A Biography of Filipina Activist Velma Veloria

1052 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The development of labor unions

Velma Veloria has served in the House of Representatives, worked as a member of the Alaska Cannery Workers Association, and fought for the rights of citizens in her home country of the Philippines. Although Veloria has led an exciting life as a Filipina immigrant in the United States, a review of her oral history clearly suggests that not all of Veloria's experiences have been positive. While it is reasonable to argue that Veloria's experiences have shaped the person, legislator and activist that she has become, the stories of her life that she recounts are both inspiring and painful. With this in mind, it is useful to examine Veloria's history such that a more integral understanding of her life and the causes that she has chosen to support can be better understood.

Veloria begins her oral history with one of the first memories from her immigration to the United States. Veloria notes that she moved to the San Francisco Bay Area from the Philippines in the early 1960s. When she came to the United States, she was unable to speak English. Even though Veloria did not think much about it when she arrived in America, her inability to speak English made her a social outcast. She notes being constantly teased by peers because she could not speak English. She wanted to "just leave" the United States because of the ridicule that she felt. Veloria's inability to speak English created such a lasting and painful impression that, as an adult, she states that she would fight until she dies to make sure that all non-English speaking children could receive a bilingual education. What this effectively suggests is that Veloria's experience was so deeply personal and painful that she does not want any child to feel as horrible as she did when sh...

... middle of paper ...

...s with the United States, she despises many of the policies that the country endorses. Further, because Veloria does not live in the Philippines she realizes that she can no longer fully identify with the people of her motherland. As such, Veloria will remain forever caught in the middle of these cultures, unable to fully assimilate into one or the other.

In the end, Veloria's journey has been as painful as it has been inspiring. Although the challenges that Veloria has faced have clearly shaped the person that she has become, it is evident that in order to achieve, she had to give up a lot. Thus, Veloria's life cannot be judged from a distance.

Works Cited

Velma Veloria: Filipina Activist. Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project. 21 Feb 2006 http://depts.washington.edu/civilr/veloria.htm

Show More
Related

  • Analysis Of Se Habla Español

    1063 Words  | 3 Pages

    In “Se Habla Español,” the author, Tanya, talks about her personal experience with dealing with language issues. Tanya was born in Guatemala and moved to the U.S when she was only three years old. Tanya’s mother did not want her to speak Spanish, because they believed that when they moved to the U.S speaking only English would help her blend in. For so long Tanya believed that speaking Spanish went hand in hand with being poor and speaking only English made her feel superior. After many years she has tried to learn Spanish but has found it quite difficult because although that is her native language it was like trying to learning a whole new language for her. In “Mother Tongue,” Amy’s explains how she has come to the realization that she speaks more than one “English,” meaning that the way she speaks in front of a crowd is different than the way she speaks with her mother. The way Amy speaks with her mother is still English although it is not proper. Amy expresses how she does not really like the phrase “broken English,” because if something is broken it needs to be fixed and she does not feel that her mother’s English needs to be

    Read More

  • Similar Themes in Richard Rodriguez' Aria: Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood and Carmen Tafolla's In Memory of Richi

    518 Words  | 2 Pages

    Richard Rodriguez' narrative, “Aria: Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood” and Carmen Tafolla's poem, “In Memory of Richi” have similar themes. In Rodriguez' narrative, he talks about his experience attending an American school. Similarly, Tafolla recites a story about a boy in an American school setting. Each story implies that students of another culture are subject to lose their cultural ties in order to fit in with the American society.

    Read More

  • Dolores Huerta. Women and a Hero

    1443 Words  | 3 Pages

    "Dolores Huerta: Si Se Puede / Women's Leadership in America History." Dolores Huerta: Si Se

    Read More

  • Analysis Of From Hunger Of Memory: The Education Of Richard Rodriguez

    1079 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Aria,” from Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez, Richard Rodriguez shares his autobiography of when he first entered his classroom at catholic school. He writes of his transition through emotions of fear, insecurity, and self-doubt as he transitions from the privacy of his home to the public world. Richard develops an understanding that his that private language that is used in his home is different from the language that is publicly acceptable in school. His school teachers pushed his americanalization which led him to discover his identity, since he indeed was an American but grew up in a Spanish speaking home. Through this journey of journey of assimilation he discovers that learning this new language brought him a sense of comfortability and acceptance. Richard Rodriguez heavily relates to the Crevecoeurian immigrant because he was willing to learn a new language, leave his culture behind, and embrace his American identity.

    Read More

  • Biography Of U.S. Representative Janice D. Schakowsky

    691 Words  | 2 Pages

    In her first term in office, she was successful in including provisions in major legislation to expand housing opportunities for low-income people and to assist small business owners and farmers. She is an active member of the Congressional Human Right

    Read More

  • Mexican Feminist Congress Summary

    1792 Words  | 4 Pages

    The year is 1916, the location is Merida, Yucatan. At this time, Salvador Alvarado was governor of Yucatan and believed that “women’s emancipation an integral part of Mexico’s overall revolutionary goals of elevating oppressed peoples” (76). Alvarado was a socialist that had some radical ideals. He and constitutional leader Venustiano Carranza believed women should be educated, they wanted to educate women only to become teachers. They portrayed to help women but this help only pigeon holed them.

    Read More

  • Replace the Old Stereotypes and Myths in Our Society

    882 Words  | 2 Pages

    Cofer, Judith Ortiz. "The Myth of the Latina Woman." Bullock, Richard, Maureen Daly Goggin and Francine Weinburg. The Norton Field Guide to Writing. Ed. Marilyn Moller. 3rd. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2013. 806-812. Print.

    Read More

  • Intercultural Interview Paper

    2171 Words  | 5 Pages

    The subject of this paper is Liz, a 52-year old, 1.5 generation female immigrant from Hong Kong. What this means is that she immigrated to the United States when she was a child, around 7-years old (Feliciano Lec. 1/4/2016). As a child of a family that consists of five siblings and two parents that did not speak any English prior to immigrating, the focus of this paper will be on the legal processes that the family went through to become legal immigrants and the various factors that aided in her path towards assimilation.

    Read More

  • Mujeres Latinas En Accion

    1352 Words  | 3 Pages

    When Mexicans and Puerto Ricans moved to Chicago in the late 1900s, they encountered many issues without any help. Cases of domestic violence and lack of education and jobs emerged in the Latino community. Latino immigrants populated the Pilsen neighborhood and didn't have many services or resources available for them when they needed assistance. After no signs of improvement were apparent, 15 women stood up and decided to make a change of their own. Mujeres Latinas En Accion formed to help Latina women and their families by providing services, fighting for the better of Latinas and giving help to those who need it.

    Read More

  • Mother Tongue By Amy Tan And Richard Rodriguez

    740 Words  | 2 Pages

    The writings of Amy Tan and Richard Rodriguez’s depicts a bilingual story based on two differing culture. On Mother Tongue, “Tan explores the effect of her mother’s “broken” English on her life and writing” (506). On the other hand, Richard Rodriguez “recounts the origin of his complex views of bilingual education through Public and Private Language” (512). From a child’s eyes, Tan and Rodriguez describe each joys and pain growing up in a non-English speaking family. Hence, may be viewed that cultural differences plays a major role on how one handles adversities.

    Read More

  • Public And Private Language Summary

    687 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the article, “Public and Private Language”, Richard Rodriguez argues that bilingual education delays learning a “public language” and developing a public identity”. I can relate to Richard’s story because my family and me moved to America when I was young and we also had the same struggle learning a new language. I agreed with Rodriguez when he expressed that he didn’t feel like a true American until he mastered the English language because English is the first and main language in America.

    Read More

  • Women in the Progressive Era

    2111 Words  | 5 Pages

    Schneider, Dorothy. American Women in the Progressive Era 1900-1920. New York: Facts on File, 1993.

    Read More

  • Passing for English Fluent: Latino Immigrant Children Masking Language Proficiency

    675 Words  | 2 Pages

    While reading this article one of the most shocking sections were when the students were talking to Monzó and sharing their outlook on their place and their language’s place in society. These students even at this early age are feeling how devalued their first language has been. They feel like they have to speak the right* English, only use English in public places, never their first language, and that they must assimilate to the American culture as much as possible. This reminded me of a chapter in Lippi-Green (2012)’s text. Within this chapter Lippi-Green (2012) discusses how in the United States Spanish speakers are not only expected to learn English but they are expected to learn and utilize the right* English determined by the majority and assimilate entirely to American culture. Throughout Monzó and Rueda (2009)’s text the children in conversations expressed their observation of the social order in relation to language and race. This was surprising to me since they are only in 5th grade. During a conversation with one of the children Monzó and Rueda (2009) recorded an alarming statement, “He said that his mother could not be considered American because she did not...

    Read More

  • Mother Tongue by Amy Tan

    1012 Words  | 3 Pages

    English is an invisible gate. Immigrants are the outsiders. And native speakers are the gatekeepers. Whether the gate is wide open to welcome the broken English speakers depends on their perceptions. Sadly, most of the times, the gate is shut tight, like the case of Tan’s mother as she discusses in her essay, "the mother tongue." People treat her mother with attitudes because of her improper English before they get to know her. Tan sympathizes for her mother as well as other immigrants. Tan, once embarrassed by her mother, now begins her writing journal through a brand-new kaleidoscope. She sees the beauty behind the "broken" English, even though it is different. Tan combines repetition, cause and effect, and exemplification to emphasize her belief that there are more than one proper way (proper English) to communicate with each other. Tan hopes her audience to understand that the power of language- “the way it can evoke an emotion, a visual image, a complex idea, or a simple truth”- purposes to connect societies, cultures, and individuals, rather than to rank our intelligence.

    Read More

  • Sandra Cisneros' Writing

    1289 Words  | 3 Pages

    This is what affects our future as a whole and challenges us to “bridge the gap between marginal Latino/a culture and the American mainstream.” If society does not at least try to blend together, then it will lead to a huge war that could possibly never end. Just being that woman to show her passion and influence, can cause a great impact and force this world to acknowledge we all are the same. Works Cited Cisneros, Sandra. Woman Hollering Creek.

    Read More

More about A Biography of Filipina Activist Velma Veloria

Open Document