National Museum of American History
How Can You Forget Me: Filipino American Stories
December 23, 2025 – November 28, 2027
Presented by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, How Can You Forget Me: Filipino American Stories explores 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. The trunks and their contents were preserved by the Legionarios del Trabajo, a fraternal organization that stored the personal effects of deceased members to be sent home or collected by loved ones. Decades later the recovered trunks serve as time capsules, offering a window into what was once the largest population of Filipinos living outside of the Philippines. These mostly male migrants settled and established a vibrant community in south Stockton, California, that became a crucial hub for Filipinos arriving in the United States. There, in what came to be known as “Little Manila,” they thrived—forming families, labor unions, and mutual aid societies. Featuring over fifty artifacts from the trunks, along with objects loaned from the Filipino American community in Stockton, this exhibition helps us remember the people whose labor contributed to the growth of California’s agricultural industry and paved the way for future generations of Filipino immigrants.
On view at the National Museum of American History, this exhibition is the Smithsonian Asian Pacific Center’s signature program for the Institution’s celebration of the nation’s semiquincentennial, “Our Shared Future: 250.”
Interested in booking a tour of How Can You Forget Me: Filipino American Stories for your students, community members, or professional group? Please send an inquiry to APAC-Education@si.edu.
Filipino man with car, 1930s. Photo courtesy of Filipino Agricultural Workers Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
