Canvas Module

The Canvas module, titled Filipino American Community and Identity in the Pajaro Valley, provides an overview of the Filipino American community and identity formation in the Pajaro Valley through exploration of the following topics: labor, Filipino American businesses and social organizations, foodways, and music. It includes primary source documents from the Watsonville is in the Heart Community Digital Archive including photographs and oral history interviews. It also includes lists of suggested readings including poetry by Jeff Tagami and Shirley Ancheta, Filipino American poets from the Pajaro Valley.

Click here to access the Filipino American Community and Identity in the Pajaro Valley Canvas module via Canvas Commons. 

Learning Outcomes:
Through this module, students will be able to:

  • Explain the history of Filipino migration to the Pajaro Valley during the early twentieth century
  • Discuss labor, kinship, businesses, social organizations, foodways, and music as sites of Filipino American community and identity formation
  • Analyze primary source documents from the Watsonville is in the Heart Digital Archive including photographs and oral history interviews
  • Relate their own personal and community experiences to Pajaro Valley Filipino American histories

Topics and Source Sets:
This module is broken down into 6 topics. Each topic includes an introductory page that provides guiding questions and a list of recommended secondary literature and additional resources. Each topic includes sets of paired primary sources focused on a single theme.


The module was created by WIITH team members, Meleia Simon-Reynolds, Katrina Pagaduan, Janeth Perez-Quirke, and Dr. Kathleen Cruz Gutierrez in collaboration with Michelle Morton, Instruction Librarian at Cabrillo Community College, and Aloha Sargent, Technology Services Librarian at Cabrillo Community College.