We’re very sorry: “The story ‘Filipino-American history recognized’ stated that the ‘Nuestra Senora de Buena Esperanza,’ the galleon on which the first Filipinos landed at Morro Bay, Calif., loosely translates to ‘The Big Ass Spanish Boat.’ It actually translates to ‘Our Lady of Good Peace.'” (Here’s the original story they’re correcting.)
This doozy of a newspaper correction goes on to say the ill-advised translation was “plagiarized from an inaccurate Web site.” That would be this one, I presume. That site proposes other ways of celebrating Filipino American History Month: “Making Jack O’ Lanterns out of corned beef and/or Spam,” “Decorate the house with asparagus,” and “Find a Spaniard and boss him or her around for 333 minutes: That’s one minute for every year of Spanish rule.”
Apparently, October is Filipino American History Month because that’s when the first Filipinos arrived in the U.S., on board the aforementioned ship. Wrong! Filipino history fact of the day: The first Asian settlement in what’s now the United States came in 1765, when the first Filipinos settled in beautiful south Louisiana. (More info here and here; map here.)
South Louisiana history is fascinating stuff, particularly in that part of the state, just south of New Orleans in the delta. That’s also the area where you have the Islenos from the Canary Islands. I was looking at a map of that area earlier today and saw Judge Perez Drive — named for Leander Perez, one of the most fascinating and repugnant figures in Southern political history.
Perez was the political boss of Plaquemines Parish for five decades. Corrupt as all hell, he made millions by stealing oil-rich land from the state and quashing all opposition that might arise. He ran that parish like a personal fiefdom — statues to his glory everywhere, streets like Judge Perez Drive to leave his cancerous mark on the landscape. He took the money he stole and used it to fund the pro-segregation battles of the 1950s and 1960s; he was a big George Wallace supporter, among others. This film has some of the details. The fascinating Perez tale’s best found in Glen Jeansonne’s book.
Enough Louisiana history for one day, I promise.
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Very interesting stuff. I lived in Manilla when I was small, and I think I’ve only conversed with a handful of Filipinos since coming back (Texas), so I would have never thought they’ve been in America that long. Your history report gets an “A”, Josh Benton.
Just to be a general pain, Esperanza actually means “hope”. But, that was hilarious.
Glen Jeansonne’s book is one of the best Louisiana history volumes I have ever read. He breathes life into a story that, until you hear it in detail, you can hardly believe could have actually happened.
Yeah, I was having a hard time figuring out how “nuestra señora de buena esperanza” came out having something to do with a big ass. A colloquial thing, I guess.