FilAm History Month: Far West Conventions remembered as a period of awakening and activism

A critical period of Filipino American activism and social awakening is being remembered in October as the theme for Filipino American History Month.

The theme chosen by the Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS) is "50 Years Since the First Young Filipino People’s Far West Convention."

The late 60s and the decade of 1970 was an era activism among the Filipino American community that were swept up in  several concurrent social, academic, political and economic movements. 

It has been 50 years since the first  Young Filipino People’s Far West Convention, a meeting that took place at Seattle University in 1971 and brought over 300 young Filipino American participants from the West Coast. The convention is hailed as the beginning of the Filipino American Movement.

In 1971 the theme was “A Quest for Emergence” and was hosted primarily by the Filipino Youth Activities, Inc. (FYA) under the leadership of then-FYA Youth Director, Dorothy Laigo Cordova and convention chair, Anthony Ogilvie. Cordova with her husband, the late Fred Cordova, would later become the founders of the FANHS.

This initial meeting would launch a series of conferences that would later become known as the Filipino (or Pilipino) People’s Far West Conventions (FWCs), which were held annually between 1971 and 1982, in places like Seattle, Los Angeles, Stockton, and Berkeley.

The gatherings of hundreds of young Filipino Americans coming from as far away as Canada, Hawaii and the Philippines became incubators for community and youth activists that helped bring issues like Filipino Farmworkers rights, housing rights via the International Hotel struggle, the long fight for the rights and recognition of the Filipino WWII veterans and anti-martial law movement to the forefront of the Filipino American Movement. The FWC also served as the impetus for annual student-led conferences now held across the country. Many scholar-activists consider the FWCs to be the impetus of Filipino American Studies.

2021 also marks the 25th anniversary of PinoyTeach and the 20th anniversary of Pin@y Educational Partnerships (PEP) – both educational programs that teach Filipino American history and curriculum to Filipina/x/o American students from elementary school to graduate school. 

"We recognize the Philippine Studies Department at City College of San Francisco – the only department of its kind in the nation – which was advocated for, established by, and sustained through the support of Filipino American students and community over 50 years ago," said a FANHS press release.

"We also acknowledge the many youth organizers who formed scores of Filipino American student and youth-led organizations all over the country."

This theme honors the earlier pioneers in the Filipino American Movement, as well as the subsequent groups of young people across the country who have advocated for social justice issues affecting Filipino Americans (and other historically marginalized groups) for the past 50 years.

Possible activities related to “50 Years Since First Young Filipino People’s Far West Convention” might include:

• Organize teach-in’s about the Far West Conventions. Invite FWC participants to speak and share their oral histories.

• Teach about the histories of Filipino American college student organizations (SFSU PACE, UCLA Samahang, Columbia Liga Filipina, UIUC Philippine Student Association, UMich FASA), regional umbrella student groups (FIND, SCPASA, MAFA), or youth organizations (FYA, PEP, PinoyTeach).

• Highlight the history and development of Filipino American Studies/ Filipino American curriculum in your region/state.

• Interview Filipino American community leaders of various generations to talk about their experiences with youth organizing.

• Learn about the pensionados, or government-sponsored students who attended U.S. universities in the early 1900s.

• Curate a panel of Filipino American artists to describe their contributions to the arts (e.g., music, dance, theater, hip hop).

• Conduct oral histories with Filipino American elders who can share perspectives about the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s in your city or state.

• Organize a children’s book reading for "Journey for Justice: The Life of Larry Itliong" by Dawn Bohulano Mabalon & Gayle Romasanta.

• Host a panel or workshop on the anti-martial law movement and the KDP (many who attended the FWCs).

• Begin dialogues on how to advocate for Filipino American Studies in your K-12 systems or colleges/universities, and more

Recognizing the early activism in that era is appropriate for the Filipino young people and community activists of this present era when Asians and Filipino Americans are being attacks, harassed and bullied.

"We are also still combating anti-Asian violence that resembles the anti-Asian and anti-Filipino violence that occurred a century ago in places like Watsonville, CA and Yakima Valley, WA. We must educate others – as well as our own families and communities – about our history, so that historical violence does not repeat itself over and over again.