Noteworthy Filipino Americans
1918 - 1919 The first Filipino Americans arrive in Wapato, WA: Pete Buenafe, Kay and Polly Ibatuan, Florencio Kapalonga, Eulogio Kapalongan, Policarpo Valdez, Antonio del Rosario, Bill Abella and Narciso del Rosario.
1946 - Carlos Bulosan, Filipino poet and author of America Is in the Heart , available at Yakima Valley Libraries.
1965 - Larry Dulay Itliong (25 October 1913 – 8 February 1977) was a Filipino-American labor organizer. He organized West Coast agricultural workers starting in the 1930s, and rose to national prominence in 1965, when he, Philip Vera Cruz, Benjamin Gines and Pete Velasco, walked off the farms of area table-grape growers, demanding wages equal to the federal minimum wage. That successful labor action became known as the Delano grape strike.
1992 - Velma R. Veloria is a former legislator from Washington. Veloria is the first Filipina American as well as the first Asian American woman to be elected to the Washington State Legislature as a member of Washington House of Representatives. She served from 1993 to 2004.
1993 - Eleanor Concepcion "Connie" Mariano (born 1955), is a Filipina American physician and retired flag officer in the United States Navy. She is the first Filipina American and graduate of the Uniformed Services University of Medicine to reach the rank of Rear Admiral in the U.S. Navy as well as the second woman to become Physician to the President,
2001 - Angela Perez Baraquio Grey is an American educator. She was crowned Miss America 2001 on October 14, 2000 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, becoming the first Asian American, first Filipina American, and first teacher ever to win the pageant.
2009 - Simeona Fortunata "Mona" Pasquil is an American political advisor and politician who served as the 47th and acting lieutenant governor of California from November 4, 2009 to April 27, 2010, previously serving as Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi's chief of staff.
2011 - 2018 -Thurgood Marshall, Jr., White House senior staff member during the Clinton and Obama administrations.
2017 - Oscar A. Solis becomes the first Filipino American Catholic diocesan bishop in the United States. He was elevated to a bishop in Los Angeles in 2004, being the first Filipino American bishop.
2018 - Erin Entrada Kelly becomes the first Filipina American to win the John Newbery Medal for the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.
2019 - Robert Lopez becomes the first Filipino-American to earn a double Academy, Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Awards winner (EGOT).
2019 - Darren Criss becomes the first Filipino American to win a Golden Globe.
2020 - Dozens of Filipino American healthcare workers have died due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Also Filipino Americans become the most affected ethnic group by COVID-19 in the United States due to a combination of high percentage of healthcare work and essential work such as sanitation, delivery, and custodial.