THE NYC FILIPINO Community
HISTORY OF FILIPINOS IN NEW YORK
Text from Filipino American National Historical Society Metro New York:
On October 17, 1587, the first documented “Filipino” landed in the United States in Moro Bay, CA. In 1763, Filipino Seamen established a settlement in what is now known as Louisiana. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, many Filipinos came to the US as pensionados (sponsored students) and non-sponsored students. And after the Asian Immigration Act of 1965, Filipinos came to the US in unlimited numbers, mainly as professionals (e.g., doctors, nurses, engineers), but also as students, military service personnel, and domestic care workers.
New York is now the state with the third largest population of Filipino Americans and the largest population of Filipino Americans on the East Coast. Filipino Americans stand out as a thriving and prominent community among the great number of immigrants who have made the Empire State their home. Some notable Filipinos and Filipino Americans in NY include:
Philippine national hero Dr. Jose P. Rizal visited the US in 1888 and stayed at the Fifth Avenue Hotel (now the International Toy Center) on 23rd and Fifth Avenue
After the Spanish American War in 1898, many pensionados enrolled at local institutions like Columbia, NYU, Fordham, and Cornell.
The earliest documented Fil-Am organization in the tri-state area was officially the Filipino Knights of Rizal organized in 1923. The earliest Filipino social club was the Filipino Women’s Club organized in 1927.
Filipino military service men immigrated to NY after WWI and WWII; many settled in Brooklyn and subsequently Long Island.
Post-1965 Filipino immigrants formed settlements in various ethnic enclaves in Metropolitan NY, in the Queens neighborhoods of Woodside, Jackson Heights, and Jamaica.
In 2010 NY Governor David Paterson and NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg proclaimed October as Filipino American History Month in New York State and New York City. Mayor Bloomberg also declared FAHM in New York City in 2011, 2012, and 2013. 2012 marked the 425th anniversary of Filipinos in the US.
ABOUT THE LITTLE MANILA COMMUNITY IN QUEENS, NEW YORK
For the Filipino community of the greater New York City area, Little Manila is their home away from home: a dynamic portal in which members of the Filipino community maintain their connections to their loved ones both locally and internationally.
The beginnings of Woodside’s Little Manila date back five decades. After the passage of the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act, the US became open to skilled workers from around the world. In the 1970s, New York hospitals faced nursing shortages and recruited from the Philippines, bringing many Filipino nurses and their families to Queens. Those who worked at Elmhurst Hospital settled in the surrounding neighborhoods, including Woodside, where the Filipino community has since thrived. By the 1990s, 72% of Philippine immigrants in New York were registered nurses.
During the COVID-19 crisis, the Filipino community was severely impacted—not only were many working in the health care system, but Little Manila was physically situated on the front line of the city’s epicenter.
Presently, 54% of New York Filipinos live in Queens. In 2009, 13,000 of the 85,000 residents of Woodside are of Filipino descent, thus making up 15% of the neighborhood’s population. An estimated 86,000 Filipinos and Filipino Americans reside in NYC, making them the third-largest Asian group in New York today.