California Humanities funds exhibition of anti-martial law posters in U.S.

This project explores the transnational struggle for human rights and democracy and its impacts on the Filipino American community, which participated in and grew in response to the Marcos regime (1966 to 1986). HANDOUT

A California Humanities grant will fund a curated digital exhibition of 25 to 30 archival political posters produced by participants in the Philippines anti-martial law movement of the ‘70s and ‘80s.

“Never Forget: Filipinx Americans and the Philippines Anti-Martial Law Movement,” Regents of the University of California at Los Angeles, will be led by project directors Karen Umemoto and Lucy Burns.

A series of events will complement the exhibition and provide a platform for public dialogue and learning about an important but little-known chapter of California history, when the state became a hotbed of Filipino overseas opposition to the Marcos dictatorship.

This project explores the transnational struggle for human rights and democracy and its impacts on the Filipino American community, which participated in and grew in response to the Marcos regime (1966 to 1986).

The project “foregrounds the understudied history of the largest Asian American ethnic group in California, aiming to strengthen intergenerational connections within the community and build broader understandings of shared experiences and solidarities among Californians whose common histories include struggles for democracy and human rights.”