Carlos Bulosan Center for Filipino Studies at UC Davis

Yesterday, I received the following  four e-mails as a retired member of  the Philippine Academy of Science and Engineering (PAASE). I was surprise to read that not all of Our PAASE members were aware of the writings of  Mr. Bulosan. The e-mails reminded me of my article on my blogs on Carlos Bulosan posted on July 22, 2013 below.

Here are the five E-mails from members of PAASE :

 Assembly Member Rob Bonta Celebrates $1M  Bulosan Center for Filipino Studies

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1. DAVIS, CA  — On the occasion of Filipino American History Month, Assembly member Rob Bonta celebrates the recent $1M allocation from the state--an effort he led with support from the Filipino American community--to the Bulosan Center for Filipino Studies. The Bulosan Center was first established in 2018 exclusively through donor funds. A press conference will take place on Thursday, October 24th, 2019 at NOON in 3201 Hart Hall at the UC Davis campus.

The Bulosan Center for Filipino Studies is the first and only center in the University of California system and nationally devoted to promoting research on the Filipino American and diasporic community. Its mission is to uplift the voices of the most marginalized in the Filipino community in the United States and the diaspora through community-engaged research and by broadly disseminating knowledge about Filipinos to advance their rights and welfare.

Sample highlights from 2018-19:

●  preserved Filipino American history—initially with a focus on Filipino Americans’ leadership and contribution to the United Farm Workers (often attributed exclusively to Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta) through the publicly accessible Welga digital archive and developed curriculum with K-12 based on the archive’s sources;

●  disseminated the Filipino American historical experience to hundreds of Filipino American youth and community members through public exhibitions, workshops and lectures.

Some initiatives for 2019-20:

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National Survey, “Filipinos Count: A National Survey on the Health and Well-Being of Filipino Americans,” this survey is the first of its kind since the late 1990s;

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Lab for New Media Justice, to encourage experimentation with digital and other forms of media to further document the stories of everyday Filipino Americans as they struggle against racism, heterosexism, exploitation and other forms of marginalization, but to also “translate” Filipino American scholarship for broader consumption.

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2.  California's allocation of $1M to the Bulosan Center for Filipino Studies at UC Davis is terrific and most welcome news. As for Carlos Bulosan, I regret that I am not familiar yet with his work, but will make an effort.

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3. I wanted to share the announcement below with you. Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers put civil rights of Latinx people firmly in California history. What many people don’t realize is that many of the early founders were Filipino farm workers.  There is a growing awareness of Filipino contributions in California and the US. Prof. Robyn Rodriguez is a professor in Davis and started the first National program on Filipino Americans. There is now a Filipino Ethnic Study program in UC Davis.

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4. I am an offspring of the early field hands from Ilocos Norte who worked in the fields of Hawaii and California. While in high school my summer job was working in the lettuce and celery fields of Salinas and King City with my uncle who lived in Salinas. Lived in the ‘campo’ with ‘braceros’ and ‘manongs’, my uncle was a foreman for one of the farms, witness to a bit of their lifestyle. That view into the hard life of the ‘manongs’ was motivation enough to study hard and do physics.  Great to know about the support for Bulosan Center. 

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5. We appreciated your sharing a bit of your family history with us and its roots that extended from the fields of Ilocos Norte to those of Hawaii and California.
Family histories such as yours in union with those of thousands of other Filipino -Americans and Filipinos in diaspora in the United States are absolutely and crucially foundational to the identities of Filipino-Americans both today and in future in that they help locate and even localize in America the deep-rooted genesis of the Filipino-American experience -- one that is in no way inequivalent and unequal to the experiences of the Anglo-Saxons and other immigrants who came here to the U.S. I fully salute the Filipino Ethnic Studies program at the Bulosan Center for Filipino Studies at UC Davis.

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6. My article posted on July 22, 2013 (https://davidbkatague.blogspot.com/search?q=carlos+bulosan)

The prejudice against Filipino immigrants in the US and specially in California in the 1920s to 1940s is well documented. One of the well-known books, America is in the Heart, documenting the life of the Filipino immigrants at that time period, was written by Carlos Bulosan.  Mr Bulosan is my number one literary heroes of that time.

Like many Filipinos during that time, Bulosan left for America in July 1930 at age 17, in the hope of finding salvation from the economic depression of his home. He never again saw his Philippine homeland. No sooner had he arrived in Seattle, was he immediately met with the hostility of racism, forcing him to work in low paying jobs.

He worked as a farm worker, harvesting grapes, asparagus and other kinds of hard labor work in the fields of California. He also worked as a dishwasher with his brother, Lorenzo in the famous Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo. He was active in labor politics along the Pacific coast of the United States and edited the 1952 Yearbook for ILWU Local 37, a predominantly Filipino American cannery union based in Seattle.

Mr Bulosan died in 1956. To honor his memory, a Bulusan Memorial Exhibit located in Seattle's International District and in the Eastern Hotel features his literary works and manuscripts. One of his famous books, America is in the Heart based on his autobiography is now made into a Philippine movie, Hanggang Sa Muli.( Until Then)_ Till we Met Again),(Hasta La Vista).

One of the famous quotes from that book is timeless, as follows: "We in America understand the many imperfections of democracy and the malignant disease corroding its very heart. We must be united in the effort to make an America in which our people can find happiness. It is a great wrong that anyone in America, whether he be brown or white, should be illiterate or hungry or miserable."

Here's a video of the highlights of Carlos Bulosan biography:

https://youtu.be/f1vNC0Y8cDo

Meanwhile also enjoy this photo of the sunset afterglow taken of the coast of Amoingon, Western Marinduque- our second home 

Photo Credit-Eli Obligacion