{"id":2520,"date":"2022-08-22T15:11:22","date_gmt":"2022-08-22T14:11:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kabayanremit.com\/blog\/?p=2520"},"modified":"2022-08-22T15:11:22","modified_gmt":"2022-08-22T14:11:22","slug":"5-filipino-american-heroes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kabayanremit.com\/blog\/community\/5-filipino-american-heroes\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Filipino American heroes that we admire today"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Larry Itliong is one of the main\u00a0heroes when it comes to Filipino American and civil rights history. Without his efforts, there would be no Delano Grape Strike<\/a>, and no retirement home for the manongs<\/a> (older Filipino American men), growing too old for manual labour in America. There would also be no United Farm Workers Union, founded with other Filipino heroes, Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta and more.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t

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But there are also many other Pinoys who have made waves in the United States, from Olympic medalists to war soldiers, here’s a list of some of our favourite Filipino heroes in America:<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t

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  1. Carlos Bulosan<\/a><\/li>\n
  2. Victoria Manalo Draves<\/a><\/li>\n
  3. Thelma Garcia Buchholdt<\/a><\/li>\n
  4. Philip Vera Cruz<\/a><\/li>\n
  5. Filipino American Medal of Honour Recipients<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t
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    Carlos Bulosan<\/h3>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t
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    Carlos Bulosan was born to a poor family in a rural town in Pangasinan, Philippines. Money was always hard to come by for the Bulosan’s; thus, when he turned 17, Bulosan moved to America hoping to make enough money to help his family and fund his education.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t

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    When he landed in Seattle, he was not fluent in English and only had three years of formal education. Just like Larry Itliong and the manongs, Bulosan worked several odd jobs in hotels, farms, and Alaskan canneries just to make ends meet. Working these jobs, he endured poverty, racism, and horrible living conditions. He even contracted tuberculosis, which cost him most of his right ribs and the use of one lung.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t

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    Recovering in the hospital after three surgeries, Bulosan read voraciously and became a self-taught writer. Excerpts of his work, The Laughter of My Father<\/a> even appeared in The New Yorker<\/a> and Harper\u2019s Bazaar. \u00a0He also wrote an essay called \u201cThe Freedom from Want,\u201d which appeared in the Saturday Evening Post alongside a photo of Norman Rockwell\u2019s painting of the same name.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t

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    However, Bulosan would be most known for his novel America is in the Heart<\/a>, a semi-autobiographical story depicting the immigrant worker\u2019s experience in the 1930s to 1950s America.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t

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    Sadly, Bulosan lived a short and difficult life. Just as his star was growing, he was blacklisted<\/a> by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in 1950, for possible links to the Communist Party. This was a time when McCarthyism<\/a> was rampant in America, and Bulosan along with other public figures like John Lennon, Edgar Hoover, and Martin Luther King, Jr. were also under FBI surveillance<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t

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    Blacklisted, Bulosan could no longer find a stable job. He fell into alcoholism and poverty before his death from severe bronchopneumonia in 1956. The FBI never found evidence to link him to communism.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t

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    Today, Bulosan is honoured as a voice of the immigrant experience in America. The University of California, Davis even named a research centre<\/a> after him in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t

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    Victoria Manalo Draves<\/h3>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t
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    Apart from male Filipino heroes, women also played a part in American history. Vicki Manalo Draves was one of these women, being the first woman to win two Olympic diving gold medals<\/a> in one year.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t

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    Born Victoria Manalo<\/a> to a Filipino father and a British mother, Draves did not learn to swim until she was 10 years old. She also had to deal with discrimination in her earlier days.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t

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    Aware of her Filipino name, Draves\u2019 old coach made a separate swimming club just for her. He even required her to use her mother\u2019s maiden name, Taylor, before she could compete.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t

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    It was only when she trained with Lyle Drave that she reclaimed her Filipino name. Draves went on to marry her coach, and together they won five U.S. swimming championships and a gold medal each for springboard and platform diving in the 1948 Olympic Games<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t

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    Draves went on to become a professional swimmer before going on to run a swimming and diving program with her husband, Lyle.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t

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    In 2005, San Francisco named a park at South of Market (SOMO)<\/a> after her. Ten years later, a bronze plaque was made in her honour and unveiled at the same park.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t

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    Thelma Garcia Buchholdt<\/h3>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t
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    Thelma Garcia Buchholdt<\/a> became the first Filipino American to earn a seat in the U.S. Congress in 1974; this also made her the first Asian American to win a seat in the Alaskan House of Representatives.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t

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    Buchholdt lived in the Philippines until she finished high school at 15 years old. Then, she moved to America to earn a degree in zoology from Mount St. Mary\u2019s University in Los Angeles, California. She then went on to earn a graduate degree from the University of Nevada, where she met her husband, Jon.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t

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    Buchholdt and her family moved to Anchorage, Alaska in 1965. There, the mother of four became an active member of the community, co-founding the Boys and Girls Club of Alaska, participating in the Ad Hoc Committee of Young Democrats, and acting as Alaska coordinator for George McGovern\u2019s presidential campaign.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t

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    As a legislator who served four terms in Congress, Buchholdt passed laws that:<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t

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