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Filipina American historian From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dawn Bohulano Mabalon (August 17, 1972 – August 10, 2018) was an American academic who worked on documenting the history of Filipino Americans. Mabalon was born in Stockton, and earned her doctoral degree from Stanford University; she later taught at San Francisco State University.[1] Mabalon was the co-founder of The Little Manila Foundation, which worked to preserve Little Manila in Stockton, California.[2] During her life, her work elevated the topic of the history of Filipino Americans, in Central California in particular.[3]
Dawn Bohulano Mabalon | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Mabalon in Paris, November 2015 | |
| Born | August 17, 1972 |
| Died | August 10, 2018 (aged 45) |
| Occupation(s) | Professor, historian |
| Spouse | Jesus Perez Gonzales[1] |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | University of California, Los Angeles Stanford University |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | American History[1] |
| Sub-discipline | Asian American Studies[1] |
Mabalon was born on August 17, 1972, in Stockton, California, to Filipinos who had immigrated to the United States from the Philippines;[2] her father was a guerrilla during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines.[4] Mabalon's grandfather, Pablo "Ambo" Mabalon, ran the Lafayette Lunch Counter,[5] an important hub in the community and one of the longest surviving Filipino American businesses in Little Manila.[6] Many Filipinos frequented the restaurant, including Carlos Bulosan.[7][8] It remained in business until 1983, and the building it had occupied was torn down in 1999.[6][8][9][10] Mabalon's maternal grandmother, Concepcion Moreno Bohulano, was the first school teacher of Filipina descent in the United States.[9][11] Mabalon was also the niece of Fred and Dorothy Cordova;[12] who were involved in the founding of the Filipino American National Historical Society.[13]
During high school, Mabalon was involved in extracurricular activities, including leading her high school's Asian Club, student council, and editor of Hi-Lite.[1] In 1991, Malabon was involved in a January issue of Sassy, being described as a "editor-in-chief".[14] Graduating from Edison High School, her post-secondary education involved attending San Joaquin Delta College, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and earning her doctorate at Stanford University.[4] Mabalon's master's thesis was titled "Filipina Pioneers: The Pinay in Stockton, California, 1929–1946", and was written at UCLA in 1997.[15] Mabalon's doctoral dissertation was titled Life in Little Manila Filipinas/os in Stockton, California, 1917–1972, and published in 2003.[16]
During her time at UCLA, Mabalon was active in the Filipino community on campus. She endorsed the effort to keep Tagalog as an available language taught at the university.[17]
In 1999, Mabalon and Dillon Delvo co-founded The Little Manila Foundation in order to preserve what remained of the Little Manila neighborhood of Stockton, California.[9]
In 2004, Mabalon became a faculty member at San Francisco State University;[1][4] she was an associate professor of history.[11][18] She focused her work on the history of Filipino Americans, Filipinos in Stockton, and Filipinos role in the 20th-century labor movement.[4] In particular, she highlighted the often overlooked efforts of Filipino Americans in the 20th-century farm labor movement, which has been seen as primarily a Mexican American movement led by Cesar Chavez.[19] Mabalon was also on the board of trustees of the Filipino American National Historical Society.[9]
In 2010, photographs taken by Mabalon were published on SFGate about a Filipino American band Skyflakes.[20] In 2015, Mabalon was interviewed about the November 2015 Paris attacks by Voice of America, as she and her husband were visiting the area at the time.[21] In 2017, Mabalon, along with Gayle Romasanta, wrote a children's book about Larry Itliong called Journey for Justice: The Life of Larry Itliong; the book was published a year later.[22] In 2018, Mabalon visited the Delano campus of Bakersfield College, which is in the area where the Delano grape strike began, for an event about archiving; at the event she spoke to encourage Filipino Americans to preserve their family histories, with the goal of expanding historical narratives.[23]
In 2013, the Filipino Women's Network listed her among their "100 Most Influential Filipinas in the World".[11] In 2014, she received an honorable mention for the Frederick Jackson Turner Award for her book Little Manila Is in the Heart;[9] that same year Mabalon was profiled in the book Remarkable Women of Stockton.[24]
In August 2018, Mabalon died while snorkeling off of Kauai.[4] She had been vacationing with her family prior to her death.[25] Mabalon had an asthma attack when she was out with her sister, and her inhaler did not alleviate her symptoms.[26] She was brought out of the water and 9-1-1 was called.[26] Paramedics attempted CPR and then transported her to an emergency room.[26] She died at the hospital.[27] Mabalon was buried at San Joaquin Catholic Cemetery.[28] Mabalon was survived by her husband of ten years, Jesus Perez Gonzalez.[1] In early October, Mabalon was memorialized at San Francisco State University.[3][29]
Mabalon's work of documenting the history of Filipino Americans continued at the Little Manila Center that she had co-founded even after her death .[30] Mabalon authored three books and was working on a fourth.[3] Her works elevated the status of Little Manila in Stockton and helped lead to Little Manila being listed as one of America's Most Endangered Places.[3][31] The San Francisco Chronicle described Mabalon as "a major figure to California's Filipino Americans".[3]
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