Carlos Bulosan

Carlos Sampayan Bulosan (November 24, 1913[1] – September 11, 1956) was an English-language Filipino novelist and poet who immigrated to America on July 1, 1930.[2] He never returned to the Philippines and he spent most of his life in the United States. His best-known work today is the semi-autobiographical America Is in the Heart, but he first gained fame for his 1943 essay on The Freedom from Want.

Carlos Bulosan
Historical marker of Bulosan in Binalonan, Pangasinan
Born
Carlos Sampayan Bulosan

(1913-11-24)November 24, 1913
Binalonan, Pangasinan, Philippine Islands
DiedSeptember 11, 1956(1956-09-11) (aged 42)
Seattle, Washington, United States
OccupationNovelist, essayist, labor union organizer

Early life and immigration

Bulosan was born to Ilocano parents in the Philippines in Binalonan, Pangasinan. There is considerable debate around his actual birth date, as he himself used several dates. 1911 is generally considered to be the most reliable answer, based on his baptismal records, but according to the late Lorenzo Duyanen Sampayan, his childhood playmate and nephew, Carlos was born on November 2, 1913. Most of his youth was spent in the countryside as a farmer. It is during his youth that he and his family were economically impoverished by the rich and political elite, which would become one of the main themes of his writing. His home town is also the starting point of his famous semi-autobiographical novel, America is in the Heart.

Following the pattern of many Filipinos during the American colonial period, he left for America on July 22, 1930 at age 17, in the hope of finding salvation from the economic depression of his home. He never again saw his Philippine homeland. Upon arriving in Seattle, he met with racism and was forced to work in low paying jobs. He worked as a farmworker, harvesting grapes and asparagus, and doing other types of hard work in the fields of California. He also worked as a dishwasher with his brother and Lorenzo in the famous Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo.

In 1936, Bulosan suffered from tuberculosis and was taken to the Los Angeles County hospital. There, he underwent three operations and spent two years mostly in the convalescent ward. During his long stay in the hospital, Bulosan spent his time constantly reading and writing.[3]

Labor movement work

Bulosan was active in labour movement along the Pacific coast of the United States and edited the 1952 Yearbook for International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 37, a predominantly Filipino American cannery trade union based in Seattle.

Writing

There is some controversy surrounding the accuracy of events recorded within America Is in the Heart. He is celebrated for giving a post-colonial, Asian immigrant perspective to the labor movement in America and for telling the experience of Filipinos working in the U.S. during the 1930s and '40s. In the 1970s, with a resurgence in Asian/Pacific Islander American activism, his unpublished writings were discovered in a library in the University of Washington leading to posthumous releases of several unfinished works and anthologies of his poetry.

His other novels include The Laughter of My Father, which were originally published as short sketches, and the posthumously published The Cry and the Dedication which detailed the Hukbalahap Rebellion in the Philippines.

One of his most famous essays, published in March 1943, was chosen by The Saturday Evening Post to accompany its publication of the Norman Rockwell painting Freedom from Want, part of a series based on Franklin D. Roosevelt's "Four Freedoms" speech.[4] Maxim Lieber was his literary agent in 1944.

Death and legacy

As a labor organizer and socialist writer, he was blacklisted. Denied a means to provide for himself, his later years were of flight and hardship, probably including alcoholism.[5] He died in Seattle suffering from malnutrition[6] and an advanced stage of bronchopneumonia. He is buried at Mount Pleasant Cemetery on Queen Anne Hill in Seattle.

Upon his death, union leader Chris Mensalvas, wrote the following obituary: "Carlos Bulosan, 30 years old (sic), died 11 September1956, Seattle. Birthplace: Philippines, Address: Unknown; Occupation: Writer; Hobby: Famous for his jungle salad served during Foreign-Born Committee dinners. Estate: One typewriter, a twenty-year old suit, unfinished manuscripts, worn out sock; Finances: Zero. Beneficiary: His people."[7]

His works did not immediately garner widespread appreciation. For two decades after his death, his work was largely forgotten,[8] until a group of young Asian Americans rediscovered his works and led to the republication of America is in the Heart in 1973.[9]

Bulosan's works and legacy is heralded in a permanent exhibition, "The Carlos Bulosan Memorial Exhibit," at the Eastern Hotel in Seattle's International District. Its centerpiece mural is titled "Secrets of History"[10] and was created by Eliseo Art Silva.[11]

In 2018, the Bulosan Center for Filipino Studies Initiative was established at the University of California, Davis to carry on his legacy of activism through research and advocacy of the Filipino and Filipino-American community. The initiative backs the creation of a physical Bulosan Center for Filipino Studies to support research, education and advocacy. The center aims to continue Bulosan’s legacy by uplifting the voices of the most marginalized in the Filipino community in the United States and the diaspora through community-engaged research and broadly disseminating knowledge about Filipinos for the purpose of advancing their rights and welfare. [12]

Works
gollark: How do you know the total message count?
gollark: That sounds totally acidic.
gollark: not much, i would suspect.
gollark: Make it identical to a human brain internally, but it can only write things in uppercase and say things in a monotonous robot voice.
gollark: You just need to make it not something people will think of as human, somehow.

References
  1. There is disagreement over the date of his birth, as his baptismal papers list it as November 2, 1911; see Zhang, Aiping. Huang, Guiyou (ed.). Asian American Short Story Writers: An A-to-Z Guide. 2003: Greenwood. p. 23. ISBN 9780313322297. Retrieved 15 September 2014.CS1 maint: location (link) Some sources say 1914; for a list of references on this problem, see San Juan, Jr, E. "Carlos Bulosan: Critique and Revolution". Balikbayang Sinta: An E. San Juan Reader. Ateneo de Manila University Press and Flipside Publishing. ISBN 9789719951551. Retrieved 15 September 2014.
  2. Notable Asian Americans. Zia, Helen., Gall, Susan B. (1st ed.). New York: Gale Research. 1995. ISBN 0810396238. OCLC 31170596.CS1 maint: others (link)
  3. Notable Asian Americans. Zia, Helen., Gall, Susan B. (1st ed.). New York: Gale Research. 1995. ISBN 0810396238. OCLC 31170596.CS1 maint: others (link)
  4. Chris Vials (2009). Realism for the Masses: Aesthetics, Popular Front Pluralism, and U.S. Culture, 1935-1947. Univ. Press of Mississippi. p. 21. ISBN 978-1-60473-349-5.
  5. http://www.campusactivism.org/displayobject.php?giRid=367&gsTable=resource&giPhid=533&gsPhile=bulosan_center_lecture.rtf.
  6. Notable Asian Americans. Zia, Helen., Gall, Susan B. (1st ed.). New York: Gale Research. 1995. ISBN 0810396238. OCLC 31170596.CS1 maint: others (link)
  7. Notable Asian Americans. Zia, Helen., Gall, Susan B. (1st ed.). New York: Gale Research. 1995. ISBN 0810396238. OCLC 31170596.CS1 maint: others (link)
  8. Notable Asian Americans. Zia, Helen., Gall, Susan B. (1st ed.). New York: Gale Research. 1995. ISBN 0810396238. OCLC 31170596.CS1 maint: others (link)
  9. Notable Asian Americans. Zia, Helen., Gall, Susan B. (1st ed.). New York: Gale Research. 1995. ISBN 0810396238. OCLC 31170596.CS1 maint: others (link)
  10. Mack, Kathy. "Carlos Bulosan Mural". Pink Chalk Studio-Flickr. Retrieved Nov 1999. Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  11. Magalong, Michelle. "My HiFi.Day 16 of #FAHM: Read Carlos Bulosan". myhifi.tumblr.com. Archived from the original on 2015-06-23. Retrieved 2015-06-17.
  12. "Bulosan Center for Filipino Studies". Asian American Studies Department, UC Davis. Retrieved 2020-01-05.

Sources

Further reading
  • Carlos Bulosan Papers, 1914-1976. 4.65 cubic feet, 17 microfilm reels.
  • Aurelio Bulosan Papers. 1949-1974. .18 cubic feet (1 box). Contains records by Aurelio Bulosan regarding his brother, Carlos Bulosan
  • Mary Gibson Papers. 1903-1964. 1 box and 1 vertical file including 2 sound cassettes. Contains a photograph of Carlos Bulosan
  • Seiwoong Oh: Encyclopedia of Asian-American Literature. Series: Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Literature. Facts on File, 2007
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