A History You Might Have Never Known

A little History lesson for you.

I was browsing the net earlier today, looking for some stuff for my lesson when I came upon an article that I find quite interesting…

Did you know that Pinoys were the first EVER Asian settlement in the United States? At least that’s how historians see it. The “Manilamen” were a bunch of slaves in 1784 who jumped from a Spanish ship during the Galleon trade and made settlements in Saint Malo, Louisiana (where else?). Saint Malo is a small fishing village that existed in the present-day St. Bernard parish from the mid-18th century to early 20th century before it was destroyed by a hurricane in 1915.

They built houses for themselves, they paid no taxes (I could live there), and had their own government. Offenders were put in “fish-car” or makeshift jail and since food was very, very scarce, offenders usually promise to obey the law (and the town lived happily ever after). And to keep the tie between them and our dear old Pinas, these Manilamen allegedly would send money to their friends in Manila with the profits they made from fishing. I have NO CLUE as to which money remittance they used and how the Pinoys in Pinas traded these dollars to peso. Interesting, huh.

These Manilamen lived in secrecy amongst the swamps until a journalist from Harper’s Weekly found them in 1883 and exposed their existence to the Americans (that must have been a riot!). But these Manilamen apparently didn’t hid themselves from the local women. Since there were no Filipina among them, they eventually courted and married some Cajuns and Creole ladies.

Now, what I find interesting about this is that some things about Pinoy never changed. Like:

1. Even in 1784, uso na ang jump-ship sa mga Pinoy seaman!

2. Even in 1784, some Pinoys were already tax evaders…

3. Pinoys are naturally matakaw…gutumin mo lang, magpapakabait na

4. Uso na ang remittance nung 1784…and

5. Magaling magtago ang Pinoy! 100 years bago nahuhuli! 

Seriously, though, this is hard stuff!

Marina Espina – Filipinos in Louisiana (A. F. Laborde & Sons, New Orleans, Louisiana, 1988)