Module 4: The Life and Legacy of Carlos Bulosan
Carlos Bulosan was a Filipino American writer and activist best known for his semi-autobiographical novel, America Is in the Heart. Born in the Philippines in 1913, he immigrated to the United States in 1930 at the age of seventeen. During this time, the Philippines was a colony of the United States. Filipinos were allowed to travel to the United States despite other anti-Asian immigration laws like the Chinese Exclusion Act and the Gentlemen’s Agreement, which prohibited the immigration of Chinese and Japanese people. Once in the United States, Bulosan worked as a migrant laborer, traveling across the country to work on farms and in canneries.
Image 46.04.01a — Carlos Bulosan gained literary fame with the publication of his semi-autobiographical novel America Is in the Heart, which delves into the experiences of Filipino immigrants in the United States. Photo of Carlos Bulosan approximately 1955.
Courtesy of University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections. Metadata ↗
Image 46.04.01b — Photo of Carlos Bulosan circa 1945.
Courtesy of University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections. Metadata ↗
Image 46.04.01c — An anonymous Filipino man working to process fruit, circa 1930, illustrates the hard labor and low wages that many Filipino immigrants faced during this time in the United States.
Courtesy of UC Berkeley, Bancroft Library. Metadata ↗
Image 46.04.01d — Filipino salmon processing workers, known as “Alaskeros” faced a difficult seasonal migratory lifestyle, spending summers in Alaska, and then working in the “farm factories” of California and eastern Washington during other seasons, to support themselves and their families.
Courtesy of University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections. Metadata ↗
Image 46.04.01e — A photograph of a cannery in Ketchikan, Alaska, where Filipino immigrants worked, illustrates the hard labor and poor working conditions they faced in the early twentieth century.
Courtesy of University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections. Metadata ↗
Image 46.04.01f — The county’s first Filipino-led Longshoremen’s and Warehousemen’s Union Local 37 fought for fair treatment and rights, shaping the 1950s labor movement. Carlos Bulosan and Chris Mensalvas, former union leaders, stand alongside fellow workers in this photo.
Courtesy of University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections. Metadata ↗
Image 46.04.01a — Carlos Bulosan gained literary fame with the publication of his semi-autobiographical novel America Is in the Heart, which delves into the experiences of Filipino immigrants in the United States. Photo of Carlos Bulosan approximately 1955.
Courtesy of University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections. Metadata ↗
Image 46.04.01b — Photo of Carlos Bulosan circa 1945.
Courtesy of University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections. Metadata ↗
Image 46.04.01c — An anonymous Filipino man working to process fruit, circa 1930, illustrates the hard labor and low wages that many Filipino immigrants faced during this time in the United States.
Courtesy of UC Berkeley, Bancroft Library. Metadata ↗
Image 46.04.01d — Filipino salmon processing workers, known as “Alaskeros,” faced a difficult seasonal migratory lifestyle, spending summers in Alaska, and then working in the “farm factories” of California and eastern Washington during other seasons, to support themselves and their families.
Courtesy of University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections. Metadata ↗
Image 46.04.01f — The county’s first Filipino-led Longshoremen’s and Warehousemen’s Union Local 37 fought for fair treatment and rights, shaping the 1950s labor movement. Carlos Bulosan and Chris Mensalvas, former union leaders, stand alongside fellow workers in this photo.
Courtesy of University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections. Metadata ↗
How do Carlos Bulosan’s writings describe the Filipino farmworker experience?
What does his book teach about Filipinos, labor, and activism?
How does Carlos Bulosan’s writing challenge dominant narratives about immigration, racism, and the American Dream in the United States?
