Hacker News Reader

Comment by danmaz74 | Hacker News Reader

> The Philippines was a large American holding in the South Pacific

"holding"... looks to me like the whole history of the Philippines as a US colony has been written out of history.

It's definitely got a section in The American Pageant, a textbook used for Advanced Placement US history in some high schools. I was aware of the counterinsurgency war but didn't know many specifics. I think I just assumed "It was like Vietnam, but with more racism, less press coverage, and consequently more murder of civilians."

I believe I remember also learning that Kipling published White Man's Burden at the same as a caution against that war.

I’m not sure I’d say it “got a section” in The American Pageant. The coverage is pretty slim and light on detail. There’s discussion of how atrocious the American military was, but with some “oh the Filipino soldiers did bad things to American soldiers and then the Americans retaliated” excuses thrown in.

It’s on pp 637–638 here: http://www.scuc.txed.net/webpages/cbaker/files/chapter%2027%...

And pp 646–647 here: http://www.scuc.txed.net/webpages/cbaker/files/chapter%2028%...

And page 807 here: http://www.scuc.txed.net/webpages/cbaker/files/chapter%2035%...

Huh. You're right. I must have read some stuff independently and assumed I was taught it in school.

I can't speak for your schools, but it was in my history classes as well as commonly mentioned in almost every book about World War II in the Pacific I've read.

I looked at probably two dozen American History and World History textbooks aimed at high school students, back when I was a high school student in ~2003, and none of them had more than a couple pages about US involvement in the Philippines, at the end of discussions of the Spanish–American war.

I think it’s safe to say that most Americans have little to no understanding of this history. Maybe “written out” is an exaggeration, but “quickly glossed over and afterward ignored” would be a fair summary.

> Americans have little to no understanding of this history.

That's different than 'written out of'.

Americans know little about the Astor expeditions to the Pacific Northwest, the Fremont expeditions, Californian independence and statehood, or any number of other things.

American textbooks spend large amounts of text recounting the horrors of European colonialism in Africa, India, China, the Americas. Likewise, some recent textbooks do a half–decent job of discussing slavery and the genocide of indigenous Americans. There’s usually extended coverage of e.g. the Korean and Vietnam wars. By contrast, American colonial occupation of the Philippines is glossed over in a few pages, as a footnote to the Spanish–American war.

Do you think high school history textbooks should have detailed coverage of the Astor expedition, etc.? Or if not, what’s your point?

Yes, the genocide of the Philippine-American War wasn't covered in the history classes in my high school curriculum. What is even more amazing is how many Filipinos were willing to fight on behalf of the Americans, only a generation after the U.S. slaughtered them.

And given what a terrible record the US has in neglecting veterans of all backgrounds, it isn't surprising that the brave men of the USAFFE were treated so poorly.

We should also remember that this was the era of the asinine anti-Asian immigration policies, another shameful topic only lightly covered in American history books. Effectively they were good enough to die for us, but not good enough for us to honor our promises to them.

Please don't overuse the word genocide, its was not a genocide.

I acknowledge your point, it is arguable whether it constituted genocide, some believe it to be so. Killing hundreds of thousands and placing them in concentration camps is ugly no matter what word is used though.

I'm not sure the period gets that much critical attention in the Filipino curriculum either. I'm struggling to think of an ex-colonial power more culturally influential and admired than the US in the Philippines, and that's as a Brit who's been to quite a few of the better-run former British colonies.

I agree, Filipinos on the whole love the USA and I have asked a few younger Filipino-American immigrants about these topics and the most common response was a blank stare. I guess they haven't discovered the fallacy of the American dream yet either, they're just damn happy to be here.

Not really; anything that covers the Spanish-American war, MacArthur, WWII in the Pacific is going to talk a lot about it.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com