12/17/2025
Eagerly anticipating this exhibit. The "stories" part of the online exhibit can be easily used in the classroom.
One major theme in the upcoming exhibition “How Can You Forget Me: Filipino American Stories” is labor.
In the early 20th century, after the 1921 and 1924 immigration laws barred most Asian and southeastern European immigrants from entering the U.S., agricultural companies turned to Filipino and Mexican workers to fill critical labor shortages in California’s Central Valley.
Between 1910 and 1930, the Filipino population in California grew from just five people to more than 30,000. Many became seasonal farmworkers, harvesting the fruits and vegetables that fed a nation.
To read more about the themes that will be explored in “How Can You Forget Me,” check out https://s.si.edu/3N26ob6
Image:
Filipino farmworkers in a field, 1930s. Photo courtesy of Filipino Agricultural Workers Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
