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5. Filipino-Mexican Couples and the Forging of a Mexipino Identity

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Becoming Mexipino
This chapter is in the book Becoming Mexipino
130When Felipa Castro met Ciriaco “Pablo” Poscablo in San Diego, little did sheknow the impact their marriage would have on their family for generations tocome. Born and raised in Baja California, Mexico, Felipa migrated with her family to Tijuana, then made her way north to the Otay Mesa area in the SouthBay region of San Diego County during the early 1930s. Her future husband,Ciriaco, arrived in San Diego in 1924from his hometown of Calasiao, in theprovince of Pangasinan, Philippines, via the U.S. Navy. Their courtship wasbrief, and they filed for a marriage license in 1938. What is interesting to noteabout their marriage is that on their license she indicated she was a “MexicanIndian,” despite the fact she was light enough to be considered white. Felipa,however, made sure she was not perceived as white. Rather, Felipa consciouslychose to indicate on their marriage license that she was Mexican Indian in orderto marry her Filipino husband. In doing so, she resisted the racial restrictions ofthe time that prohibited miscegenation between whites and nonwhites.1She hadto assert her Mexican Indian identity in order for the marriage to be recognizedby the state. Her choice to identify as “Mexican Indian” reveals an ironic twist offollowing the legal codes that opposed miscegenation between Filipinos andwhites; this also affected light-skinned Mexican women after 1933.2As the historian Peggy Pascoe notes in her book What Comes Naturally,in aneffort to uphold racial segregation, miscegenation laws were implemented andenforced to prohibit the mixing of whites with nonwhites. Some of the earliestmiscegenation laws in the United States—a consequence of white enslavementof Africans—were passed in Maryland and Virginia in the 1660s, prohibitinginterracial marriage and cohabitation between blacks and whites. Other statesfollowed suit with their own versions of the miscegenation law, which weremaintained up until the Civil War. During the post–Civil War period, fear ofmiscegenation led to another onslaught of legal barriers and social pressures,which spread to the Western states and other territories in the Southwest.3Filipino-Mexican Couples and the Forging of a Mexipino Identitychapter 5
© 2020 Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick

130When Felipa Castro met Ciriaco “Pablo” Poscablo in San Diego, little did sheknow the impact their marriage would have on their family for generations tocome. Born and raised in Baja California, Mexico, Felipa migrated with her family to Tijuana, then made her way north to the Otay Mesa area in the SouthBay region of San Diego County during the early 1930s. Her future husband,Ciriaco, arrived in San Diego in 1924from his hometown of Calasiao, in theprovince of Pangasinan, Philippines, via the U.S. Navy. Their courtship wasbrief, and they filed for a marriage license in 1938. What is interesting to noteabout their marriage is that on their license she indicated she was a “MexicanIndian,” despite the fact she was light enough to be considered white. Felipa,however, made sure she was not perceived as white. Rather, Felipa consciouslychose to indicate on their marriage license that she was Mexican Indian in orderto marry her Filipino husband. In doing so, she resisted the racial restrictions ofthe time that prohibited miscegenation between whites and nonwhites.1She hadto assert her Mexican Indian identity in order for the marriage to be recognizedby the state. Her choice to identify as “Mexican Indian” reveals an ironic twist offollowing the legal codes that opposed miscegenation between Filipinos andwhites; this also affected light-skinned Mexican women after 1933.2As the historian Peggy Pascoe notes in her book What Comes Naturally,in aneffort to uphold racial segregation, miscegenation laws were implemented andenforced to prohibit the mixing of whites with nonwhites. Some of the earliestmiscegenation laws in the United States—a consequence of white enslavementof Africans—were passed in Maryland and Virginia in the 1660s, prohibitinginterracial marriage and cohabitation between blacks and whites. Other statesfollowed suit with their own versions of the miscegenation law, which weremaintained up until the Civil War. During the post–Civil War period, fear ofmiscegenation led to another onslaught of legal barriers and social pressures,which spread to the Western states and other territories in the Southwest.3Filipino-Mexican Couples and the Forging of a Mexipino Identitychapter 5
© 2020 Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Contents vii
  3. Acknowledgments ix
  4. Introduction: Mexicans, Filipinos, and the Mexipino Experience 1
  5. 1. Immigration to a Rising Metropolis 13
  6. 2. The Devil Comes to San Diego 41
  7. 3. Survival and Belonging: Civil Rights, Social Organizations, and Youth Cultures 70
  8. 4. Race and Labor Activism in San Diego 92
  9. 5. Filipino-Mexican Couples and the Forging of a Mexipino Identity 130
  10. Epilogue 162
  11. Notes 171
  12. Index 227
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https://doi.org/10.36019/9780813553269-007

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Contents vii
  3. Acknowledgments ix
  4. Introduction: Mexicans, Filipinos, and the Mexipino Experience 1
  5. 1. Immigration to a Rising Metropolis 13
  6. 2. The Devil Comes to San Diego 41
  7. 3. Survival and Belonging: Civil Rights, Social Organizations, and Youth Cultures 70
  8. 4. Race and Labor Activism in San Diego 92
  9. 5. Filipino-Mexican Couples and the Forging of a Mexipino Identity 130
  10. Epilogue 162
  11. Notes 171
  12. Index 227
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