October is Filipino American History Month at WSU

PULLMAN, Wash. — Filipino Americans’ rich historical heritage and contributions to society are
being highlighted in October at Washington State University during WSU Filipino American History
Month.
The month’s activities were organized by the WSU FASA/Filipino American Student Association and
sponsored by the Associated Students of WSU and the Asian Pacific American Student Council.
Chair of the month’s activities is student Freedom Siyam, Seattle. He is FASA’s historian and a
graduate of Seattle’s Franklin High School.
“Today, Filipinos are the number one Asian immigrant group into U.S.,” said Siyam. “There are about
2.5 million Filipino Americans across the nation, Yet, Filipinos are virtually unseen and unheard in
mainstream America. The various activities at WSU will help give visibility to Filipino efforts in a variety
of ways.”
Activities during the month, all free to the public, include:
— Entire month of October, Filipino American History Month exhibit in the Holland Library Atrium.
Sponsored by FASA, the exhibit features photographs and information about Filipinos in Eastern
Washington.
— Noon, Oct 3. Todd Hall 207, League of Filipino Students representatives from San Francisco and
Seattle will present a video, “Amidst a Thousand Torches.” It is based on a book banned in the Philippines.
The program will include a discussion of US-Philippine relations.
— 7 p.m., Oct. 5, Todd Hall 207, the video “Savage Acts: Wars, Fairs and Empire,” will be presented
by E. San Juan, chair of WSU Comparative American Cultures. After the video, San Juan will lead a
dialogue about issues presented in the video, which details the U.S. creation of an overseas empire at the
turn of the century.
— 7 p.m., Oct. 12, Todd Hall 207, the video “Bontoc Eulogy” will be shown. It tells the story of a
Philippine “village” constructed during the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair. More than 1,000 tribal people were
displayed in the village as anthropological specimens.
— 7 p.m., Oct. 19, Todd Hall 207, the video “A Dollar a Day, Ten Cents a Dance,” chronicles the
more than 100,000 Filipinos who immigrated to the U.S. between 1924 and 1935 to work on California
farmlands.
— 7 p.m., Oct. 24, Compton Union Building’s Butch’s Den, a 30-minute dance performance by All
One Tribe/isangmahal arts kollektive, dancers from various cultures. The program will include an open
microphone forum with a four-person jazz lab supporting vocalists, poets, and speakers from the audience.
All One Tribe and isangmahal are collectives and artists-in-residence at the Northwest Asian Art Theater,
Seattle.
— 7 p.m., Oct. 26, Todd Hall 207, European award-winning film, “The Perfumed Nightmare.” The
Chicago Reader describes it as a “funny film essay, written and directed by Kidlat Tahimik, who also stars
as a jitney driver from a remote Philippine village transplanted to Paris by a creepy American capitalist.”
San Juan will lead a discussion after the presentation.
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