Filipino American Teachers

In California, there is a disproportion between Filipino American students and Filipino American teachers.

168,627 students of Filipino descent make up 2.7% of students in the state of California. 4,418 teachers of Filipino descent make up 1.4% of teachers in California. Comparatively, 243 Filipino administrators make up 0.8% of all administrators, 692 pupil services staff make up 2.3% foo pupil services staff, and 5,292 credentialed staff make up 2.4% of all credentialed staff.

Filipino Immigration

I was speaking with a colleague about documented and undocumented Filipinos in America, discussing whether or not we would support legalization. We really dug deep, looking at different age levels, situations, and caveats. It is a complicated matter, and our conversation probably did not lead us to explore some of the deeper aspects of the situation.

Filipino American and Asian Pacific Islander Politics

A strong group of Filipino Americans were present at this year's Asian Pacific Islander (API) Policy Summit, ensuring that the needs of the Filipino American community are brought to the table as part of the larger API movement.

During these difficult times, it is important for our communities to coalesce, build relationships, and work together. As a single unit, we can advocate for one another's concerns and share our strengths with one another.

Filipino American Nationals

On May 25, 1925, the Supreme Court ruled in Toyota v. United States that Filipinos could not become U.S. citizens. The only exceptions were thsoe who served in the U.S. Navy for three years. This was during the time that the Philippines was a colony of the U.S. The case further reinforced that Filipinos were considered nationals of the U.S.

Filipinos in Puget Sound

Since the 19th century, Filipinos have immigrated to the Puget Sound region, which contains a deep inland sea once surrounded by forests and waters teeming with salmon. Seattle was the closest mainland American port to the Far East. In 1909, the “Igorotte Village” was the most popular venue at the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, and the first Filipina war bride arrived. Filipinos laid telephone and telegraph cables from Seattle to Alaska; served as seamen, U.S. Navy recruits, students, and cannery workers; and worked in lumber mills, restaurants, or as houseboys. With one Filipina woman to 30 men, most early Filipino families in the Puget Sound were interracial. After World War II , communities grew with the arrival of new war brides, military families, immigrants, and exchange students and workers. Second-generation Pinoys and Pinays began their families. With the 1965 revision of U.S. immigration laws, the Filipino population in Puget Sound cities, towns, and farm areas grew rapidly and changed dramatically—as did all of Puget Sound.

Dr. Dorothy Laigo Cordova, Executive Director of the Filipinos American National Historical Society (FANHS), has written a book, published by Arcadia Publishing, entitled Filipinos in Puget Sound and capturing this history in photographs. It joins about six other titles published by Arcadia Publishing about Filipino Americans, namely:

1. Filipinos in Chicago
2. Filipinos in Hollywood
3. Filipinos in Los Angeles
4. Filipinos in Stockton
5. Filipinos in the East Bay
6. Filipinos in Vallejo