RESILIENCE THE DOMOTO LEGACY — This photo illustration depicts Toichi Domoto, one of Filoli’s original horticulturalists, standing before Filoli’s garden. Despite extreme hardship, such as Japanese internment, the Domoto family became some of the first to commercially grow Japanese plants in Northern California. “I walked through Filoli’s garden and I see every day ... their [the Domoto’s] impact in the horticultural industry, with the wisterias that are blooming here in the garden, the camellias that are blooming nonstop and all of the other plants that they helped make popular here and bring here,” said Erika Frank, Filoli’s director of education and interpretation. Photo: Avery Hanna
Black community. Filoli’s history of racial exclusion is prominent, as Black and Latinx people were absent from Filoli during its time as a private house, according to census records. As a result, the displays dedicated to these communities were more generalized. For example, Filoli devoted a placard to Duke Ellington, a famous Black jazz artist, whose energetic compositions were overlooked by the Bourn family. Other placards described previous staff members at Filoli who demonstrated resilience despite living in a society that rejected them. These ranged from Bella Worn, who owned a florist shop in a time where women were employed less frequently, to Teikichi Taga, the Roth’s butler, who was forced into a Japanese internment camp. “I thought the exhibit was actually really interesting, because it’s always different … learning about personal stories from history, rather than just learning about the historical events themselves,” Paly junior Xiaohan Li said.
Changing the narrative scenes from “Dynasty” — a show that In “Stories of Resilience” and beyond, highlighted gender inequality and featured Filoli is working to increase education on prime time’s first openly gay character and the history of the estate, recognizing contri- first Black female lead. butions and challenges beyond the central In the future, Filoli plans to work families that owned the land. with historians to tell stories of agricultural Filoli has also been working to im- workers and highlight the social inequities prove its diversity by within their field, participating in the especially in the This place, it’s just a American Alliance context of Filoli’s of Museum’s Facing building, it’s just a garfamilies and staff. Change program, in “We believe den until we start sharan effort to create a in diversity, we bemore diverse board ing the narratives of the lieve in inclusion, of directors and but defining what people who created it.” make the site a more that means for us as welcoming place for an organization is — ERIKA FRANK, Director of Education all Bay Area resiand Interpretation important,” Frank dents. said. “We have acFiloli plans to tion items that we celebrate LGBTQ+ Pride month this year are taking to help us get to that point, and with events like a walk on the estate trail honestly, this is not just a ‘we check things with stations to explain the meaning be- off our list.’ This is an ongoing process of hind the pride flag, along with events to inclusion. For us it’s about continuing to recognize Filoli’s role as a backdrop for work to be an inclusive place.” v
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