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Remembering the Filipino immigrant villages of Louisiana
Sula Kim
Anchor
Remembering the Filipino immigrant villages of Louisiana
WE TAKE YOU TO JEAN LAFITTE, THE SITE OF ONE OF THE FIRST ASIAN AMERICAN SETTLEMENTS IN HISTORY. THAT’S RIGHT. MAYOR TIM KERNER IS THE DESCENDANT OF ONE OF THE EARLIEST FILIPINO IMMIGRANTS. WE SPOKE WITH HIM AND HIS GRANDFATHER ABOUT THE IMPACT THE FILIPINOS MADE TO LOUISIANA SEAFOOD CULTURE. TIM CARTER SAYS THEIR INFLUENCE GOES BEYOND FOOD. IT’S A HUGE PART OF AMERICAN HISTORY BECAUSE IT WAS THE FIRST ASIAN TO SETTLE IN THE UNITED STATES. ONE OF THOSE FIRST ASIAN SETTLERS IN AMERICA IS MAYOR TIM CONNORS. GREAT GREAT GRANDFATHER, JOHN ROJAS, A FILIPINO IMMIGRANT WHO FOUNDED CLARK CHENIERE AROUND 1860. IT WAS AMONG THE FIRST SETTLEMENTS IN THE SWAMPS OF THE BARATARIA BAY, ALONG WITH MANILA VILLAGE. CLARKSVILLE EVEN HAD ITS OWN COIN THAT WAS ACCEPTED BY LOCALS. THE BILLIONS BOATS, THEY WERE SELF-SUFFICIENT. THEY BUILT PLATFORMS. THE PLATFORM WERE BUILT ENTIRELY ON STILTS, ACTING AS A SHRIMP PROCESSING PLANT AND A TOWN. CROONER’S GRANDFATHER, GORDON ROJAS, REMEMBERS THEM WELL. THIS WOULD PLATFORM ON THE WATER AND WOULD SPREAD THE SHRIMP OUT IN THE SUN EVERY EVENING. THEY HAD TO PICK THEM UP, USED TO SHELL THEM, SHELTER AND SELL THEM THE MANILA MEN HAD A METHOD CALLED THE SHRIMP DANCE THAT WOULD SEPARATE THE SHELLS FROM THE MEAT. THEY HELPED TO INTRODUCE DRIED SHRIMP TO LOUISIANA AND THE GLOBAL COMMUNITY. BEFORE THE DAYS OF REFRIGERATE OPTION. IT WAS INNOVATIVE AT THE TIME RIGHT? BECAUSE THEN YOU COULD STORE IT. YOU DIDN’T NEED TO KEEP IT ON ICE BECAUSE IT PRESERVED IT. SO IT CREATED A WHOLE NEW MARKET AND LET PEOPLE FROM, YOU KNOW, OUTSIDE THE GULF COAST EXPERIENCE THE SEAFOOD. MY DAD IS A COUPLE OF UNCLES HAD THAT. AND BESIDES MANILA VILLAGE, YOU KNOW, THEY MUST HAVE HAD ABOUT 70 PLATFORMS TO TRY THE SHRIMP OUT IN BARATARIA. YOU BE THE OTHER. WELL KNOWN FLOATING VILLAGE WAS SAINT MALO IN SAINT BERNARD PARISH, KNOWN AS PERHAPS THE FIRST PERMANENT FILIPINO SETTLEMENT IN THE EARLY 1800S. THEY DID IT IN ONE OF THE HARSH ENVIRONMENTS. YOU KNOW, THIS IS PRE AIR CONDITION. THEY LIVED OUT WHERE YOU KNOW, YOU DIDN’T HAVE A METEOROLOGIST TELLING YOU WHEN A STORM WAS COMING. IT’S EXTREMELY HOT. THE MOSQUITOES, ALLIGATORS, THEY CAME HERE AND THRIVE AND THEY PERSEVERED. THEY THRIVE FOR DECADES, OVERCOMING ALL KINDS OF ADVERSE CITY IN THE MARSHLAND. BUT THE FLOATING VILLAGES COULD NOT WITHSTAND THE POWER OF MOTHER NATURE. HURRICANES EVENTUALLY WIPED THEM OUT. IN 1965, MANILA VILLAGE WAS DESTROYED BY HURRICANE BETSY. AND DO YOU FEEL LIKE THERE’S ENOUGH PRESERVATION AND REMEMBRANCE? I FEEL LIKE THERE HASN’T BEEN. BUT NOW, YOU KNOW, WE ARE REALLY PUSHING IN THE STORYTELLING, YOU KNOW, GETTING PEOPLE HEAR THE STORY, HOW UNIQUE IT IS, WHAT A BEAUTIFUL STORY IT IS HERE AT THE TOWN OF JEAN LAFITTE, MEMORIES ARE STILL PRESERVED. THERE ARE SEVERAL HISTORICAL MARKERS LIKE THIS AND ALSO COMMEMORATIVE PLAQUES. ENGRAVED ARE THE NAMES OF IMPORTANT FILIPINO AMERICANS AND THEIR CONTRIBUTIONS TO HISTORY. THE RESILIENCE YOU SEE FROM STORMS. WE’RE THE FIRST ONES TO GET BACK WHEN WE GET HIT THE HARDEST. A STORY OF BRAVE PIONEERS WHO VENTURED OUT INTO THE MURKY WATERS FOR A FRESH START. BUT LITTLE DID THEY KNOW THEIR RESILIENCE AND INNOVATION WOULD HELP LAY THE FOUNDATION FOR THE MODERN DAY SHRIMP INDUSTRY AND MAKE A LASTING IMPACT ON THE CULTURE OF LOUISIANA. HARD WORK AND FAMILY ORIENTED BIG BELIEF IN GOD. WELL, AND TODAY THERE’S ABOUT 6000 FILIPINO AMERICANS HERE IN THE GREATER NEW ORLEANS AREA. THEY HAVE ALL KINDS OF FILIPINO ORGANIZATIONS VERY INVOLVED AND ACTIVE IN THE COMMUNITY. GINA OKAY. SO HOW DID THE FILIPINOS FIRST COME TO AMERICA? THAT’S A GOOD QUESTION. WELL, SOME HISTORIANS SAY THAT THEY WERE ORIGINALLY SAILORS, SPANISH SAILORS ON GALLEONS THAT WERE BIG SHIPS LIKE THIS. AND THE WORKING CONDITIONS WERE SO TOUGH AND VIOLENT AND ABUSIVE, THEY JUMPED OFF THE SHIP. SOME OF THEM DROWNED. THOSE WHO SURVIVED FOUND THESE VILLAGES. OTHERS SAY THAT THEY WERE ACTUALLY HERE IN THE MID 1700S WHEN PHILIPPINES AND LOUISIANA WAS UNDER THE SPANISH COLONIAL GOVERNMENT AND OTHERS STILL SAY THEY WERE HERE FIGHTING IN THE NEW ORLEANS WAR IN 1815. AND ALSO THE WAR OF 1812. SO THEIR PRESENCE HERE OBVIOUSLY GO WAY BACK IN HISTORY
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Remembering the Filipino immigrant villages of Louisiana
Sula Kim
Anchor
The Filipino people were among the very first Asian American immigrants to settle along the Louisiana coast. One of the most prominent settlements of Filipino Americans was Manilla Village, located along the Barataria Bay region of the Gulf of Mexico coast.In the nearby town of Jean Lafitte, a bayou village about 30 minutes south of New Orleans, the mayor is a descendant of one of those Filipino immigrants. Mayor Tim Kerner Jr.'s great-great-grandfather is John Rojas, who founded Clark Cheniere, also known as Clarksville, around 1860. The village was similar to Manilla Village, and even had its own coin that was accepted by locals. Clarksville was built entirely on stilts on the water – it was part shrimp processing plant and part town. "Just a wood platform on the water and they would spread the shrimp out on the sun and you had to pick them up and then we used to shell them and sell them," said Gordon Rojas, who is Tim Kerner's grandfather. The Manilla men created an innovative method called the shrimp dance that would separate the shells from the meat. They helped to introduce dried shrimp to Louisiana and the global community before the days of refrigeration. "It was innovative at that time, right? Because then you could store it. You didn't need to keep it on ice. So it created a whole new market and let people from outside the gulf coast experience the seafood," Kerner said. "They did it in one of the harshest environments. This is pre-air condition. They didn't have a meteorologist to tell you when a storm is coming. It's extremely hot with mosquitos and alligators. They came here and thrived and persevered."They thrived for decades, overcoming all kinds of adversity in the marshland, but the floating villages could not withstand the power of mother nature. They were battered by storms and in 1965, Manilla Village was destroyed by Hurricane Betsy. Kerner wants the story to be told and not forgotten. He says they were brave pioneers who ventured out into the murky waters, for a fresh start. Their hard work and industrious nature laid the foundation for the modern-day shrimp industry and made a lasting impact on the culture of Louisiana. According to the Honorary Consul of the Philippines Robert Romero, some of the Filipino immigrants were sailors on the Spanish galleons who were dealing with violent and abusive working conditions. So they jumped off the ship to escape. Some of them drowned, but those who survived found the platforms in the swamps of Louisiana. According to other historians, Filipinos were in Louisiana in the mid-1700s when the Philippines and Louisiana were under the Spanish colonial government in Mexico. They say there's some documentation that the Filipinos fought in the Battle of New Orleans in 1815 and the War of 1812. Kerner feels their legacy should be honored in a bigger way, saying their stories encompass the values of modern-day Louisiana."They were hard-working, family-oriented, big belief in God. You can still feel that connective ness and that work ethic here in Jean Lafitte. The resiliency you see from storms, we're the first ones to back when we get hit the hardest," Kerner said.
JEAN LAFITTE, La. —

The Filipino people were among the very first Asian American immigrants to settle along the Louisiana coast. One of the most prominent settlements of Filipino Americans was Manilla Village, located along the Barataria Bay region of the Gulf of Mexico coast.

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In the nearby town of Jean Lafitte, a bayou village about 30 minutes south of New Orleans, the mayor is a descendant of one of those Filipino immigrants. Mayor Tim Kerner Jr.'s great-great-grandfather is John Rojas, who founded Clark Cheniere, also known as Clarksville, around 1860. The village was similar to Manilla Village, and even had its own coin that was accepted by locals.

Clarksville was built entirely on stilts on the water – it was part shrimp processing plant and part town.

"Just a wood platform on the water and they would spread the shrimp out on the sun and you had to pick them up and then we used to shell them and sell them," said Gordon Rojas, who is Tim Kerner's grandfather.

The Manilla men created an innovative method called the shrimp dance that would separate the shells from the meat. They helped to introduce dried shrimp to Louisiana and the global community before the days of refrigeration.

"It was innovative at that time, right? Because then you could store it. You didn't need to keep it on ice. So it created a whole new market and let people from outside the gulf coast experience the seafood," Kerner said. "They did it in one of the harshest environments. This is pre-air condition. They didn't have a meteorologist to tell you when a storm is coming. It's extremely hot with mosquitos and alligators. They came here and thrived and persevered."

They thrived for decades, overcoming all kinds of adversity in the marshland, but the floating villages could not withstand the power of mother nature.

They were battered by storms and in 1965, Manilla Village was destroyed by Hurricane Betsy.

Kerner wants the story to be told and not forgotten. He says they were brave pioneers who ventured out into the murky waters, for a fresh start. Their hard work and industrious nature laid the foundation for the modern-day shrimp industry and made a lasting impact on the culture of Louisiana.

According to the Honorary Consul of the Philippines Robert Romero, some of the Filipino immigrants were sailors on the Spanish galleons who were dealing with violent and abusive working conditions. So they jumped off the ship to escape. Some of them drowned, but those who survived found the platforms in the swamps of Louisiana.

According to other historians, Filipinos were in Louisiana in the mid-1700s when the Philippines and Louisiana were under the Spanish colonial government in Mexico.

They say there's some documentation that the Filipinos fought in the Battle of New Orleans in 1815 and the War of 1812.

Kerner feels their legacy should be honored in a bigger way, saying their stories encompass the values of modern-day Louisiana.

"They were hard-working, family-oriented, big belief in God. You can still feel that connective ness and that work ethic here in Jean Lafitte. The resiliency you see from storms, we're the first ones to back when we get hit the hardest," Kerner said.