FREE//GRATUITO
PUBLISHED BY ACCIÓN LATINA
Vol. 49 No. 20
October 10-23, 2019
FILIPINO-AMERICAN HISTORY SCHOLAR HONORED AT SOMARTS DIA DE LOS MUERTOS EXHIBIT HOMENAJE DEL DÍA DE LOS MUERTOS EN SOMARTS A HISTORIADORA Y ACADÉMICA FILIPINOAMERICANA Casey Ticsay
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El Tecolote
t would’ve been hard to imagine Stockton as the heart of Filipino America in the early 20th century. But it was for a time, before new development and the construction of the Crosstown Freeway swept remaining tenants, businesses, and SRO hotels into the corners of history. By 1999, city officials demolished one of the last remaining blocks of Stockton’s Little Manila neighborhood to make way for a McDonald’s restaurant and 76 gas station. The neighborhood, once home to the largest population of Filipinos outside the Philippines, soon dwindled to three buildings, which now make up the Little Manila Historic Site. It’s become a remnant of the early Filipino American story, a story that late historian and educator Dr. Dawn Mabalon devoted her life’s work to uncovering and preserving. Though she died of an asthma attack while vacationing in Hawaii in 2018, just shy of her 46th birthday, Mabalon was a key component in the historic preservation of Stockton’s Little Manila, having co-founded the Little Manila Foundation alongside Dillon Delvo, and in 2013, published “Little Manila is in the Heart: The Making of the Filipina/o American Community in Stockton, California.” “It is my hope that the love, respect, and commitment we feel for our historic community runs deeper than anything that can divide us. Little Manila will always be in our hearts,” reads one passage from her book. On Oct. 11, SOMArts Cultural Center will host its annual Día de los Muertos exhibition, honoring the people, places and social movements that have shaped the San Francisco community. Curated by Rio Yañez and Carolina Quintanilla, the show will feature traditional and contemporary altars to manifest founding curator Rene Yañez’s vision for his final Día de los Muertos exhibition, titled “City of Souls,” which is dedicated to Mabalon and the children who have passed away while in ICE custody. “The profound levity of her work was something we were excited to celebrate and honor with the show,” Yañez said. “I saw a lot of parallels between the work my dad put into the Mission and the love he had for this community, and identifying that to Dawn’s dedication to Stockton and to documenting the history there. I felt a kinship towards that.” With the help of her sister Darleen Mabalon, her husband Jesse Gonzales and close friend Allyson Tintiangco-Cubales, along with contributions from family, friends and community members, exhibiting artists Kimberely Arteche, Terry
DEDICADA A DAWN
Jesús Pérez Gonzáles, viudo de la historiadora y activista filipina Dawn Mabalon, ayuda con la instalación del altar en honor a ella para la exhibición del Día de los Muertos de SOMArts el 8 de octubre de 2019. Jesus Perez Gonzales, widower of Filipina historian and activist Dawn Mabalon helps with an altar installation in Mabalon’s honor for SOMArts Day of the Dead exhibit Oct. 8, 2019. Photo: Mabel Jiménez Bautista, and Dara Katrina Del Rosario, they created an altar celebrating Mabalon’s legacy. “Working on this project has helped me know her a lot better in a lot of ways. It also makes the project kind of difficult because she was such a multifaceted person,” Arteche said. “She was such an incredible force from her academic and activist work, but she was also an incredible friend, incredible sister, godmother, and auntie to all of these people who were impacted by who she was as a person.” An associate professor with tenure at San Francisco State University, Mabalon’s influence within and beyond the history department was evident. She was an advisory member of the Manilatown Heritage Foundation based in San Francisco and served as an important board member of various organizations including the Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS), Pin@y Educational Partnerships (PEP), and Asian and Pacific Islander Americans in Historic Preservation (APIAHiP). Throughout her academic career, Mabalon was committed to chronicling the struggles and sacrifices of Filipino Americans that were often diminished to a footnote in California and U.S. history.
Casey Ticsay
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Un detalle del altar en honor a la historiadora y activista filipina Dawn Mabalon, para la exhibición Día de los Muertos en el SOMArts. A detail of an altar installation in honor of Filipina historian and activist Dawn Mabalon, for SOMArts Day of the Dead exhibit, Oct. 8, 2019. Photo: Mabel Jiménez Her book “Journey for Justice: The Life of Larry Itliong,” written with Gayle Romasanta and illustrated by Andre Sibayan, is the first children’s book about Filipino American history and the first about Modesto “Larry” Itliong, a Stockton organizer and co-founder of the United Farm Workers (UFW).
In 1965, Itliong helped organize the Delano Grape Strike, demanding workers be paid the federal minimum wage, better working conditions and the right to form a union. He was no stranger to racial and economic oppression in the fields as growers often kept ethnic groups separated to
See MABALON, page 9
El Tecolote
ubiera sido difícil imaginar a Stockton como el corazón del EEUU filipino a principios del siglo XX. Por un tiempo, lo fue. Pero los nuevos desarrollos y la construcción de la autopista Crosstown llevaron a los inquilinos, negocios y hoteles SRO restantes a los rincones de la historia. Para 1999, los funcionarios de la ciudad demolieron una de las últimas cuadras restantes de la Pequeña Manila para dar paso a un restaurante de comida rápida y una estación de servicio. El vecindario, que fuera el hogar de la mayor población filipina fuera de aquel país, pronto se redujo a tres edificios, que ahora conforman el sitio histórico de esa zona. Se ha convertido en un remanente de la historia temprana de los filipinos estadounidenses, una que la historiadora y profesora, la doctora Dawn Mabalon dedicó el trabajo de su vida a descubrir y preservar. Justo antes de cumplir 46 años, Mabalon murió de un ataque de asma mientras vacacionaba en Hawái el año pasado. Ella fue un elemento clave en la preservación histórica de Vea DÍA DE LOS MUERTOS, página 11