As this article is being written, thousands of Filipino immigrants are probably entering the United States. The migration process is so current that it is easy to assume the Filipinos are relatively new immigrants. From Philippine history, we know that we were an American Colony in the early 1900s. Memory can easily recall the influx of the Filipino workers in the sugar cane plantations of Hawaii in the 1920s and the next wave of professional immigrants, particularly in the medical field, in the 1960s. In reality, the Filipino Americans have been a part of the historical shaping and development of the United States even before it was officially a nation.
The Filipinos, referred to as Luzon Indians, first set foot in the Americas as early as 1565. They were sailors on board the Manila Galleon that ran between Manila and Acapulco, Mexico until the 1860s. Some of these sailors jumped ship and settled in Mexico. There were sporadic wanderings mostly in California, but the first Filipino community found its home in the bayous and marshes outside New Orleans, Louisiana. The earliest settlement know was founded around 1765. These Filipino pioneers thought that the swamps of New Orleans gave them safe haven from the Spaniards. They became known as the Manila Men who lived in stilt houses. These communities eventually grew to be seven Filipino villages. Unfortunately, over time, the communities have disappeared although there are still remnants of what once was the fishing village of St. Malo in St. Bernard parish. The last of these was Jefferson Parish's Manila Village which was devastated by Hurricane Betsy in 1965.
They intermarried with women of all races, primarily Cajuns, French, Indians, Spanish and Irish. Today, there are still eighth generation Filipino descendants living in New Orleans.
Filipinos have certainly influenced the racial flavor, if you will, of Southern Louisiana. Do not be surprised to meet someone who might look Caucasian with a Filipino last name and find out they are of Irish, Italian and Filipino heritage, for example. It is unfortunate that over time and the assimilation process, the sense of being Filipino was lost with most of the descendants of those original Filipino settlers. However, their legacy lives on particularly in the method of drying shrimps that is still applied today. The very first Filipino organization was also founded in 1870 by these forefathers known as La Sociedad de Beneficiencia de los Hispano Filipinos de Nuevo Orleans. The Elkes Krewe Orleans doubloons thrown during Mardi Gras also depict the first major award-winning contestant in the 1935 parade who just happened to be Filipino.
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