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Celebrating Filipino American History Month (October)
Since the U.S. Congress recognized it in 2009, we have been honoring October as Filipino American History Month. October commemorates the first Filipinos to arrive in the continental U.S. on October 18, 1587, at what is now Morro Bay, California. Filipinos have been in Washington State since the 1880s and are now the third-largest Asian American group in the U.S. and in Washington State (after people with Chinese or Indian heritage).
The history of the relationship between the U.S. and Philippines is complex. After the Spanish American War, the United States assumed sovereignty of the Philippines, making it a U.S. colony in 1898 (along with Cuba and Puerto Rico). Filipinos continued to fight for independence during the Philippine-American War (1899-1902). Because the Philippines was a U.S. territory, Filipinos were technically considered U.S. “nationals” (until 1934) and were not affected by the Asian Exclusion Act of 1924. Filipinos were able to travel during that time to study in the U.S. During the 1930s, Washington’s Filipino community was an important factor in fighting against laws banning interracial marriage.
Despite discriminatory laws after 1934 that limited their ability to immigrate, marry, and own property in the U.S., many Filipinos joined the U.S. military during World War II (1939-45). The U.S. granted them citizenship because of their military service. The Filipino American population grew because veterans were able to bring their families to the U.S., and Congress lifted immigration quotas from the Philippines (finally independent in 1946) and other sovereign countries outside of the Western Hemisphere. Filipino Americans continue to shape American civic life, industry and culture with their contributions.
This web exhibition celebrates the artists with Filipino heritage in Washington’s State Art Collection.
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