“Dealing with” “the Problem” of Filipinos in Honolulu in 1917
I came across an article that the editor of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin wrote in 1917 about the “appalling” conditions in the “tenement districts” to the west of Nuuanu Stream in…
Mother’s Little Helper in the Philippines in the 1930s
It’s a well-known fact that it is not easy to be a mother, and that every mom needs some help from time to time (or every day). In the 1960s…
Filipino Lemon Juice at the Singaporean Lost Horizon in 1973
The previous post brought out some good comments by readers/friends on Facebook. We have been having a little discussion about why it is that Filipino musicians were (and to some…
Santa Claus in the Philippines
“You better watch out / You better not cry / You better not pout / I’m telling you why / Santa Claus is coming. . . . . . to…
Chasing Down Chinamen in Early-Twentieth-Century Southeast Asia
I was looking at records from the American consulate in Sandakan, on the island of Borneo, from the early twentieth century, and found an interesting letter to the consul general…
Drinking Laxative Lemonade in 1930s Singapore
Over three years ago I wrote a post about an advertisement I found in a newspaper from the Philippines from 1940 for “Feen-A-Mint, the tasty chewing gum laxative.” Since that…
The Gar Girls’ 1917 Trip to the Philippines
In 1901 the Parliament of Australia passed the Immigration Restriction Act of 1901. This law basically gave immigration officials a lot of power to deny entry into Australia of people…
Trafficking Japanese Women in Colonial Southeast Asia
On 27 February 1912, Captain Tucker Wardrop, the chief police officer at the Central Police Station in Beaufort, British North Borneo, wrote a letter to the chief police officer at…
From Chinese to American by Conquest in Siam
In 1898, shortly after US naval forces had captured Manila, a man of Chinese ethnicity arrived at the port in Bangkok on a boat from Manila and claimed to be…
Excluding Chinese from the Philippines by Military Fiat
I’ve been looking at some archival documents, and I came across an interesting issue that was discussed by American government officials in 1899 concerning Chinese in the Philippines. In 1899,…