The Seattle Times front page had my friend and fellow history partner Dr. Joe Castleberry alongside a vintage photo. He’s making waves in American Conservative circles for his Pro-Immigration stance and his love of Hispanic America. For the political spin read the Sunday article. For the historical background on the vintage photo he’s in front of, read below.
Why are there Filipinos in that picture?
Vintage Filipinos with President Joseph Castleberry at Northwest University, Seattle Times.
This extremely giant wall image is Northwest University’s first student body picture found in their prayer room at the Kirkland campus. The brown men you can spot are Filipinos from Ilocano speaking regions of the Philippines, which is typical of the American “Manong” diaspora. In 1934 Northwest’s school was in the Roosevelt (Hollywood) neighborhood of Seattle in what is now Cavalry Assembly alongside I-5. This was very far from the confines of Chinatown where Filipino Americans were segregated to, and in a Seattle where racial covenants denied them residency. They were the first People of Color at the school and were part of it’s forming foundation.
Example of racial intolerance against Filipino American migrant workers from early 20th century.
The nature of the school’s ethnic immigrant composition is important because it defied the institutional racism and violent bigotry of the era. It shows a school founded by immigrants, of people who did not look the same, but were bound together by radical convictions in their new Christian faith. At the same time Christianity is a reason why this dynamic Filipino American history is so little known, because Filipinos are normally seen as Catholic.
One larger reason why Filipino immigrants were connected and admitted to the school is because of Pacific Northwest labor industries. Census evidence I’ve found shows that all of these early Filipino students came to the United States as migrant laborers. They worked the same jobs as Norwegian immigrant workers in the Northwest. Pentecostalism grew amongst Norwegians, and the school’s first President Henry H. Ness was also a Norwegian immigrant. Evidence at FANHS National Archives shows Filipinos & Norwegians as fellow loggers and lumber mill laborers in the local region. Additionally, many Filipinos worked in the fishing and cannery industry with Swedes and Norwegians. As the fervor of Christian revivalism grew among these European immigrants, it carried along to their fellow co-workers in Asian immigrants as well.
1938 Senior Class photo, Northwest University Archives.
Maybe six years ago I was walking the school halls and noticed an image of Filipinos peppered into the student body picture of Northwest University. I thought it would have been impossible to figure out who they were. As I dug into better research a couple years ago, I found the story of NU’s Filipino students to be amazing considering their freedom and how they were later celebrated in their denomination. Since then, I’ve brought audiences with me through the past about connections between the Manong Generation, Seattle’s Chinatown, and the Assemblies of God (AG). I’m glad to share some of the finer points again.
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