In the early 2000s, Filipinos made up the second-largest immigrant group in the US and the third largest in Canada. In the early 1900s, they worked as agricultural laborers, cannery workers and sailors. Since 1970, they worked in such fields as computer programming and nursing. This book examines their history, culture, trials and successes.

In this handsome book, seventeen leading Filipino scholars and writers survey some significant themes and issues in the Philippines during the 20th century. In four primal areas -- history, education, literature, and the diaspora, the editors have gathered an engaging series of reflections on the centennial of Philippine independence from Spain.

The first sign of Filipinos in Houston was when Igorots were featured on a 1908 postcard at the annual carnival known as No-Tsu-Oh. Then, in 1912, a young man by the name of Rudolfo Hulen Fernandez appeared in the Campanile yearbook as the first Asian graduate from Rice University. Though the Philippines were an American colony, and Filipinos immigrated to the United States freely in the 1920s and 1930s, there is little evidence of their presence in Houston. In 1934, the Tydings-McDuffie Act reclassified all Filipinos from nationals to aliens, establishing a limit of 50 immigrants per year. The most significant wave of immigration started with the 1965 Immigration Act, which granted the Philippines 20,000 visas a year, igniting the era of the Philippine nurse and her career in the Texas Medical Center. Other professionals, such as accountants and engineers, followed.

Filipinos arrived in the Washington, D.C., area shortly after 1900 upon the annexation of the Philippines to the United States. These new settlers included students, soldiers, seamen, and laborers. Within four decades, they became permanent residents, military servicemen, government workers, and community leaders. Although numerous Filipinos now live in the area, little is known about the founders of the Filipino communities. Images of America: Filipinos in Washington, D.C. captures an ethnic history and documents historical events and political transitions that occurred here.