Migration Memorials - Philippines

Filipino American WWII Veterans Memorial

mcolarte@unc.edu — Mon, 14 Oct 2019 09:52:36 +0000

Description:

Designed by Cheri Gaulke and unveiled by Eric Garcetti, president of the Los Angeles City Council, in November 2006, this is the first monument dedicated to the 250,000 Filipinos and 7,000 Filipino American soldiers who fought in WWII for the United States.

LocationMem:

Lake Street Park, Historical Filipinotown

Historical Filipinotown, Los Angeles

Los Angeles, California

Institution:

Los Angeles City Council

Official/Unofficial:

Official

Group Acknowledged:

Filipino veterans

Filipino American veterans

Historical Subject:

Located in the heart of Historic Filipinotown, the monument commemorates Filipinos and Filipino Americans who fought in World War II to reclaim their homeland from imperial Japan. Additionally, it commemorates the veterans' subsequent immigration into the United States and their continued fight for equality in their new home.

Physical Aspects:

Five unidentical slabs of polished black granite arranged in a row with two larger slabs laid horizontally behind them. Each of the five slabs has a large letter inscribed that creates the word "valor". The fourth slab has an inscribed map of the Philippines, and the third slab has an inscribed quote by Faustino "Peping" Baclig:

Bataan was not our last battlefield. We are still fighting for equity.

The backs of five slabs contain inscriptions describing the Filipino and Filipino American histories regarding colony and commonwealth; invasion and resistance; Bataan and Corregidor; sacrifice and liberation; and equity and justice. Inscribed on the two larger slabs facing away from the monument are two words synonymous with one another: "KAGITINGAN" and "VALOR."

Date of Dedication:

November 2006

Place Location:

Files:

Themes:

Philippines

Filipino

veterans

Gintong Kasaysayan, Gintong Panama

mcolarte@unc.edu — Mon, 14 Oct 2019 09:19:41 +0000

Description:

The largest Filipino American mural in the United States. Translated in English as "Filipino Americans: A Glorious History, A Golden Legacy," 22-year-old Eliseo Art Silva painted the mural that now overlooks Beverly Boulevard's Unidad Park, unveiling it on 24 June 1995. According to Silva, "... the mural encapsulates 5,000 years of Filipino and Filipino American history."

LocationMem:

Unidad Park, Los Angeles

Los Angeles, California

Institution:

Eliseo Art Silva

Official/Unofficial:

Unofficial

Group Acknowledged:

Filipinos

Filipino Americans

Historical Subject:

According to Eliseo Art Silva, the mural's artist,

the design is divided into two parts: the first is historical (represented by the outline of a fish at sea), leading up to the awakening of Filipino national and political consciousness; the second part is dominated by a huge bird with significant Filipino-Americans on its wings, the farm workers on the bottom left and the youth and community on the right.

In 1997, the mural received the Award of Design Excellence for public art by commissioners from the City of Los Angeles Board of Cultural Affairs. Additionally, it featured in the Smithsonian Institute's traveling exhibition called "Singgalot (The Ties that Bind): From Colonial Subjects to Citizens," and Los Angeles County Museum's "Made in California: Art, Image and Identity 1900-2000"

Physical Aspects:

The mural spans 150 feet across and 30 feet high on a building brick edifice. It overlooks Unidad Park on Beverly Boulevard and is visually colorful in its depiction of Filipino and Filipino American history.

Date of Dedication:

24 June 1995

Place Location:

Files:

Themes:

Historic Filipinotown

mcolarte@unc.edu — Mon, 14 Oct 2019 08:43:14 +0000

Description:

Historic Filipinotown, "Hi Fi," is an ethnic enclave in Los Angeles' 13th district made from the communities of Silver Lake and Echo Park. Previously known as Little Manila, Hi Fi was proposed by council member Eric Garcetti on 02 August 2002, currently serves to preserve the neighborhood's history, and promotes cultural and social unity not just among a Filipino population but one that reflect's LA growing diversity.

LocationMem:

Historic Filipinotown, Los Angeles

Los Angeles, California

Institution:

Los Angeles City Council

Official/Unofficial:

Official

Group Acknowledged:

Filipinos

Filipino Americans

Historical Subject:

In the 1940s, many Filipino American families settled in the area, buying homes and creating businesses away from Little Tokyo and Bunker Hill areas, as their homeland was occupied by imperial Japanese in the second World War. Additionally, Historic Filipinotown designates the settlement areas for Filipino immigrants to the United States during an immigration resurgence in the late 1990s and early 2000s, noted by the creation of key Filipino organizations, Catholic churches, and housing prior to Los Angeles City Council's formal proclamation of the historic town. And despite the neighborhood's growing Mexican and Central American populations in the 2010s, Hi Fi remains as the cultural heart of Filipino Americans in Southern California.

Physical Aspects:

The ethnic enclave resides in Los Angeles' 13th district with a western boundary on Hoover Street, Glendale Boulevard to the east, Temple Street to the north, and Beverly Boulevard to the south.

Date of Dedication:

02 August 2002

Place Location:

Files:

Collection:

Historical Marker Database Migration Collection

Themes:

International Hotel Manilatown Center

mcolarte@unc.edu — Fri, 04 Oct 2019 20:29:48 +0000

Description:

Event center located in the heart of multicultural communities and ethnic enclaves of downtown San Francisco, California. The building serves as a venue space for the expression of Filipinos in the Bay area as well the preservation and advocacy of their arts and culture; social justice and economic equality; and history.

LocationMem:

Manilatown, San Francisco

Financial District, San Francisco

San Francisco, California

Institution:

Manilatown Heritage Foundation

Official/Unofficial:

Unofficial

Group Acknowledged:

Filipinos

Filipino Americans

Historical Subject:

Just down the "Red Block" from the International Hotel Manilatown Center stood the original international hotel (I-Hotel), which provided many Filipinos—one of lowest on the socioeconomic ladder for Asian Americans—with affordable housing in an expensive urban environment. New development projects in the community after the 1960s threatened the current residents with eviction from an establishment which protected the rights and cultures of not only Filipinos but other minority populations in the United States. Despite clashes among law enforcement, tenant activists, and community protesters, eviction of the original I-Hotel was forced upon the residents, many of which were elderly occupants, in the early morning of August 04, 1977.

The construction of a new international hotel (I-Hotel) in 2003 reminded the predominantly Filipino population of this ethnic enclave about the housing conflicts that occurred in downtown San Francisco back in the late 1970s. Today, the current I-Hotel's community center memorializes the original I-Hotel from its art galleries and cultural events while continuing to honor the tradition of providing affordable housing to both the underprivileged and marginalized groups of San Francisco's Manilatown.

Physical Aspects:

This multi-storied apartment complex has a ground floor community center and a building facade matching the color scheme of San Francisco's Kearny street. The first five floors are primarily composed of tan bricks, likely paying tribute to the original I-Hotel, especially with the preservation of blank wall to display vibrant street art. The remaining nine floors follow contemporary architecture practices in being composed of whiter concrete with intervals of modern glass windows for residents to enjoy the San Francisco skyline.

Date of Dedication:

26 August 2005

Place Location:

Files:

Themes:

Landing of the First Filipinos

mcolarte@unc.edu — Fri, 04 Oct 2019 09:57:28 +0000

Description:

18 October 1587: the first recorded appearance of Filipinos on modern-day continental United States. Departing from Macao, China, they landed in present day California's Morro Bay as crewmen aboard Spaniard Pedro de Unamuno's galleon, Nuestra Señora de Buena Esperanza.

LocationMem:

Morro Bay, California

Coleman Park, Morrow Bay

Institution:

Filipino American National Historical Society (California Central Coast Chapter)

Official/Unofficial:

Unofficial

Group Acknowledged:

First Filipinos

Luzon Indios

Historical Subject:

"During the Manila-Acapulco Galleon Trade era, from 1565 to 1815, Spanish galleons crossed the Pacific between the Philippines and Mexico.

On October 18, 1587, the Manila galleon Nuestra Señora de Esperanza, commanded by Pedro de Unamuno, entered Morrow Bay near here. A landing party was send to shore which included "Luzon Indios," marking the first landing of Filipinos in the continental United States. The landing party took official possession of the area for Spain by putting up a cross made of branches. The group was attacked by [N]ative [Americans] two days later, and one of the Filipinos was killed. Unamuno and his crew gave up further exploration of this part of the coast."

Physical Aspects:

Text on plaque embedded into rock located in Coleman Park

Date of Dedication:

21 October 1995

Place Location:

Files:

Collection:

Historical Marker Database Migration Collection

Themes:

Philippines

Filipino

exploration