Three 爱豆社区 professors will participate in a presentation and discussion on May 7 about a memorial plaque that was recently removed from Seattle鈥檚 Volunteer Park due to concerns about its accuracy.
Originally called City Park, Volunteer Park was renamed in 1901 to honor veterans of the Spanish-American War. A commemorative plaque 鈥� championed by J. Willis Sayre, a veteran of the war who also supported the park鈥檚 name change 鈥� was installed in 1953 and described the war as one of liberation for the peoples of the Philippines, Cuba and Puerto Rico. The war is now widely viewed as one of imperial conquest.
In May 2021 鈥� around the same time a community member requested that Seattle Parks and Recreation remove the plaque 鈥� published a Northeast Asian Weekly op-ed titled 鈥�.鈥� Seattle Parks removed the plaque that summer.
Giebel, a UW associate professor in the Jackson School of International Studies and of history, focuses on colonialism and imperialism in Asia.
鈥淲ords matter,鈥� Giebel said. 鈥淭erminology matters in how we commemorate and how we remember. It鈥檚 something that needs to be renegotiated all the time. There are also facts, and we must honor our facts even if they make us uncomfortable. In this case, there is simply no way around this misrepresentation.鈥�
The program, 鈥淰olunteering for Empire: The Wars of 1898 and Seattle鈥檚 Volunteer Park,鈥漺ill discuss issues with the plaque in relation to the history of the war, its aftermath and how subsequent generations viewed the conflict. It will also examine broader questions related to racism, U.S. foreign policy and the consequences of American wars.
Giebel will moderate a panel featuring UW faculty members, professor and historian of Southeast Asian history and American colonialism, and, associate professor and historian of Latin American and Caribbean history. Their discussion will examine the intersections of race, colonialism and national identity.
鈥淰olunteer Park is one of the most important public spaces in Seattle, and yet like many of the public spaces in Washington and the U.S., it is permeated with the legacies of the U.S. Empire,鈥� Rafael said. 鈥淭he stone plaque that commemorated Seattle volunteers’ participation in the so-called 鈥榣iberation鈥� of the Philippines is just one example of the distortion of history to reflect the dominant historical narrative that U.S. intervention was a sort of rescue mission.鈥�
In the 1890s, a nationalist movement rose against Spanish colonial rule in the Philippines. A provisional government had declared Philippine independence by early 1898. Meanwhile, the U.S. declared war on Spain, and Spain surrendered only to the U.S.
American troops refused to recognize Philippine sovereignty. While a constitutional assembly formally established the Philippine Republic in 1899, the U.S.-Spanish Treaty of Paris sold the Philippines, Cuba and Puerto Rico to the U.S.
鈥淭he Republic of the Philippines was really Asia鈥檚 first republic,鈥� Giebel said. 鈥淲ithin weeks of the declaration of independence, the Americans are coming in and conquering it and destroying it. It was really a war of conquest.鈥�
The Philippine-American war resulted in more than 250,000 Filipino deaths from 1889 to 1902 and caused ecological and economic destruction of the islands, Rafael said. The Philippines remained a U.S. colony until 1946, an occupation that 鈥渟aw the persistent rise of revolts, insurgencies and colonial counter-insurgencies that resulted in even more violence and massacres.鈥�
鈥淎s a Puerto Rican scholar whose family lives in Puerto Rico,鈥� Rodr铆guez-Silva said, 鈥渢his is also a unique opportunity to bring attention to the new forms of subjugation to U.S. interests lived by people in former colonies like the Philippines, as well as the everyday realities of dispossession and displacement experienced by inhabitants, and their diasporas, in the U.S. colonies of today: Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.鈥�
The event will also feature librarian Abe Ignacio, who co-authored 鈥淭he Forbidden Book鈥� featuring over 200 political cartoons from 1898 to 1906 that chronicle the war between the United States and the Philippines. Ignacio will explain how the American public viewed the war at the time.
鈥淭he conquest of the Philippines is one of the most forgotten wars in American history,鈥� Giebel said. 鈥淭hat moment of the Spanish-American War where America really branched out beyond the continent and became truly an empire, is something that is absolutely covered up in mainstream historical understanding.鈥�
The event is sponsored by Volunteer Park Trust, the UW Southeast Asia Center and the UW Center for Global Studies.
For more information, contact Giebel at giebel@uw.edu, Rafael at vrafael@uw.edu and Rodr铆guez-Silva at imrodrig@uw.edu.