08/13/2024
October is Filipino American History Month!
As a Filipino settler living in Hawai’i there are so much history about Filipinos in Hawaii that not a lot of people from the diaspora may know about, do you know about Pablo Manlapit??
Well here’s a short fun fact about him:
Pablo Manlapit was born in 1891 in the Philippines. He came to Hawaii in 1910 as a migrant worker in the sugarcane fields. He became a lawyer who fought for the rights of plantation laborers like those pictured here, helping organize the Filipino Labor Union in Hawaii.
____
The official 2024 theme for Filipino American History Month is: “Struggle, Resistance, Solidarity, and Resilience.”
Throughout Filipino American history, there have been instances of struggle, resistance, solidarity, and resilience. Struggle and resistance are defined as the ways that the Filipino American community has persisted through various types of systemic oppression and violence - ranging from discriminatory laws that treated Filipino Americans as second-class citizens to the hate violence Filipino Americans endured because of their race, ethnicity, and other identities. Solidarity includes the ways that Filipino Americans have organized to fight against injustice - either within their own communities or alongside other racial and ethnic groups. Resilience involves the ways in which Filipino Americans have successfully overcome adversity throughout history - despite the systemic and interpersonal obstacles they have endured.
From the painful to the triumphant, all of these moments contribute to a cumulative Filipino American history. We encourage our communities to reflect on our history and celebrate our collective love and joy.
