'Invisible' Filipino history in Annapolis documented by UMD researchers
Filipinos
have been an invisible minority in Annapolis for more than a century. Now,
researchers at the University of Maryland are using oral histories as a way to
flesh out their life and times -- documenting the incredible challenges they
faced -- and successes they celebrated. After the Spanish-American War, the
Philippines became a U.S. territory. Filipinos were brought to Annapolis --
home of the Naval Academy -- to serve as desk interns, fire fighters,
construction laborers, messmen and stewards. In many cases, the Naval Academy
replaced African Americans with Filipinos leading to increased racial tensions.
For
three years, University of Maryland Archeologist Mark Leone's Archaeology in
Annapolis Summer Field School has worked to uncover what has been described as
a surprisingly complex relationship between the ethnic communities -- that was
at times marked by violence but also intermarriage and social inter mixing.
And
while the archeological digs have produced some amazing discoveries (see
Forgotten Annapolis Immigration Conflict Uncovered by the UMD Archeology
Project), the Filipino community itself has come to feel that their story in
Annapolis has not been told. As one former steward says, "No one ever asks
Filipinos about their history or knows of it."
But
this past summer, the Maryland Archeology in Annapolis project took a giant
step towards giving this underrepresented community a voice. UMD graduate
student Kathrina Aben interviewed ten individuals -- early pioneers,
descendants, and new immigrants. By trying to understand Filipino -- American
history, archeologists hope to put history to paper for the first time and find
new locations in Annapolis to explore.
Aben --
who is studying archaeology -- says that the oral histories help "reveal
the structural racism Filipinos faced and details the methods they came to use
to combat both social and legal discrimination." She says further
alienation resulted from racial tension with the white and black communities
over job competition and fears of miscegenation.
"There
was a lot of things that happened that I don't like," says former steward
Leo Toribio. "At that time, discrimination was tight."
Over
the years, the Filipino community created their own haven in Annapolis. They
lived inside and outside of the city. Filipinos occupied locations such as Hell
Point, Eastport, and Truxon Heights. Yet they still struggled with acceptance
by city residents. Filipino-run restaurants -- like one on Cornhill Street
(right-blank red wall with door) -- had no name and advertised by word of
mouth. Customers would order "Hawaiian" food despite their
unmistakable Filipino roots.
There
was a social organization -- the Filipino-American Friendly Association created
in the 1920s whose clubhouse on 4 Dock Street is especially interesting to
Professor Leone. "It's a culturally significant site," he says,
"that has great potential for archeological research."
Aben is
hoping that additional sites, like the Association clubhouse, will become part
of the Archeology in Annapolis Summer Field School program.
"Filipinos
are bound together even today by their shared struggles of immigration,
segregation and integration," Aben says. "This research remains
relevant and important to the Filipinos still living in Annapolis and the
overall Filipino diaspora in the U.S.
Source: University of Maryland
"Cycling
highly reactive lithium metal in flammable organic electrolytes causes serious
safety concerns," Liang said. "A solid electrolyte enables the
lithium metal to cycle well, with highly enhanced safety."
The
ORNL team developed its solid electrolyte by manipulating a material called
lithium thiophosphate so that it could conduct ions 1,000 times faster than its
natural bulk form. The researchers used a chemical process called
nanostructuring, which alters the structure of the crystals that make up the
material.
"Think
about it in terms of a big crystal of quartz vs. very fine beach sand,"
said coauthor Adam Rondinone. "You can have the same total volume of
material, but it's broken up into very small particles that are packed
together. It's made of the same atoms in roughly the same proportions, but at
the nanoscale the structure is different. And now this solid material conducts
lithium ions at a much greater rate than the original large crystal."
The
researchers are continuing to test lab scale battery cells, and a patent on the
team's invention is pending.
"We
use a room-temperature, solution-based reaction that we believe can be easily
scaled up," Rondinone said. "It's an energy-efficient way to make
large amounts of this material."
The
study is published as "Anomalous High Ionic Conductivity of Nanoporous
β-Li3PS4," and its ORNL coauthors are Zengcai Liu, Wujun Fu, Andrew
Payzant, Xiang Yu, Zili Wu, Nancy Dudney, Jim Kiggans, Kunlun Hong, Adam
Rondinone and Chengdu Liang. The work was sponsored by the Division of
Materials Sciences and Engineering in DOE's Office of Science.
Source: Oak Ridge
National Laboratory
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Posted by Unknown
on Friday, January 25, 2013.
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