While Filipino American History Month is officially over, we’re going to extend the conversation and talk about the history of Filipinos and Filipino Americans in Boston. In this episode, we discuss when Filipinos first came to Massachusetts, as well as the organizations that create communities to bind them together.
Guests include Richard Chu and Mary Talusan. Richard is a professor at University of Massachusetts Amherst. He teaches courses on US empire and the Philippines, Asian American history, and Chinese diaspora history. He also published a 2007 paper of Filipino Americans in Massachusetts. Mary is an assistant professor at California State University Dominguez Hills. Her family immigrated to Boston in 1974. She is also doing a research project on Filipinos in Greater Boston that will be published by Arcadia press.
Listen to the full episode.
TRANSCRIPT
Kaitlin Milliken: Hello, and welcome to the BOSFilipinos Podcast. I'm your host, Kaitlin Milliken, and this show is obviously made by BOSFilipinos.
While Filipino American History Month is officially over, we’re going to extend the conversation and talk about the history of Filipinos and Filipino Americans in Boston. In this episode, we’ll discuss when Filipinos first came to Massachusetts, as well as the organizations that create communities to bind them together.
For this discussion, I’m joined by Richard Chu and Mary Talusan. Richard is a professor at University of Massachusetts Amherst. He teaches courses on US empire and the Philippines, Asian American history, and Chinese diaspora history. He also published a 2007 paper of Filipino Americans in Massachusetts. Mary is an assistant professor at California State University Dominguez Hills. Her family immigrated to Boston in 1974. She is also doing a research project on Filipinos in Greater Boston that will be published by Arcadia press.
Thank you so much, Mary, and Richard, for joining us today to talk about Filipino history in Boston. Just to get us started. What do we know about early Filipino immigrants and they're settling in the greater Boston area? Mary, if you want to start us off, that would be great.
Mary Talusan: The earliest record that I found of Filipinos in Greater Boston were students who came here and went to elite universities, or they were sent by the Philippine government as Pensionado under the Pensionado Act, but a lot of them did go home to the Philippines and to take up positions in the government.
What I found while I was doing research on my book on the Philippine Constabulary Band, which was a band that was formed during the early years of US colonization, and then ended up touring the United States several times. They came in 1909, and actually played at Symphony Hall. And what was most fascinating about this visit by this Philippine band was that it included my great grandfather, who was playing flute and piccolo for this band.
Their conductor Lieutenant Loving was an African American officer, and he actually attended New England Conservatory, but he spent 40 years in the Philippines, so I have to maybe count him as Filipino as well.
But in doing that research, I also found that there was a couple of groups. In 1915, there was the La Gota de Leche who, you know, had meetings of Filipinos that were living in Boston. Filipino Collegians of Greater Boston, in 1904, they had an event talking about Rizal, and these were again Pensionados from the Philippines who were attending Harvard, Tufts, MIT, Boston University, and Northeastern University.
Richard Chu: In the course of writing this study on Filipino Americans in Massachusetts, which I published in 2007, I came across what you may call an amateur historian. His name is Nestor Enriques. He's a retired US Navy man. He did some research on Filipinos participating in wars here in the United States. And he listed at least 12 Filipinos enlisted in Massachusetts. So that was about the 1860s. That's sort of the earliest kind of history that we can find about Filipinos in Massachusetts. They fought in the Civil War, but probably left after the Civil War.
And the same thing with the Pensionados, the students who probably didn't stay. In the 1960s, when we do have some kind of record showing that there were some Filipinos who have settled here in Massachusetts, I found out that there were about 900 Filipino men, and about 550 Filipino women, who were registered as living in Massachusetts. And over time, that number has increased as more and more Filipinos migrated to Massachusetts, either directly from the Philippines or from other states.
Kaitlin Milliken: Great, and I'd love to talk a little bit about that increased migration to the greater Boston area and how that affected cultural hubs. Can we discuss some of the groups or cultural hubs and centers that took root in the region? I know that's something you mentioned in your paper Richard.
Richard Chu: Yes, one of the earliest groups, for example, was PAMANA mainly formed by Filipinos who worked in the Navy and then decided to settle here in Boston or in Greater Boston. They started out with themselves and their families. And then later on the organization expanded to include other families who are not necessarily from the Navy or the Coast Guard. And since then, there are other groups that have been formed. And today, I think there's a thriving number of organizations for Filipinos and Filipino Americans.
Kaitlin Milliken: Mary, I know that you're also writing a book about the history of Filipinos in the Boston area. Have you found anything about those types of cultural hubs or centers?
Mary Talusan: Richards, right. They're formed around professions. So some of the earliest, as he said, were founded in the 1960s. But we do know of one that existed in the 50s called the Philippine Bataan Club of Boston and New England. But again, yes, a lot of these Filipinos went back home, and a few of them stayed. The few that came in the 60s and then settled here, they formed the PMANE, which is the Philippine Medical Association of New England, for physicians. And then PNANE later was started for nurses as well.
I have a book here that was published by the Filipino Association of Greater Boston Inc., which was published, which was formed in 1967. And in 1982, they published a self published work called Montage, and there's only a limited number of copies. But Joyce Javier did a great job of putting together photos of Filipinos and their cultural activities around that time. And so it only goes up to 1982. So the book that I'm working on will focus mostly on the 60s, 70s, and 80s, and a little bit into the 90s.
But the longest lasting ones that are still around today, I would say, are PMANE Philippine Medical Association of New England. PNANE, the Nurses Association is still in existence. And of course, Iskwelahang Pilipino which was founded in the early 70s is still around today. We have some, you know, really wonderful records of organizations that have lasted for a number of decades and are still around today.
Kaitlin Milliken: Great. I would love to dive a little deeper Mary into the book that you're working on. Can you give us some background on what exactly it is and why you decided to write it?
Mary Talusan: For Filipinos in Boston... I would say when I came out here to the West Coast, and I told people that I was from Boston, the first thing they would say was, “There are Filipinos in Boston?” And I said, “Yes, of course my parents have been there, you know, since the early 70s.”
But I know of many Filipinos that came in even in the early 60s, before the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act kind of opened the doors to immigrants from Asia, for example. Ildefonso de Laurant was performing for the Boston Pops in the 1960s. He arrived in 1962, and was a flutist for the Boston Pops for many years. I think it's really interesting to capture those little known histories of Filipinos in Boston, as well as you know, the larger organizations that kind of have been the backbone of making Filipino culture in Boston and Greater Boston really visible to the wider public.
So that's what I really wanted to do in this book was to share the pioneering work of my parents' generation and their friends, to really lay down the foundation for the next generation and their grandchildren to feel a sense of pride, history and belonging to the greater Boston Society.
Kaitlin Milliken: What are some of the things that you're focusing on or subjects that you tap that people would expect to see when the book comes out?
Mary Talusan: Yeah, well, I'm really excited because in addition to taking folks through a photographic history of Filipinos arriving in the 50s, 60s and 70s. When we get up to the 1980s, I'm sure you know that Benigno Aquino Jr. and his family came to Boston when they were in exile. From Boston, Ninoy, as we called him, returned to the Philippines and sadly was assassinated. His wife, Corie Aquino, who we know became president of the Philippines, was here in Boston with him as well.
So, my parents’ friends who were part of their inner circle, or their barcada, had all these wonderful family photos of the Aquino's during that time and generously shared them with me. So I don't think there are a lot of family photos of the Aquino's during their time in Boston. So that's going to be kind of one of the gems of the book. I think I have the final Christmas family photo of the Aquino family in Boston, the year in which Ninoy was assassinated. And that was contributed by a first cousin of Corie Aquino, who ended up joining the board of the Benigno S. Aquino Jr. Memorial Foundation, whose headquarters was on Commonwealth Avenue in Massachusetts.
I also have a lot of photographs from the early 1900s, the Lichauco family, who were here, they had some daughters that lived in Newton, Massachusetts in 1914. The son, Marcel Lichauco was the first Filipino to attend and graduate Harvard College as an undergraduate. So they were so wonderful to share those historical photos with me as well.
But later on, we get into the, you know, the 90s, when my generation starts coming into adulthood, and they're going off into different parts of the country. I did as well. I'll never forget my roots in Boston. And part of the goal of this book was to capture that time period when this older generation, I mean, they're coming of age, some of them are passing away, and their children are moving all over the United States pursuing their own careers and having their their families. I hope to capture that generation of Filipinos, but I know that there are new communities forming. New immigrants have come to Boston and so I'm really hoping that other people will kind of take on the goal of continuing to archive and promote and make visible Filipino American lives in the greater Boston area.
Kaitlin Milliken: Moving forward a little bit. Richard, I'd love to toss this over to you. In your paper that you published in 2007, you sort of talked about some of the demographics of Filipino folks living in Boston, can you share a little bit about that and the role that the Filipino population plays in the Boston community today?
Richard Chu: Unfortunately, the 2020 census has not yet been this aggregated. In other words, the details of the census have not yet been released. And so what I'm going to rely upon are the census records from the year 2000 and 2010. And from these two census records, there are interesting demographic statistics about the Filipinos that can tell us more about the community in terms of population.
The steady growth of Filipinos, or Filipino Americans in Massachusetts. In 2010, the number was only 11,980. And then in 2013, it increased to 18,673. Now, in 2020, there are 25,842 Filipinos or Filipino Americans in Massachusetts.
And then in terms of the gender ratio, it's interesting that over time. There are more females than males in earlier times. And this was back in the 1960s. It showed that there were 897 Filipino males and 546 Filipino females, and this can be explained partly by the large number of Filipino nurses. There is a large number of Filipino nurses in Boston.
So that's the gender ratio and in terms of median income, Filipino median income for 2010 was $86,143. In terms of educational attainment, many Filipinos also have at least a bachelor's degree. And the statistics show that in 2010 62.2% of female Filipinos have at least a bachelor's degree. And then English proficiency. No surprise is high among Filipinos because of our colonial history, so we were colonized by the United States for almost 50 years and until today, the medium of instruction in many Philippine schools is English. Many of them who came here to the United States are proficient in English.
The average household size of Filipinos in the year 2000 is also larger than the average in the state. And I guess this we can attribute to the familial practice of Filipinos of having extended families. It's not surprising if adult children still live with their parents or, that they live with their relatives.
And lastly, in terms of occupation, over 50%, in the year 2000, of Filipinos are in management, professional and related professions. This can also be explained by the fact that many Filipinos who came to Boston are in the medical or healthcare sector. So these are just some of the statistics that we can glean from the census records. That gives us kind of a broader picture of the Filipino community in Massachusetts.
Kaitlin Milliken: Yes, thank you so much for that context, Richard. It's always really helpful to see how you know the history connects with what we see today. Mary, my follow up question to you is, when you were writing your book, I know that you mentioned it's focused on the 60s through the 80s. Were there any points of research or things that stood out about the Filipino community in the 2010s, early 2020s, you know, that you might have come across as you were working on the project?
Mary Talusan: Well, as Richard said, you know, there's always been like fresh influxes of Filipinos immigrating into the Massachusetts area, mostly because of work, their professional work. In the early 2000s, for example, the Boston Public School system actually went to Cebu, and hired about a dozen teachers to fill positions in math and the sciences in the Boston Public School area. And so it was wonderful to connect with them, and, you know, 20 years later, ask them what their experience has been like. A lot of them did stay in Boston. A lot of them joined existing groups such as the Filipino Apostolate. And some of them even formed newer groups. There was a group of Filipino psychiatrist that I know came in the 90s.
And, you know, fast forward to today, there's a lot of businesses, also by Filipino immigrants. And so I was able to include some of them in my book. But again, I focus mostly on Filipinos during the 70s, 80s and 90s. It was really great to know that there was a FANHS New England chapter, that's the Filipino American National Historical Society, which has 35 chapters around the country. But FANHS New England was really active, like from the 90s, up until about 2005. And I hope that some folks would revive that again, because I think it's one of the ways that we can engage organizational structure to help with research projects involving Filipino Americans.
I know Richard still continues to do research and I think you're involved with there's an archive at UMass Boston, Asian American Archive as well. Hopefully what the book will do would be to encourage some more research. I don't think this is going to be definitive, but I hope to kind of encourage continuing research on Filipino Americans because there are always new things going on.
PAMANA, which is the Philippine American Mainstream Advocacy for Nonpartisan Associations, has been doing flag raising at Government Center on Philippine Independence Day. Iskwelahang Pilipino continues to educate American-born youth about their Filipino heritage and instills pride in that. There's Santa Cruzans that are going on and different, just informal get togethers by the community. But I think one way to help make that more visible is to find a way to centralize the information and build directories and collaborate more between the different organizations.
Kaitlin Milliken: My final question to both of you, what's one thing you want people to remember one short thing about Filipino or Filipino American History in Boston? What should they bring with them once this episode is over?
Richard Chu: Our history is really tied to American colonial history. And that is one course that I teach at UMass Amherst, which is the US Empire and the Philippines. The reason why there are many Filipinos here in the United States is that the United States colonized the Philippines and that created this migration of Filipinos to the United States. We have to also look back to our history and be critical of this history. While we have many things to be grateful for here in the United States, we also have to ask those questions why Filipinos, for example, have to leave their country to find better economic opportunities. And how is this migration history tied to our colonial history?
Kaitlin Milliken: Great and Mary, do you have anything to add?
Mary Talusan: Document for yourselves your own family's history, the accomplishments that you've done and someday we can get together and archive from which people can build histories around the Filipino community in Boston and throughout New England.
Kaitlin Milliken: Fabulous thank you both so much for taking the time.
This has been the BOSFilipinos Podcast. I'm your host, Kaitlin Milliken. Music for our show was made by Matt Garamella. Special thanks to Richard and Mary for making this episode special.
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