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We share and elevate AANHPI experiences for global audiences through community-centered storytelling.
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The Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center shares and elevates Pacific Islander and Asian American experiences for global audiences through community-centered storytelling, learning, and collaboration. While on-topic discussion is encouraged, we ask that you express yourself in a civil manner and treat other users with respect. The Smithsonian also monitors and may remove posts consistent with its terms of use, as described at http://si.edu/Termsofuse

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10/10/2026

Today marks 100 years since Daguhoy Lodge No. 528 was chartered on October 10, 1926, by Cruz Renario. It was the first Legionarios del Trabajo (LDT) lodge chartered in the San Joaquin Valley and Delta.

In 1937, the lodge purchased its building at 203 E. Hazelton St. in Stockton, California. It would become much more than a meeting hall — it became an essential center of community life for generations of Filipinos.

As Filipino workers became indispensable to the San Joaquin Delta’s agricultural industry, many settled in Stockton, building one of the largest Filipino American communities outside the Philippines. At a time when marginalized Filipino communities faced discrimination and exclusion from many aspects of American civic and social life, lodges like Daguhoy provided something essential: a place to gather, organize, find shelter, care for one another, and build community on their own terms.

Daguhoy Lodge served as a hub for social gatherings, meetings, worship, and lodging for members and migrant workers during seasonal harvests. It was a place that helped Filipino workers and families navigate life far from home.

The lodge also provided practical support. Community members kept their suitcases and steamer trunks there, while the LDT cared for the belongings of deceased members until they could be sent home or claimed by loved ones.

For a century, Daguhoy Lodge has been a place where Filipino communities gathered for festivals, dances, communal meals, and other traditions that kept ancestral culture alive. Its history reminds us that these lodges were vital institutions of mutual aid, belonging, and resilience for a marginalized community building a life and a future in the United States.

📸:

Legionarios del Trabajo convention, 1932. Photo courtesy of Filipino Agricultural Workers Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Legionarios del Trabajo band members, 1930s. Photo courtesy of Filipino Agricultural Workers Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History

10/09/2026

Kulintang Kultura pays homage to the late Danongan "Danny" Kalanduyan, a talented musician and generous teacher who championed traditional Filipino kulintang gong music in the United States, helping keep its memory and practice alive.

💿 Disc 1 features Kalanduyan's ensemble at the peak of their powers, performing a traditional Philippine repertoire.

💿 Disc 2 turns to Filipino musicians in the diaspora who weave those traditions into electronica, hip-hop, rock, jazz, and other contemporary styles.

Check out Kulintang Kultura: Danongan Kalanduyan and Gong Music of the Philippine Diaspora, a Smithsonian Folkways Recording

💿🎶✨🔗 Link in our bio.

10/05/2026

Today we remember Grace Lee Boggs (June 27, 1915 – October 5, 2015), an author, philosopher, feminist, and activist who spent more than 70 years fighting for a better world.

A Chinese American leader in the civil rights, labor, and Black Power movements, Grace made Detroit her home base. There, she and her husband, James Boggs, became two well-known voices for change in the 1960s and '70s. Her work also extended to feminism and the environment.

🖼️: Original Illustration by Illi Ferandez.

From APAC’s publication, “We Are Here: 30 Inspiring Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders Who Have Shaped the United States,” by Naomi Hirahara, illustrated by Illi Ferandez.

10/01/2026

🌟Happy Filipino American History Month!🌟

This history month was first proposed by the Filipino American National Historical Society in 1991 and officially began in 1992. In 2009, the U.S. Congress formally recognized October as Filipino American History Month.

Join us this month in highlighting objects throughout Smithsonian collections that illuminate the many ways Filipino Americans have shaped and continue to shape our nation’s history and culture.

Subscribe to our mailing list for more updates and events! The link is in our bio.

09/28/2026

Today we remember Dr. Franklin S. Odo and the lasting impact of his life’s work. A third-generation Japanese American historian, scholar, and activist, Dr. Odo was the founding director of the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Program (now the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center), leading it from 1997 to 2010. During his tenure, he brought national attention to AAPI history, art, and culture, ensuring they had a rightful place in the Smithsonian.

He was also the first Asian American curator at the , where he worked to expand and diversify the stories told through the ’s collections and exhibitions. Beyond the Smithsonian, he served as president of the (1989–1991) and held visiting professorships during the 1990s at the University of Pennsylvania, Hunter College, Columbia University, and his alma mater, .

Dr. Odo shaped the field of Asian American studies through his scholarship. He mentored generations of scholars and museum professionals and encouraged them to share the histories and cultural contributions of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) communities.

📸:

UMD Asian American Studies

Dr. Franklin Odo at the 2010 Smithsonian Folklife Festival.
Photo by John Loggins, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives

09/25/2026

When the moon is at its fullest, brightest, and roundest, many families get together for the Mid-Autumn Festival—but why?

The observance started in China over 3,000 years ago, to give thanks to the harvest moon for a good farming season and bountiful crop.

In Chinese legend, Chang'e, the goddess of the moon, lives there in a palace accompanied by a rabbit that mixes the elixir of immortality, as seen here.

A popular holiday for many Asian cultures, it’s an important time to visit loved ones, give thanks to the ancestors, share a meal, and exchange gifts.

The festival is especially exciting for children in Vietnam, where they carry lanterns and enjoy festivities against the background of autumn foliage, as depicted on this dish made in northern Vietnam.

In Japan, it's a time to slow down and look up at a full moon like this one above Lake Biwa, as seen from the Buddhist temple Ishiyamadera, which still offers splendid views today.

In Korea, many travel home to honor ancestors and reunite with loved ones, perhaps like the geese seen beneath the full moon in this hanging scroll! Tilt your screen to the right to enjoy the full image.

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival to all who celebrate!

Images:

Formerly attributed to Zhou Wenju (傳)周文矩 (active mid-10th century), The Goddess Chang'e in the Lunar Palace, 19th century, China, Ink and color on silk, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Freer Collection, Gift of Charles Lang Freer, F1909.244a

Dish, late 15th-16th century, Red River Delta kilns, Hai Duong province, Red River Delta, Vietnam, Stoneware with white slip and cobalt pigment under clear, colorless glaze; iron pigment on base, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Freer Collection, Anonymous gift, F1991.55

Nishimura Shigenaga (1697?-1756), Autumn Moon at Ishiyama, ca. 1720s, Japan, Ink and color on paper, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, The Anne van Biema Collection, S2004.3.8

Ji Changhan (1851-1921), Geese under the moon, Ink on silk, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Freer Collection, Gift of Mary and Cheney Cowles, F2025.4.24

09/23/2026

This October, we're celebrating Filipino American History Month with guided tours of "How Can You Forget Me: Filipino American Stories." 🇵🇭 ✨

Join us to explore the overlooked history of a trailblazing Filipino community in California from the 1910s to the 1970s through twenty-six steamer trunks found in 2005, three of which are on display in the gallery.

📅 Saturday, October 3 • 2–3 PM
📅 Wednesday, October 7 • 2–3 PM
📅 Saturday, October 17 • 2–3 PM

📍 Smithsonian National Museum of American History, Washington, DC

🎟️ Registration is required.
🔗 Free tickets are available here https://s.si.edu/4ivaJ4z

*For meeting details, check out the Eventbrite page.

09/15/2026

Did you know that King David Kalākaua was the first reigning monarch of any nation ever to set foot in the United States? And the first foreign head of state to visit Washington, D.C.?

Elected to the Hawaiian throne earlier that year, Kalākaua had departed Honolulu on November 17 aboard the USS Benicia on a diplomatic mission with a clear goal: secure a reciprocity treaty with the U.S. government. The agreement would let Hawaiian sugar enter American markets duty-free, while U.S. agricultural and manufactured goods entered the Hawaiian Islands on the same terms.

His arrival in San Francisco on November 28, 1874, created a cascade of firsts. When he reached Washington, D.C., congress convened the first joint meeting in its history — a less formal gathering than a joint session — to receive him. President Ulysses S. Grant hosted him at the White House on December 12 as the honoree of the first state dinner. And on December 18, 1874, he addressed Congress, the first reigning monarch ever to do so.

Kalākaua's tour carried him on to Chicago, New York, Boston, and Philadelphia before he departed on February 20, 1875. The treaty was signed on January 30 and took effect the following year.

Its impact reshaped the islands. The sugar boom that followed drew waves of workers from China, Japan, Portugal, Korea, and the Philippines, transforming Hawai'i's population and economy.

🖼️: King Kalakaua and Suite Paying a Formal Visit to the President in the Blue Room of the White House, National Portrait Gallery

09/11/2026

On September 11, 2001, K-9 Unit Officer Isaac Ho‘opi‘i, heard the radio report that American Airlines Flight 77 had struck the Pentagon. Without hesitation, he rushed toward the devastation. Amid thick smoke and chaos, he carried survivors to safety and repeatedly ventured back into the damaged building, calling out, “Come towards my voice.” His courage and selflessness are credited with saving many lives and for that, received a Medal of Valor.

In the years that followed, Officer Isaac Ho‘opi‘i continued to use his voice in a different way, through Hawaiian music. A skilled kī hō‘alu (slack-key guitar) player and singer, Ho‘opi‘i has shared his cultural traditions in a group called the Aloha Boys.

📸: Issac Ho’opi’i’s uniform shirt with insignia and trousers, National Museum of American History.

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