In 1956, Carlos Bulosan, prominent Filipino writer, poet, and union activist, dies in Seattle of tuberculosis. Bulosan is best known for his semi-autobiographical novel, America is in the Heart, a landmark story about the Filipino immigrant experience.
He immigrated to America from the Philippines in 1930, endured horrendous conditions as a laborer, became active in the labor movement, and was blacklisted along with other labor radicals during the 1950s. He spent his last years in Seattle, jobless, penniless, and in poor health.
Sources:
Fred Cordova, Filipinos: Forgotten Asian Americans: A Pictorial Essay 1763-circa 1963 (Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt, 1983); Carlos Bulosan, The Philippines is in the Heart (Quezon City, Philippines: New Day Publishers, 1978); "Bulosan's Seattle," Filipinas Magazine (San Francisco, CA: Filipinas Publishing, Inc.).
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