Click here and the images to read the book about the history of the community’s work.

More history from the University of Washington

“United States rule over the Philippines provided an opening for thousands of Filipino migrants to cross the Pacific in the early twentieth century. While U.S. law denied them citizenship on the basis of race, they nevertheless could travel to the United States without passports under the ambiguous status of “nationals” until 1934. Most came to the United States to work, hoping to make money and return home. In contrast to other first generation Asian Americans of that era, many also came to pursue higher education. As students they took low wage jobs to put themselves through school, but after graduation often discovered they were still segregated into the same menial positions. Among these immigrants were Vic Bacho and Trinidad Rojo, two men who would come to play central roles in the campaign to rename the bridges and establish Dr. Jose P. Rizal Park.”

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“In 1989, the Rizal Park & Bridge Preservation Society installed the park’s central feature, a prominent bronze bust of Dr. Rizal designed by Filipino sculptor Anastacio Caedo. Funding for the bust was secured thanks to the efforts of, among others, Zenaida F. Guerzon, an active figure in the community and a longtime ally of the project, and Seattle councilwoman Dolores Sibonga. It was also funded in part by a creative time capsule campaign, mirroring a similar capsule described in Rizal’s novel Noli Mi Tangere, installed underneath the statue – a fitting metaphor for the endurance into the future of a Filipino American community in Seattle.”

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Read more of the community park’s history from “Filipino Americans and the Making of Seattle’s Dr. Jose P. Rizal Bridge and Park” by Andrew Hedden