Filipino La.

24/02/2026

Storytellers: What happens when Filipino creators travel to coastal Louisiana to learn about St. Malo?

Three videos produced in the Philippines reframe the coastal village and return the story back to its origins.

Read. Watch. See how Jacque Manabat, Jonas Tayaban, and Hello Shayne tell the story of the first permanent settlement in the United States.

Full post on the Filipino La website: https://filipinola.com/archive/st-malo-narrated-in-the-philippines/

23/02/2026

What is Filipino La.?

Filipino La. traces the history and culture of Filipinos in Louisiana and along the Gulf Coast—from the nineteenth-century settlement at St. Malo to contemporary community life.

This space documents that story through archives, landmarks, foodways, and the storytellers who interpret and carry it forward.

Read. Watch. Follow how Filipino Louisiana continues to take shape.

19/11/2024

Exciting news!! "Filipinos" is the newest entry in the 64 Parishes Encyclopedia of Louisiana. The brief entry outlines the development of the Filipino community in Louisiana from the earliest settlers to today. Follow the link to read the entry. Or find the entry in the Peoples of Louisiana category on the encyclopedia's homepage.

Louisiana is home to the earliest Filipino American community in the United States.

31/10/2024

Each the Filipino American Association of the ARKLATEX and LSUS hosts a symposium where the community comes together to discuss our history. Speakers for FAHM 2024 were Jezzamine Wolk, Junice Allison, and Randy Gonzales.
In the Media

October is national Filipino Heritage Month. LSU Shreveport and the Filipino-American Association of the Ark-La-Tex collaborated to host an educational symposium featuring various guest speakers. Fox 33's Jezzamine Wolk has the recap.

29/10/2024

Phantom Visions
(The Lacustrine Village of St. Malo)
by Stephanie Syjuco

24/10/2024

If you are in New Orleans, look out for Phantom Visions (The Lacustrine Village of St. Malo), a series of large-scale images created by Filipino American artist Stephanie Syjuco. The images are visible in public spaces across the city. See the map for locations.

"Phantom Visions (The Lacustrine Village of St. Malo)," 2024. A series of five large-scale images located across the city of New Orleans, commemorating the history and mythology of St. Malo, the first Filipinx community in the US (mid-1800s to early 20th Century). Click on each map icon for a previe...

15/09/2024

Excited about the readings and talks I have scheduled for October and November. The first an online reading, Saturday September 21 @ 7pm CT, hosted by Philippine American Writers and Artists (PAWA) as part of the programming for the 7th Filipino American International Book Festival. Don't miss this opportunity to hear four Filipino American authors read and discuss their work.

Sign-up here:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMvd-itpzooGNfS7ehNVd7OzfSU3EHv7yS4
After you sign-up, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining us.

26/08/2024

Great to hear these family stories of Filipino La.

19/08/2024

This is Winston Ho from the NolaChinese page.

Mark your calendars! This Wednesday evening, Aug. 21, 2024, at 7pm, I will give a presentation on five Asian American society tombs in New Orleans. This presentation will take place at the Eastbank Regional Public Library in Metairie (4747 W. Napoleon Avenue), and it will be a 40-minute presentation followed by questions. This is the same presentation I gave to Save Our Cemeteries last year. The presentation will take place in one of the conferences rooms on the first floor, and there is plenty of parking in the library lot.

There is one Filipino, three Chinese, and one South Asian/Muslim society tomb in the historic cemeteries of New Orleans. The Hispano Filipino Tomb was built in 1872 in St. Vincent De Paul Cemetery No. 2 on Louisa Street in the Ninth Ward. Randy Gonzales's great-grandfather, Miguel Guillera, is among the dozens of local Filipino Americans buried here. Many had lived and worked in the nearby Faubourg Maringy, which once hosted a large Filipino population, and was the center of the Filipino American community in southeast Louisiana. The tomb was damaged in 2005 by Hurricane Katrina, and despite its historic significance, remains in a state of disrepair ever since. My presentation will discuss proposals to restore this and the other Asian American society tombs of the city.

For more information, please visit the Jefferson Parish Library website. Hope to see you there!
https://la.evanced.info/jefferson/lib/eventsignup.asp?ID=76755

13/08/2024

30/10/2023

Thanks to Winston Ho we know much more about how Asian Americans in Louisiana worked together. Here at LSU, but also in the shrimp-drying industry.