Carlos Bulosan: A Voice for the Struggle

As the prolific writer of the Pilipino immigrant struggles in the 1930s and 1940s, Carlos Bulosan acted as a voice for his oppressed fellow brothers seeking the promises of America. Born in Mangusmana, a rural farming village of Pangasinan province, he lived and observed early on the poverty and hardships faced by the lower classes caused by the growing wealth and power concentrated in the economic and political elite. In search of opportunity and in pursuit of long-regarded American promises, Bulosan came for America in 1930. The hardships he had faced at home could not have forwarned him about the challenges he would come to face abroad.

After arriving in Seattle , he was immediately thrown into a world of hostility and racism, causing him to work in low-paying jobs. He worked in hotel and restaurant service, field harvest, and the Alaskan canneries. The discrimination he faced as well as the unhealthy working conditions of fellow farmworkers propelled him to participate in union organizing and labor politics. The brutality he lived and witnessed as a Pilipino immigrant in America as well as the constant economic struggles he faced damaged both his physical health and perception of America. In his book, “America is in the Heart,” he speaks of the paradox of America:

“…yet in this hospital, among white people—Americans like those who had denied us—we had found refuge and tolerance. Why was America so kind and yet so cruel?... I was angry and confused, and wondered if I would ever understand this paradox.”

Bulosan underwent surgery for tuberculosis after facing racist attacks, starvation and sickness. In three operations he lost most of his right ribs and the function of one lung. While confined in the hospital for two years, he spent his time reading to further educate himself and writing about the struggles of his people.            

His book, “America is in the Heart,” is his most celebrated work, however he has written other novels such as “The Laughter of My Father,” and “The Cry and the Dedication.” His other works include essays such as “Freedom from Want,” as well as various poems. Bulosan was not only a voice for the immigrants of his time, but also acts as a voice for the dream of America:

“America is not a land of one race or one class of men. We are all Americans that have toiled and suffered and known oppression and defeat… America is also the nameless foreigner, the homeless refugee, the hungry boy begging for a job and the black body dangling on a tree. America is the illiterate immigrant who is ashamed that the world of books and intellectual opportunities is closed to him. We are all that nameless foreigner, that homeless refugee, that hungry boy, that illiterate immigrant and that lynched black body. All of us, from the first Adams to the last Filipino, native born or alien, educated or illiterate—We are America!”

Bulosan passed away from bronchopneumonia in Seattle and is buried at Queen Anne Hill. There is now a Carlos Bulosan Memorial Exhibit located in Seattle’s International district. On October 31, 1999, The Mayor of the City of Seattle proclaimed the day to be Carlos Bulosan Day in Seattle's International district, to honor of the life and legacy of this Filipino pioneer. 

Sources: www.bulosan.org

                “America is in the Heart,” by Carlos Bulosan