In 1924, Victorio Velasco (d. 1968) begins publishing the Seattle area's first Filipino newspaper, The Philippine Seattle Colonist. Velasco has just arrived from Manila where he was a young reporter for The Manila Times. The paper runs until 1927.
Velasco became a key leader in the Filipino community in Seattle. He was active in the Jackson Street Community Council and in other community organizations. In 1928, Velasco founded The Filipino Forum, also a community oriented newspaper.
Velasco was a cannery worker and union member. In 1968, he tragically burned to death at an Alaska cannery as he was trying to save his typewriter from a fire in a bunkhouse.
Sources:
Doug Chin, Seattle's International District: The Making of a Pan-Asian American Community (Seattle: International Examiner Press, 2001), 50.
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