipino men, women, and children were treated as the lowliest of the unskilled labor. Some Sakadas were beaten with sticks by “lunas,” or plantation work supervisors for not responding to their satisfaction. They were stereotyped as being oversexed, hot-blooded, and quick tempered. HSPA policies also discouraged bringing the wives and children of the men because they believed families on plantation wages would be costly. Moreover, higher education was not encouraged for plantation children.

Sakadas lived a life of segregation at work and on the plantations. They got the lowest jobs, and were held down as unskilled laborers for most of their lives in Hawaii. Maintaining a normal life was difficult with their wives and children back in the Philippines. Their main goal was to work hard, save money, and return home quickly to their families. The uneven men to women ratio created many social problems, including wife stealing and fighting over women. Gambling was also an issue with Filipinos, as they had hopes to “win big.”

Despite the hardships of the Sakadas, a tight community was formed among these Filipinos. Recreation such as music and basketball served as an outlet and bonding experience. Today, the Filipino American population is significant in number and many prominent individuals are of Filipino descent. It cannot be denied that Sakadas have contributed greatly to the Hawaiian economy and the unique history of life in Hawaii.

This ninth day of Filipino American History Month brings information about the infamous St. Louis World’s Fair (SLWF).

The SLWF was a 1,200 acre extravaganza with over 1,500 buildings, connected by 75 miles of roads and walkways. Over 60 countries and 43 states exhibited—among them the newly acquired colonies from the Spanish-American War.

Some of the displays were of Guam, Puerto Rico and the Philippines, and included the native inhabitants like the Apache and the Igorot, both of which were dubbed as "primitive". According to the Reverend Sequoyah Ade:

To further illustrate the indignities heaped upon the Philippine people following their eventual loss to the Americans, the United States made the Philippine campaign the centrepoint of the 1904 World's Fair held that year in St. Louis, MI [sic]. In what was enthusiastically termed a "parade of evolutionary progress," visitors could inspect the "primitives" that represented the counterbalance to "Civilisation" justifying Kipling’s poem “The White Man’s Burden.” Pygmies from New Guinea and Africa, who were later displayed in the Primate section of the Bronx Zoo, were paraded next to American Indians such as Apache warrior Geronimo, who sold his autograph. But the main draw was the Philippine exhibit complete with full size replicas of Indigenous living quarters erected to exhibit the inherent backwardness of the Philippine people. The purpose was to highlight both the "civilising" influence of American rule and the economic potential of the island chains' natural resources on the heels of the Philippine-America War. It was, reportedly, the largest specific Aboriginal exhibit displayed in the exposition. As one pleased visitor commented, the human zoo exhibit displayed "the race narrative of odd peoples who mark time while the world advances, and of savages made, by American methods, into civilized workers."

One of the exhibited Pygmies was Ota Benga, a Congolese man who was featured in a human zoo exhibit at the Bronx Zoo alongside an orangutan in 1906.

Filipinos were exhibited as uncivilized to garner more support for the taking of the Philippines as a colony. Different groups of Filipinos were separated and put behind fences, each in their own diorama like environment. For added effect, certain paddocks of Filipinos were dressed in western uniforms while neighboring ones wore bahags and other indigenous clothing.

Filipinos and monkeys raced up trees, drawing conclusions that Filipinos were less evolved than their western counterparts and promoting the concepts of human evolution and scientific racism. Filipinos roasted different animals for food and savvy businessmen and marketers took advantage of the intrigue and popularized the “hot dog.”

After the fair was completed, many of the international exhibits were not returned to their country of origin, but were dispersed to museums in the USA. For example, the Philippine exhibits were acquired by the Museum of Natural History, at the University of Iowa.

This was a time before plans flew and electricity was new. Radio and television were not household fixtures. While this event is an appalling blemish on Filipino American history, it is part of the Philippine diaspora nonetheless.

This eighth day of Filipino American History Month brings information about Filipino American scholarship. As you know, the benevolent assimilation rhetoric was scattered throughout the policies related to the Philippines during the early twentieth century. In the Philippines, teachers came over from the United States of America and fanned out around all the islands. Filipinos were taught English, how to brush their teeth, and how to say their prayers. At the same time, many Filipinos came to the United States at the beginning of the twentieth century to go to school as pensionados, government-sponsored student traveling from the Philippines to the United States.

Established in 1903, the pensionado program provided government scholarships to students supposedly chosen by merit from each Philippine province; in actuality, local prominence and connections played a major role in the selection process. In return for each year of education in the United States, pensionados were required to work for the government in the Philippines for the same length of time.

The pensionado project lasted officially from 1903 to 1910. More than 200 Filipino students, eight of whom were women, were sponsored by the American colonial government and studied in U.S. schools such as University of California at Berkeley, University of Washington, Cornell, Notre Dame, Purdue, Yale, Wisconsin, Northwestern, Nebraska, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, George Washington, Iowa, Ohio State Michigan State, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, among others. Some attended technical and vocational schools, while a few first enrolled in high school.

On the seventh day of Filipino American History Month, it is a pleasure to share the following Filipino American history.

As early as December 21, 1898, President William McKinley set the tone for how the government of the United States of America viewed the Philippines and its people. On that day, he proclaimed:

…it should be the earnest wish and paramount aim of the military administration to win the confidence, respect, and affection of the inhabitants of the Philippines by assuring them in every possible way that full measure of individual rights and liberties which is the heritage of free peoples, and by proving to them that the mission of the United States is one of benevolent assimilation substituting the mild sway of justice and right for arbitrary rule. In the fulfillment of this high mission, supporting the temperate administration of affairs for the greatest good of the governed, there must be sedulously maintained the strong arm of authority, to repress disturbance and to overcome all obstacles to the bestowal of the blessings of good and stable government upon the people of the Philippine Islands under the free flag of the United States.

While the government of the United States of America declared the Philippine-American War over by 1902, guerilla resistance movements against the American occupation continued until 1913.

"Little Brown Brother" was a term used by Americans to refer to Filipinos. The term was coined by William Howard Taft, the first American Governor-General of the Philippines (1901-1904) and later the 27th President of the United States. The term was not originally intended to be derogatory, nor an ethnic slur.

Taft told President McKinley that "our little brown brothers" would need "fifty or one hundred years" (note that the Philippines became independent of the United States of America in 1946, about 50 years after the Philippines was ceded by Spain) of close supervision "to develop anything resembling Anglo-Saxon political principles and skills. Fillipinos (sic) are moved by similar considerations to those which move other men." The phrase "Little Brown Brother" drew some sneers from both Americans and Filipinos, however, due to the bloodshed of the Philippine-American War.

During this same time period, Rudyard Kipling published a poem in 1899, entitled “The White Man’s Burden.” The subtitle was “The United States and the Philippine Islands.” The term is often interpreted to mean that White people have an obligation to rule over and encourage the cultural development of people from other ethnic and cultural backgrounds until they can take their place in the world by fully adopting Western ways.

These concepts were all aligned with the ideology of manifest destiny, that the United States was destined, even divinely ordained, to expand across the North American continent, from the Atlantic seaboard to the Pacific Ocean and beyond. Altogether, in the words of historian Creighton Miller, they were a reflection of "paternalist racism," which has arguably echoed into the present-day.

Happy Filipino American History Month!

As you know, Philippine rebels had been waging guerrilla warfare against Spanish colonialism long before the United States of America became involved. Their exiled leader, Emilio Aguinaldo, met with the American consul in Singapore as the U.S. Army headed towards the Philippines. Admiral Dewey invited Aguinaldo back to the Philippines in hopes he could provide intelligence regarding the defenses of Manila Bay. At the same time, Aguinaldo believed the USA would help the Philippines gain independence from Spain. However, the USA betrayed that trust.

When Spain began losing against the Filipino people, they opted to surrender to American forces and staged a mock battle to appear as if America beat Spain and won the Philippines. This suited Spain; it would rather award victory to the USA, than to the Philippines, who were former “captives” of their rule.

Immediately after these events, Filipino leader Aguinaldo declared war against America, beginning the Philippine-American War. American forces and leaders lobbied the American public for support, justifying that America’s claim over the Philippines would bring forth democracy. The media fueled support for control of the Philippines, through propaganda in the form of sensational stories and illustrations with racist captions. Many of these illustrations can be seen in the book entitled The Forbidden Book: The Philippine-American War in Political Cartoons, by Abe Ignacio, Enrique de la Cruz, Jorge Emmanuel, and the late Helen Toribio.

Anti-imperialists like author Mark Twain questioned this approach because it denied Filipinos basic rights such as self-government. However, pro-imperialists won out in the end.

The effects of imperialism were seen in the education and immigration policies implemented by the United States. These policies appeared to benefit the Philippines, but actually served America’s purposes. Filipino identity, values, and traditions were lost and agricultural labor was exploited for America’s gain. Many of these policies have effects that last until today.

Among the American soldiers who fought in the Spanish-American War were Black soldiers who were part of segregated Black infantry regiments. After fighting in the Indian wars in the 19th century, they were given the nickname “Buffalo Soldiers” by Native Americans. Companies from the segregated Black infantry regiments reported to the Presidio of San Francisco on their way to the Philippines in early 1899.

All four Black regiments—the 24th and 25th Infantry regiments and the 9th and 10th Cavalry—and Black national guardsmen were sent into the war against the Philippine nationalists.

Within the Black community in the USA there was considerable opposition to intervention in the Philippines. Many Black newspaper articles and leaders supported the idea of Filipino independence and felt that it was wrong for the USA to subjugate non-whites in the development of what was perceived to be the beginnings of a colonial empire. Among them were Ida Wells-Barnett, Bishop Henry M. Turner characterized the venture in the Philippines as “an unholy war of conquest.”

At the same time, many Blacks felt a good military showing by Black troops in the Philippines would reflect favorably and enhance their cause in the United States.

The service of the cavalry in the Philippines was described as daily and nightly patrols by small detachments commanded by junior officers or sergeants. Troops often encountered bands armed with captured Spanish and American guns and bolos.

As the war progressed, many Black soldiers increasingly felt they were being used in an unjust racial war. The Filipino insurgents subjected Black soldiers to psychological warfare, using propaganda encouraging them to desert. Posters and leaflets addressed to “The Colored American Soldier” described the lynching and discrimination against Blacks in the USA and discouraged them from being the instrument of their White masters’ ambitions to oppress another “people of color.” Blacks who deserted to the Filipino nationalist cause would be welcomed and given positions of responsibility.

A large reason for the growing sense of injustice were the wartime atrocities that took place. One infamous atrocity took place in Samar, where General Jacob Hurd Smith ordered his soldiers to kill every one over ten.

During the war in the Philippines, fifteen U.S. soldiers, six of them Black, would defect to Aguinaldo. One of the Black deserters, Private David Fagen became notorious as a “Insurecto Captain,” and was apparently so successful fighting American soldiers that a price of $600 was placed on his head. The bounty was collected by a Filipino defector who brought in Fagen’s decomposed head.

A Black newspaper, the Indianapolis Freeman, editorialized in December, 1901, “Fagen was a traitor and died a traitor’s death, but he was a man no doubt prompted by honest motives to help a weakened side, and one he felt allied by bonds that bind.

The sentiments of most Black soldiers in the Philippines would be summed up by Commissary Sergeant Middleton W. Saddler of the 25th Infantry, who wrote, “We are now arrayed to meet a common foe, men of our own hue and color. Whether it is right to reduce these people to submission is not a question for soldiers to decide. Our oaths of allegiance know neither race, color, nor nation.”

Resistance finally collapsed with the capture of independence leader Aguinaldo and the eventual wearing down of the indigenous fighters by the better armed American soldiers.

Following the war, Buffalo Soldier regiments continued to serve at a series of army posts in the United States, Hawaii, and the Philippines. Those soldiers that remained in the Philippines would marry Filipinos. One of these stories is told in Twenty-five Chickens and a Pig for a Bride: Growing up in a Filipino Immigrant Family, by Evangeline Canonizado Buell. Her grandfather, Ernest Stokes was a Buffalo Soldier.

All of these interactions plunged the Philippines and the United States of America into a deeper web of interconnectedness.

The Philippines and the United States of America have a deeply tangled history together. The first cooperative endeavor between the Philippines and the United States of America was during the years when they shared a common enemy—Spain. From August 1896 to June 12, 1898, the Philippine revolutionary forces—Kataastaasang, Kagalanggalangang Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan (Katipunan)—mounted a revolution against Spain, which had colonized the Philippines for over 300 years.

With the outbreak of the Spanish-American War on April 25, 1898, Emilio Aguinaldo unofficially allied with the United States of America and continued hostilities against the Spaniards. By June, the rebels had conquered nearly all Spanish-held grounds within the Philippines with the exception of Manila. On June 12, 1898, Aguinaldo declared independence from Spain and the First Philippine Republic was established. However, neither Spain nor the United States of America recognized Philippine independence. Spanish rule in the islands only officially ended with the Treaty of Paris on August 12, 1898, wherein Spain ceded the Philippines and other territories to the United States. The Philippine-American War broke out shortly afterward, the outcome of growing patriotism, deferred dreams, ongoing frustration, unclear communications, and broken trust.

Today, the Philippines and the United States continue to maintain a complicated relationship with one another, for better or for worse.

The uniqueness, importance, and relevance of Filipino American History Month cannot be emphasized enough.

As you know, Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese explorer commissioned by Spain, is the first European to arrive in what is now the Philippines. In the Battle of Maktan, Lapu Lapu killed Magellan and became the first native Filipino chieftain to successfully resist foreign rule.

The story begins with Enrique, a slave who was bought in Malacca (area in Malaysia). He confirmed Portuguese explorer, Ferdinand Magellan’s belief that there was land beyond Malacca. Enrique was eventually brought before the King of Spain to explore the trade routes near the Philippines with Magellan's expedition.

When Magellan landed on what is now known as the Philippines in 1521, he became an ally of Datu (Chieftain) Humabon of Cebu. Humabon and his queen, Juana, were converted to Christianity, along with 400 other subjects. Magellan planted a cross (known as “Magellan’s Cross”) and gave Queen Juana a statue of the Santo Niño (Child Jesus) to commemorate the event.

It was not until 1565 that explorer Miguel Legazpi formally conquered the Philippines in the name of Spain.

Another challenge to history is credit is given to Magellan for being the first to circumnavigate (go around) the world. But actually, it was Enrique who was the first because he had traveled to many regions before becoming the slave of Magellan!

Filipinos did not willingly accept Spanish conquest. Within over 300 years of Spanish colonization, there were 81 recorded accounts of revolts around the islands. One famous revolt was led by a woman named Gabriela Silang, who continued the “Ilocos Revolt” in 1763 after her husband died. Ideas of freedom and self-determination were present in the Filipino people, and this desire for independence and justice against unfair an unfair Spanish system was the background for Filipino leaders of the Philippine Revolution.

In addition to Filipinos escaping their lives on galleons by landing in Morro Bay (1587) and Louisiana (1760), two men from “Manilla” applied for Hawaiian citizenship. Hawaii was a sovereign nation with a legitimate government at that time. Hawaii would ultimately be annexed by the United States in 1893 with the overthrow of its government.

These are all examples of the multi-faceted and intermingled histories of Filipinos, Americans, and Filipino Americans. All these events contribute to the fabric of a different view of America—a Filipino America. History, tragically, is often taught from one perspective. It is the aim of events like Filipino American History Month and ethnic studies programs and departments to illuminate other perspectives.

On the third day of Filipino American History Month (FANHS), I proudly write about Louisiana manilamen. ”Manilamen” or Filipino sailors - veterans of the Manila galleon trade (1565-1815) contributed to the shrimp harvesting industry in southern Louisiana by pioneering methods for separating the heads from the shells of dried shrimp.

The earliest permanent Filipino Americans to arrive in the New World landed in 1763, later creating settlements such as Saint Malo, Louisiana and Manila Village in Barataria Bay. These early settlements were composed of formerly pressed sailors escaping from the arduous duties aboard Spansh galleons and were "discovered" in America in 1883 by a Harper's Weekly journalist.

Settlements such as Manila Village in Jefferson Parish and St. Malo in St. Bernard Parish were founded in the mid-nineteenth century and became home to Filipino sailors and laborers. With houses plat-formed on stilts, the fishermen caught and dried their precious commodity, shrimp, for export to Asia, Canada, South and Central America. Weather conditions eventually destroyed St. Malo in 1915 and Manila Village in 1965

On July 24, 1870, the Spanish-speaking residents of St. Malo founded the first Filipino social club called Sociedad de Beneficencia de los Hispano Filipinos to provide relief and support for the group’s members, including the purchasing of a burial places for their deceased.

At the turn of this century, Louisiana was already home of several hundred Filipinos, with over two thousand of the Manilamen in the New Orleans community alone. Inaccurately, the census of 1910 had set the Filipino population in the United States at the low figure of only 160.

The Filipino Cajuns can trace their roots eight generations with many descendants still living in Louisiana today.

October is Filipino American History Month (FAHM). In honor of FAHM, I am proud to share the following information about a little known aspect of Filipino American history.

The first recorded arrival of Filipinos in what is now Morro Bay, California was on October 18, 1587, as sailors and crewmen on the Spanish galleons of the Manila-Acapulco Mercantile.

On October 21, 1995 the Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS) unveiled a plaque commemorating the landing of these first Filipinos in California. The Morro Bay Celebration Edition of the FANHS newsletter Generations (Fall 1995) said in part:

“After a year of planning and fund raising activities, California Central Coast Chapter will dedicate a national historical marker to commemorate the landing of the Spanish galleon Nuestra Señora de Esperanza in Morro Bay on Oct. 18, 1587. This marked the first presence of Filipinos (referred to in the ship’s logs as Luzones Indios) in the continental United States.”

Today marks the first day of Filipino American History Month (FAHM). It is recognized during the month of October. The Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS) first declared Filipino American History Month in 1988. In California, Washington, and Hawaii, where a large number of Filipino Americans reside, the state government has taken steps to statutorily establish FAHM.