Rizal's Influence on Filipino Migrants in America

A Past Revisited, Connecting the Dots, part 10

Rizal's Influence  on Filipino Migrants in America

In 2009, I authored an essay titled "Si Rizal sa Mata ng mga Migranteng Pilipino sa Amerika." This work was published in San Francisco, and I have made it available digitally on my homepage at https://www.mccanlast.com/blog/categories/tagalog-blogs.

At that time, the message I conveyed was:

As we commemorate Rizal's birthday on June 19, 2009, it is pertinent to reflect on and hopefully revitalize the enthusiastic study of Filipino history among Filipinos both within the homeland and across various countries worldwide. This initiative serves as an excellent foundation for discussions concerning the global Filipino identity.

Fast Forward, on June 19,2025, there is a Webinar I would want to share with our friends.

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Dr. Jose Rizal Legacy International Foundation Launches Educational Webinar: “Rizal in America” with Esteemed Historian MC Canlas

The Dr. Jose Rizal Legacy International Foundation proudly announces its first educational webinar entitled “Rizal in America,” to be held on June 19, 2025, at 7:00 PM Pacific Time via Zoom. This historic event marks the birthday of Philippine national hero Dr. Jose Rizal and launches the Foundation’s commitment to public education and cultural heritage programming.

Hosted by Elaine Antonio Bordeaux, President of the Dr. Jose Rizal Legacy International Foundation, the webinar will feature MC Canlas as the guest resource person. Canlas is an esteemed Filipino American historian, community strategist, and one of the foremost authorities on SoMa Pilipinas, the official Filipino Cultural Heritage District of San Francisco.

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This is my essay in 2009, and with the assistance of Co-Pilot, I have it in English version.

Rizal's Influence on Filipino Migrants in America

By MC Canlas (June 17, 2009)

It is noteworthy that before June 12th became recognized as Philippine Independence Day, Filipino workers and migrants in the United States at the beginning of the 20th century eagerly anticipated Rizal Day, celebrated on December 30th. This date marks the execution of Dr. Jose P. Rizal in Bagumbayan and was regarded as the most significant day for Filipinos.

This content is derived from the book by the late Professor Ronald Takaki, titled “Strangers from a Different Shore: A History of Asian Americans” (1989). According to Professor Takaki:

The most important celebration of Filipino plantation laborers was Rizal Day – December 30, the day the Spanish executed the famous revolutionary leader Jose Rizal in 1896. To honor Rizal, Filipino plantation bands played mandolins and guitars at outdoor concerts. As the Filipino plantation laborers remembered Rizal, they told one another tales of his heroic deeds. “The Spaniards could not kill him, because the bullets bounced off his chest,” a worker would declare. And a compatriot would “tell it up one notch” and quickly add: “He caught them (the bullets) with his bare hands!” Filipinos repeatedly told the story about how the revolutionary leader actually did not die: “After he was buried, his wife poured his love potion on his freshly filled grave, and in the night – he rose, Apo Rizal rose from the grave.” (page 165).

According to another writer, Howard A. Dewitt, (Jose Rizal: Philippine Nationalist as Political Scientist, 1997): “For two decades Rizal Day has provided the civil rights issues, the sense of Philippine history and the organizational skills to bring California Filipinos into the mainstream of the Golden State. Had it not been for the word and deeds of Dr. Jose Rizal, California Filipinos would not have been able to make their way as effectively in the Golden State.”

In summary, during the early decades among Filipino migrants in America, the heroism, life, and thoughts of Dr. Jose Rizal were highly influential. He was an exemplary Filipino and served as a model for labor leaders such as Philip Vera Cruz, who was the former vice president alongside Cesar Chavez in the United Farm Workers. Vera Cruz stated, "Dr. Jose Rizal was not only the first person to identify himself as Filipino, but he also taught us how to confront adversity."

In San Francisco, California, Dr. Jose Rizal left numerous legacies for Filipinos, including the establishment of La Liga Filipina and the promotion of Masonic traditions. He inspired the formation of Gran Oriente Filipino, Legionarios del Trabajo, and Caballero de Dimas-Alang, three Masonic fraternities that acquired real estate during a period when discrimination against Filipinos and people of color was widespread. These properties are located in South Park and Dimas-alang Square, where the streets are named Rizal, Mabini, Bonifacio, Lapu-Lapu, and Tandang Sora.

In 1888, during his first and only visit to America, Rizal arrived in San Francisco and stayed at the Palace Hotel, renowned as the most luxurious and modern hotel of that time. In 1996, a commemorative marker was installed on the side of the hotel to honor the centenary of his visit.

“Dr. Jose Rizal, Philippine National Hero and Martyr, stayed at the Palace Hotel from May 4 to May 6, 1888, in the course of his only visit to the United States. Imbued with a superior intellect and an intense love for his country, Dr. Jose Rizal sought to gain freedom for the Filipino people from centuries of Spanish domination through peaceful means. His writings, foremost of which were the novels, “Noli Me Tangere” and “El Filibusterismo”, dared to expose the cancer of colonial rule and agitated for reforms. For this he was arrested, tried, and executed by a firing squad on December 30, 1896. With his martyrdom, the man of peace fanned the flames of the Revolution of 1896, the first successful uprising in Asia against a western colonial power.”

Although Dr. José Rizal did not migrate to the United States, his sole visit to the country resulted in notable critiques of its societal and systemic attributes. For instance, one can refer to his letter to Mariano Ponce dated July 27, 1888. (cf. E. San Juan, Rizal in USA)

“I visited the largest cities of America with their big buildings, electric lights, and magnificent conceptions. Undoubtedly America is a great country, but it still has many defects. There is no real civil liberty. In some states, the Negro cannot marry a white woman, nor a Negress a white man. Because of their hatred for the Chinese, other Asiatics, like the Japanese, being confused with them, are likewise disliked by the ignorant Americans. The Customs are excessively strict. However, as they say rightly, America offers a home too for the poor who like to work. There was, moreover, much arbitrariness. For example, when we were in quarantine.

They placed us under quarantine, in spite of the clearance given by the American Consul, of not having had a single case of illness aboard, and of the telegram of the governor of Hong Kong declaring that port free from epidemic.

We were quarantined because there were on board 800 Chinese and, as elections were being held in San Francisco, the government wanted to boast that it was taking strict measures against the Chinese to win votes and the people’s sympathy. We were informed of the quarantine verbally, without specific duration. However, on the same day of our arrival, they unloaded 700 bales of silk without fumigating them; the ship’s doctor went ashore; many customs employees and an American doctor from the hospital for cholera victims came on board.

Thus, we were quarantined for about thirteen days. Afterwards, passengers of the first class were allowed to land; the Japanese and Chinese in the 2nd and 3rd classes remained in quarantine for an indefinite period. It is thus in that way, they got rid of about 200 [actually 643 coolies, according to Zaide] Chinese, letting them gradually off board.”

Reflecting on the life and writings of Rizal, along with the efforts to foster Filipino identity among Filipino migrants, proves valuable. Despite being distant from their homeland and exposed to both positive and negative aspects of American civilization, these experiences offer insightful perspectives.

In 2002, I conducted an interview with Vincent Lawsin, the former leader of Caballero de-Dimas-Alang, based in Seattle. During the discussion, he provided insights that were further supplemented by Dr. Dick Solis, a historian of Caballero and pastor in Salinas.

Dimas-Alang was an extension of the underground Katipunan movement, which sought freedom and independence for the Philippines from Spanish rule and later continued the struggle against the new colonial power, the United States of America.

Patricio Belen, a bodegero from Manila and leader of Dimas-Alang, brought the movement to the United States in 1906 to support the Filipino pursuit of Philippine independence. Like the pre-Katipunan reformist group Los Indios Bravos, the organizers utilized Masonic methods (such as initiation and rituals) and established lodges.

In the Philippines, the majority of Dimas-Alang's membership consisted of peasants and workers who were highly critical of the collaborative stance taken by the Filipino elite with American authorities, including the political dealings of Manuel Quezon with American politicians to achieve the country's independence. Many members of the Dimas-Alang Society, who admired Artemio Ricarte—a veteran Katipunero leader with strong anti-American sentiments—were restless and prepared for an uprising.

In the United States, the Caballero de Dimas-Alang emerged as a significant organization and mutual aid society largely due to the peasant and working-class backgrounds of Filipino sojourners and migrant workers, alongside workplace racial and class discrimination. At its height, the organization maintained 69 lodges outside of California, spanning regions such as Alaska, New York, New Orleans, Dallas, Chicago, and Honolulu, with each lodge comprising between ten and one hundred members. The Caballero de Dimas-Alang was officially incorporated as a California non-profit organization on January 22, 1921, and is regarded as one of the oldest Filipino organizations in the United States.

The Supremo informed me that nearly all their activities and rituals in Caballero were traditionally conducted in Tagalog. It was only within the last decade that they began incorporating English. Their members hold a profound respect for the heroes of our nation, particularly Rizal and Bonifacio. Their sense of Filipino identity and patriotic aspirations for their compatriots and homeland are both strong and clearly articulated.

As we commemorate Rizal's birthday on June 19, 2009, it is pertinent to reflect on and hopefully revitalize the enthusiastic study of Filipino history among Filipinos both within the homeland and across various countries worldwide. This initiative serves as an excellent foundation for discussions concerning the global Filipino identity.

June 7,2025 FB