TRAVELS (and more) WITH CECILIA BRAINARD: Thomasites

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Wednesday, April 6, 2016

Philippine History: Who Were the Thomasites?

Who Were the Thomasites?

While some Filipinos may know who the Thomasites were, most Americans probably don't have the foggiest notion of who they were.

In 1901, soon after the American civil government was established in the Philippines, the American government sent 540 teachers to the Philippines on board the USS Thomas. These American teachers and those who followed, were thus called the Thomasites.

Cecilia Manguerra Brainard

Cecilia Manguerra Brainard's official website is ceciliabrainarddotcom. She is the award-winning author and editor of 22 books, including When the Rainbow Goddess Wept, The Newspaper Widow, Magdalena, Selected Stories, Vigan and Other Stories, and more. She edited Growing Up Filipino 1, 2, & 3, Fiction by Filipinos in America, Contemporary Fiction by Filipinos in America, and other books.. Her work has been translated into Finnish and Turkish; and many of her stories and articles have been widely anthologized. Cecilia has received many awards, including a California Arts Council Fellowship in Fiction, a Brody Arts Fund Award, a Special Recognition Award for her work dealing with Asian American youths, as well as a Certificate of Recognition from the California State Senate, 21st District, and the Outstanding Individual Award from her birth city, Cebu, Philippines. She has lectured and performed at UCLA, USC, University of Connecticut, University of the Philippines, PEN, Shakespeare & Company in Paris, and many others. She has served in the Board of literary arts groups such as PEN, PAWWA (Pacific Asian American Writers West), among others.