MEET ANTONIO MIRANDA RODRIGUEZ POBLADOR, THE FILIPINO WHO CO-FOUNDED LOS ANGELES

California consistently remains one of the top cities for Americans with Filipino ancestry. Los Angeles, in particular, is said to have the largest population of Filipinos in the state at about 506,000, based on a 2022 survey.

So it's no surprise that Filipino markers can be found scattered across the city. Just last year, the new 30-foot-tall Historic Filipinotown Eastern Gateway was erected to celebrate Filipinotown, as well as the contributions of the Filipino-American community to the City of Angels.

California and the Philippines actually have a long history of association that predates the era of the American protectorate (or before Spain sold the country to the U.S.). The first recorded visit of Filipinos to what would later be known as the United States happened in 1587, when our kababayans landed in Morro Bay. Filipinos were among the first migrants who supplemented farm labor, after all. Two-thirds of Filipinos who emigrated during this early period in American history ended up in the agriculture sector. The other third found themselves in other cities.

One of the founders of Los Angeles was apparently a Filipino, as well. In 1781, 50-year-old Filipino migrant Antonio Miranda Rodriguez Poblador arrived in California with his daughter, Juana Maria. Together with the los pobladores (the settlers), he would help build the L.A. we know today.

To put things in context, it was only in 1777 that Alta California Governor Felipe de Neve went with San Jose and Los Angeles as the first two pueblos in Alta California. The Los Angeles settlement was named El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de Los Ángeles de Porciúncula (The Town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels of Porciúncula).

This same year, the governor would travel to Alamos in Sonora, New Spain (present-day Mexico) to recruit 11 families, whose patriarchs would wound up becoming the heads of L.A. With them were 11 men, 11 women, and 22 kids.

The heads were Antonio Clemente Villavicencio, Antonio Mesa, Jose Fernando Lara, Jose Vanegas, Pablo Rodriquez, Manuel Camero, Jose Antonio Navarro, Jose Moreno, Basillio Rosas, Alejandro Rosas, and Luis Quintero. All of them had been farmers who came from poor families, each possessing Indigenous, European, and African roots.

Then there was Antonio Miranda Rodríguez, who was of Filipino heritage. He would join the pack in Sinaloa, New Spain. Together with the rest, they would arrive at the San Gabriel Mission along El Rio de Nuestra Señora La Reina de Los Angeles de Porciúncula, where their new homes would be found. On September 4, 1781, Spanish soldiers would take the families down the trail toward the river, thereby establishing El Pueblo de Los Angeles.

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What Do We Really Know About Antonio Miranda Rodriguez Poblador?

Not much is known about him, except for a few records that show his presence and labor. A widower likely born in Manila, he arrived in the United States as a 50-year-old man, with one or possibly two daughters (depending on the account, one of them was said to have passed away before he went to Alta California).

His 11-year-old daughter, Juana Maria, would unfortunately fall ill due to a case of smallpox. This forced him to remain in Loreto while he awaited her full recovery. This is where the details get a little murky. Some say that she died there while others say she survived. Whatever the reason, Rodriguez would stay in Loreto for two years, working as a local gunsmith.

By 1783, Rodriguez would be reassigned elsewhere. He was said to have settled at a military fort in Santa Barbara at this time. Researchers have speculated that he might have served as a soldier or armorer. He was said to have been the newly built defense installation built by Spain the year prior. The post was meant as a mechanism to fortify the Second Military District in California.

Unfortunately, Rodriguez's name wasn't always part of the list of Los Angeles co-founders. He seems to somehow be forgotten in that regard because his tenure was cut short. The Los Angeles Almanac, however, has added his name next to the 11 original settlers assigned by the governor.

Recognizing Filipinotown

"Talang Gabay - Our Guiding Star" is a monument that took 20 years to be delivered to Filipinotown. For the landmark gateway's design, Filipino-American artists Eliseo Art Silva and Celestino Geronimo Jr. were tapped to add their own flair to the mix. They ended up adding cultural symbols like the parol, gumamela, and the iconic Sarimanok.

Historic Filipinotown is an area in Los Angeles that was named one of the five Asian Pacific Islander neighborhoods back in 2008. It would be called such because it had been one of the first areas in the region where Filipinos were recognized as settlers, bringing with them Filipino organizations and churches.

In 1923, Little Manila would be home to one of the biggest waves of Filipino migrants. In about a decade or so, 6,000 Filipinos found themselves in the city. By the '50s, Filipinos were finally granted the right to buy land in the United States. Thus, the emergence of more Filipino-American bonds within the state of California. The rest, as they say, is history.

To this day, Los Angeles remains one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the world, with a robust Filipino community that's as proud as it has ever been. Rodriguez's story just adds to the list of reasons why the people of L.A. love their Filipino neighbors.

2024-05-06T20:20:10Z dg43tfdfdgfd