NOW Live from the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center

Today there are more than 2.5 million Filipino Americans in the United States. Yet many, including Filipinos themselves, are not familiar with the details of their history in America—their experiences, rich traditions, and culture. Singgalot: The Ties That Bind is their story.

This exhibition captures the challenges and issues that confronted Filipinos following the annexation of the Philippines as a U.S. territory in 1898. Singgalot explores the Filipino experience initially as colonial subjects and nationals and further examines their struggles to acquire full citizenship status as immigrants in this country throughout the last century.

Singgalot first debuted at the Smithsonian Institution’s S. Dillon Ripley Center Concourse on the National Mall from May to August of 2006 to mark 100 years of Filipino migration to the United States.

The exhibition was developed by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Program (APAP) and the Smithsonian Filipino American Centennial Committee; curated by Dean Alegado, associate professor and chair of the Ethnic Studies Department at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa (retired); and organized for travel by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES). The national tour is made possible by Farmers Insurance.