By Yasmin Assemi
The Record - April 10, 2005
STOCKTON — Michael Bello wants to learn more about his roots.
Bello, 25, wasn’t active in Stockton’s Filipino community growing up but now wants to know more about its history and culture so he can learn about their triumphs and mistakes and, ultimately, himself.
He and about 100 others attended a conference hosted by the Little Manila Foundation at San Joaquin Delta College on Saturday.
“We’re kind of like the unknown Asian race,” Bello said as he searched tables stacked with books on Filipino history, literature and culture. Filipinos are physically diverse because they are often mixed with other cultures. People frequently mistake him for being Cambodian or other Asian nationalities, he said.
“Reclaiming the Legacy: The Labor Movement and the Filipino Immigrant Experience in Stockton, California, 1920s to 1950s” featured members of the Filipino community who spoke about the history and contribution of Filipinos to the Stockton community.
Tamara Suguitan’s family has lived in San Joaquin County since the 1920s — a fact the 22-year-old Delta College student is proud of, she said.
“It’s a sense of pride, knowing my family is from Little Manila,” Suguitan said. Her grandfather operated a barbershop in the area during the 1940s and ’50s, she said.
Suguitan also thinks knowing her family’s roots is important.
“If you don’t know history, you don’t know yourself,” Suguitan said.
Manila is the capital city of the Philippines. Little Manila was the name given to the Filipino-dominated region of Stockton bordered by Washington Street on the north, Sonora Street on the south, Center Street on the east and Hunter Street on the west.
Filipinos originally immigrated to Stockton from the Philippines as farm laborers shortly after the turn of the century.
By World War II, the city was home to the largest Filipino community outside of the Philippines.
They worked alongside labor leader Cesar Chavez and El Concilio’s coalition in the grape strikes and agricultural boycott movements of the 1960s and ’70s.
“The Filipinos have definitely come a long way,” said Florence Quilantang, a Little Manila board member and Delta College instructor. “They want a voice in the community’s future and especially to remember our legacy in Stockton.”
The foundation has continued its mission of educating the community about Filipino roots and culture since the Stockton City Council designated the area of Little Manila as a historical site in 2000, Quilantang said.
“It is from there that we are trying to bring the awareness back and acknowledge our roots here in Stockton,” Quilantang said.
Much of Little Manila was demolished by city redevelopment projects from 1966 to 1999, according to the foundation.
The foundation and the Filipino American National Historical Society’s Stockton chapter are working to save and restore what is left of the historical area.
