When I think back on all the years I spent in school, one of the biggest surprises is that I learned more about Filipino American history in my Guam History class than I ever did in all my other “American” history classes combined.
And that’s saying something because I went to high school in Guam, a U.S. territory. You’d think we’d learn plenty about Filipino Americans considering how many of us live there, right? But nope. Our schools used the same textbooks as the mainland United States, which meant we got the same lessons about the Boston Tea Party, the Civil War, and the thirteen colonies, and not much about the Pacific or the people who look like us.
It wasn’t until I got to the University of Guam and sat in my first Guam History class that I had my “mind blown” moment.
🤯 The Lesson That Changed Everything
We were covering the Spanish colonial period, and the professor mentioned how after Spain ceded the Philippines to the United States in 1898, America didn’t just take over. They fought a whole Filipino-American War against Filipino revolutionaries who had just fought for their independence from Spain.
I remember sitting there thinking, Wait, what? There was an actual war? Between the Philippines and the United States? How did I never hear about this before?
It wasn’t in my textbooks. Not in any lesson I can recall. Yet it was one of the most pivotal moments in both Filipino and American history, a war that killed hundreds of thousands of Filipinos and shaped decades of U.S. policy in the Pacific.
That class opened my eyes to how intertwined our histories really are. Guam, the Philippines, and the United States aren’t just random dots on a map. We’re connected by centuries of colonization, migration, resilience, and shared stories that too often get left out of the “mainland” version of American history.
When “American History” Isn’t Everyone’s History 📚
It’s wild to think that even in Guam, an island filled with Filipino families, fiestas, and traditions, our curriculum was still centered on a very stateside view of history. We were learning about the expansion of the American frontier but not about how that same expansion included the Pacific.
Looking back, I realize how much that shaped the way I saw myself growing up. I didn’t see Filipinos in the pages of those history books, even though our people helped build, farm, serve, and survive through so many parts of America’s story.
That missing representation quietly tells you that your community’s history doesn’t matter, or at least not enough to be included. And that’s something that needs to change.
What I Learned in Guam History 🇬🇺
My Guam History class wasn’t just about dates and treaties, it was about connections. I learned about how Filipino workers migrated to Guam for opportunities, how both islands shared Spanish influence and Catholic traditions, and how our identities overlap in so many subtle ways.
I started to see Guam not just as an island I grew up on but as part of a bigger story, one that bridges Asia, the Pacific, and America itself.
And I realized that Filipino American history isn’t a side note. It’s a chapter of American history that deserves to be told, not just in college electives but in every classroom.
Reclaiming the Story
This Filipino American History Month, I keep coming back to that feeling I had in my Guam History class, that mix of awe, frustration, and pride. Awe that our history is so rich and interconnected. Frustration that I had to wait until college to learn it. Pride that our stories endured anyway.
History shouldn’t only belong to the mainland. It should include the islands, the territories, and the people who’ve shaped this nation from every corner of the Pacific.
Because when we learn the whole story, we see just how connected we really are and how much beauty there is in those in-between spaces where cultures meet and grow together.
So here’s to learning, unlearning, and reclaiming.
Here’s to Filipino American History Month and to the lessons that never made it into the textbooks.
Dedication 💐
This post is dedicated to the memory of my Guam History professor, the late Lawrence J. Cunningham (1943–2024), who passed away on June 13, 2024, at the age of 81. Dr. Cunningham received his BS and MEd from the University of Cincinnati and his doctorate in education from the University of Oregon in 1987. He devoted his life to teaching and preserving the history and culture of Guam and Micronesia.
He retired from the Guam Department of Education in 1993 and served as a research associate and assistant professor of history at the University of Guam. As a historian for TASI (Traditions About Seafaring Islands), he worked to revive traditional Micronesian navigation and seafaring practices. Dr. Cunningham co-authored “A History of Guam” and “Guam: A Natural History,” among other publications, and was recognized with numerous awards for his dedication to education and the humanities.
He was more than a teacher; he was a storyteller who helped his students see the living connections between Guam, the Philippines, and the wider Pacific. His lessons continue to shape the way we understand our shared history.
Professor Cunningham Maraming salamat po at si Yu’os ma’ase. You will be missed by your students, friends, family and colleagues but never forgotten 💕