Hawthorne on “Spanish boys from Manilla”

After the last post, I thought I’d do a search through the old Atlantic for references to Filipinos. I came up with this, a report of a pleasant picnic at Brighton Fair, near Boston, with the Emersons. It is apparently an excerpt from one of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s journals:

“I ought to have mentioned among the diverse and incongrous growths of the picnic party our two Spanish boys from Manilla;–Lucas, with his heavy features and almost mulatto complexion; and Jose, slighter with rather a feminine face–not a gay, girlish one, but grave, reserved, eyeing yon sometimes with an earnest but secret expression, and causing you to question what sort of person he is.”–The Atlantic Monthly, May 1866, Vol. 0017, Issue 103.

They may have been Spaniards from Manila. But how did they come to Massachusetts? I suspect that the “Spanish boys” were mestizo Filipinos from the Philippines. Did they come over as sailors, and end up in the employ of the Emersons, or the Hawthornes?

The “Coolie Trade”

Via H-AMSTDY, an interesting article in the “old” Harper’s New Monthly about abuses in the Coolie [slave] Trade (1864). While working on the Filipino Voices Exhibit I’m seeing some incomplete, yet provocative, bits of information about Filipinos enlisting in the Union Army and Navy. Apparently some Filipinos made their way to northeastern ports, possibly through the whaling trade. To what extent they witnessed, or experienced, abuses such as those detailed in this article, is not yet known.

Teaching Pinay Poetry

Barbara Jane Reyes recently posted on teaching Pinay Poetry on the poetry blog, Harriet.

Related to the exhibit (see previous post) and my mother’s story — I am constantly surprised at how few of the women’s stories get included into the pre-WWII narrative of Filipinos in the U.S. Yes, it’s true there were far more Filipino men here than women. But those “few” women’s stories (and there are more than we think) are quite compelling.

Filipino Voices: Exhibit Diary

Haven’t posted the last couple of days, because I was just too, too busy. Last night and today I’ve been trying to finish editing another 5 panels. Just finishing up with the Filipinos in the Merchant Marines and U.S. Navy panel, the Philippine Scouts and U.S. Army panel, and the War Brides panel. Looking for photos to post on the Merchant Marines panel, I came across my Dad’s old Department of Defense and Coast Guard IDs for the Merchant Marines, and a Merchant Marine passport. While looking for stuff to use with the War Brides panel, I found a letter from my Mom to my Dad written around 1947, from the Pres. Cleveland as it sailed from the Philippines toward San Francisco Bay. In it, she speaks of her family accompanying her to the ship to say goodbye; she speaks of her homesickness, and also feeling seasick. I’m reminded of how difficult that voyage must’ve been for her. My father was in the Merchant Marines at that time, and on another ship, so he couldn’t meet her in San Francisco; instead, he arranged for two friends, Mr. and Mrs. Laput, to meet her. Eventually, they became my godparents.

I’m reminded by the D.O.D. of my Dad’s Merchant Marine ID (although the ID above is for a later period, after the war) that those voyages were sometimes dangerous. Merchant Marine ships during WWII were often part of convoys taking supplies and troops to embattled areas, and were often targeted by mines, submarines, and kamikaze pilots. Oh, hey — just noticed my Dad’s Maritime Union Card, which shows that he worked on a Liberty Ship, the S.S. Clyde Seavey, in 1946. That’s something I didn’t know…

Filipino Voices: Exhibit Diary

Just a quick note before I go off to NSC today — we are going to have a marathon day, I think — anyway, I was looking for a particular book on Philippine architecture to bring, when I came across some photos that I thought had been lost. My mom, Dad, and I, and some of their friends sharing a meal a group of manongs (the elderly Filipino farm workers) in one of the labor camps in Davenport–must’ve been the mid-1960s; these were in the old buildings, some of which STILL haven’t changed from the 1940s/50s. I’m reminded of how humble were the surroundings: the long wooden table and benches–worn down smooth from decades of use, and never replaced–the old white, enameled tin plates and bowls. I see coke bottles, and what looks like an unopened bottle of whiskey, a jello-filled tin casserole with “Happy Thanksgiving” lettered on top in whipped cream; a fruit salad; another casserole filled with pansit, a half-carved turkey, rice, and soup; bottles of soy sauce and patis (fish sauce), by the window, some small bottles with a few flowers stuck in them… I’ll try to get these scanned and posted here later…

By the way — Spring Break is now officially over, which means that I have to fit in my exhibit work somehow with teaching and my other job(s)…

Filipino Voices: Exhibit Diary

Busy again today, working on status updates for panels, and going to 2pm meeting at NSC. Also want to mention something wonderful: Two food bloggers, Athena Plichta of Athena Plichta Photgraphy, and Deborah Ryan of East of Eden Cooking, are going to bring us some homemade edible treats to help raise our spirits and energy for the big job ahead. Thanks, Athena and Deborah!

Filipino Voices: Exhibit Diary

Working from Cafe Vertigo, today, in San Juan Bautista (cafes are my favorite work spaces). Starting to receive panels from other folks on the planning committee, and I’m glad to see that. I have to finish grading papers, too, and setting up a platform for my students’ final projects for the semester. I’m doing some of that today. Tomorrow, the core planning group will have an “update” meeting at NSC.

Filipino Voices: Exhibit Diary

Creepiness: seeing my mom’s Filipino dress–with butterfuly sleeves–and mine (from when I was a teen), up on mannekins for the exhibit. Realizing that our shapes even back then were too zaftig for these girlish mannekin shapes! They have to pin them back so they don’t hang loosely. I hope they do something about the pale color of the mannekins, too.

Filipino Voices: Exhibit Diary

Today was a long day of work — and I spent most of it at home. Made a list of all the panels we are working on, including the status of each panel. 56 panels worth of historical content. But I’m sure it will get pared down as we consolidate things. We are still writing. Afterward, I finished writing up two panels, then went to NSC to drop them off. Got a call from A., who is now out of the hospital, but still has testing to get done. We all have stuff to deal with, health issues, family to take care of, multiple jobs to juggle, etc. And yet we are putting in the time for this project. “We’ll get this done,” he says.

Anyway, it’s easy, at times like this, to lose sight of the goal. Why put in so much unpaid time for a historical exhibit? I am remembering the article I wrote for Doveglion “On Stewardship and Curation,” and remind myself that this exhibit is happening during a time when college departments are cutting ethnic studies, Salinas Chinatown is losing funds for redevelopment, and CSUs are cutting costs by turning away students in 2013. The exhibit is not only about educating the public; it’s also about preserving our history, and historic materials for further study.

Still, I don’t want this material to get holed up in an archive, either — I want it made available to the community in some way. “While it’s important to make change happen within existing institutions, it’s also time for us to be the curators and disseminators of our own histories, literature, and arts.” I want to walk my talk.

Filipino Voices: Exhibit Diary

Did all my work at the Cherry Bean in Salinas today. First, I dropped off a couple of banig mats at NSC. I hope D. will see them and find some use for them. Every time I walk into the Exhibit Hall, it looks a little different.

M. helped me with writing, revising, and researching. I’m finding that I really need to get off by myself, more or less, in order to focus. It’s so easy to let the minutes and hours tick by while we discuss things. Today working on the Philippine — Mexico connection. Portable distillation and Mezcal (later Tequila), of all things! Then, Filipinos in Baja, the missions, Louisiana, etc. Forgot to mention that I got a nice call from Delfin Cruz’s daughter yesterday, who is in Hawaii. She is helping me to find photos. Cruz was editor of the Philippines Mail from about 1935 to 1983.

Oh, I also received in the mail today the Steinbeck Festival PR pamphlets. The Festival will run at NSC from May 3 to 6. They’ve got quite a line-up of events, including the Woody Guthrie Festival. Their schedule lists my panel, “Our Public Voices: the Legacy of U.S. Filipino Newspapers on the West Coast,” with Dawn Mabalon, Abe Ignacio, and Dan Gonzales; that will take place on Friday, May 4, at 2;15 p.m. And they also feature the Filipino Voices: Past and Present exhibit, opening on April 28, which I’m working on right now. Also opening April 28 is the Salinas Asian Festival, which most of the core planning group for the Filipino exhibit are involved in. It’s going to be a busy two weeks!