Major Terms
Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC): a multi-ethnic organization that was established to advocate for workers rights. Notable founding members include Dolores Huerta and Larry Itliong. Under the leadership of Larry Itliong, AWOC was the original organization to go on strike on September 8, 1965. AWOC was joined by another labor organization, the NFWA (National Farm Workers Association) to become the United Farm Workers (UFW).
Manang/Manong Generation: The terms manang/manong are from the Philippine-Ilokana/o/x dialect. Manang is a term of endearment reserved for older sisters and/or female elders; it is broadly used as a term to recognize older Filipina kin.
Manong is a term of endearment reserved for male elders and/or older brothers.
The Manong Generation is in reference to the Filipina/o/x immigrant laborers that arrived in the United States from the beginning of the 20th century to 1945. This generation was later coined as the Manong Generation by later generations as a form of respect to honor both their status as community elders and also in their Ilokana/o/x heritage.
Pensionado: The term pensionado is a Spanish word that directly translates to pensioner, a person that receives a pension or wage. The term pensionado under American colonialism was in reference to a Filipina/o/x student whose expenses were paid by the government while they studied abroad. Pensionados during the early twentieth century not only studied in the United States but also abroad in Europe and other colonial spaces held by the United States.
The purpose of the Pensionado Act of 1903 was to extract Filipina/o/x students from their home country and place them in an academic environment in which they would learn to adopt westernized ideologies. With this intention, students would return to their home country then implement these learned western principles such as capitalism and colonialism.
Inter-ethnic solidarity: The idea that groups with different ethnic heritages can work together for a common goal.
Filipina/o/x : An understanding of the terms "Filipino", "Filipina", and "Filipinx" requires a brief overview of the Philippines and its history.
Over 300 years of Spanish colonization irrevocably distorted, or negatively transformed, the people and culture of the Philippines, which brought forth an enduring and complicated process of (re)defining a shared identity.
"Filipino" and "Filipina" are social and political terms of identity that are rooted and influenced by Spanish colonial identities and beliefs. The Philippine archipelago, before it was taken and colonized by the Spanish, functioned as a “collective” in many regions of the islands that make up the Philippines. Some of these provincial, regional, and ethnolinguistic collectives were preserved and supported by anti-colonial revolutionaries.
"Filipinx" is a contemporary term developed within the U.S. Fil-Am and immigrant population that speaks to gender inclusivity and fluidity. The "o/a" in Filipina/o assigns gender, similar to Pinay and Pinoy. By including and highlighting the “x” in Filipinx, Fil-Am history and scholars-activists hope to address the need for an inclusive term for gender non-binary identifying individuals, those who are of Filipinx descent but do not see themselves as either “male” or “female.”
Martial Law: Martial law is a military government involving the suspension of ordinary law.
The 1935 Philippine Constitution stated, “In case of invasion, insurrection, or rebellion, or imminent danger thereof when the public safety requires it, [the President] may suspend the privileges of the writ of habeas corpus, or place the Philippines or any part thereof under martial law.”
After Marcos’s ousting in 1986, the constitution was revised in 1987 and is still in use today. The current Constitution states, “[...] when the public safety requires it, [the President] may, for a period not exceeding sixty days, suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus or place the Philippines or any part thereof under martial law.”
The dictatorship of Ferdinand E. Marcos is often referred to as “martial law,” but other presidents have declared martial law temporarily, such as President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo declaring martial law in the province of Maguindanao on December 4, 2009, and Rodrigo Duterte declaring martial law in Mindanao on May 24, 2017.
Slavery: Slavery is a relationship in which one person enslaves another person, legally holding as a piece of their property. Enslaved people had few, if any, legal rights, and often faced oppressive working conditions and abuse from their enslavers. Enslavers built enormous fortunes off the backs of their enslaved workforces.
In seventeenth-century (1600s) Mexico, Spanish colonizers enslaved people from across the world: indigenous Mexicans, Filipinos, South Asians, and Africans. However, by the end of the 1700s, Filipinos and indigenous Mexicans were legally granted freedom, and the colony turned exclusively toward the enslavement of Africans.