#TodayinHistory in 1872, 150 yrs ago, Clemencia López, feminist & Filipino independista, was born in Balayan, Batangas. She travelled to the U.S. during the PH-US War to negotiate the release of her detained brothers, & tell the American press #PH's desire to be free. LONG THREAD Image
The Lopezes of Balayan, Batangas were a wealthy family & a long-time reformist-turned-revolutionary supporters. Natalio Lopez supported moves that countered the corruption & abuses in the Spanish gov.
Natalio (died in 1886) & Maria Castelo had 6 sons-- Mariano, Lorenzo, Sixto, Cipriano, Manuel, Jose-- & 4 daughters--Andrea, Clemencia, Juliana, Maria. Not much is known about Clemencia bec true to social propriety expected of her gender at the time, she worked in the background.
Sixto, her eldest full brother, & a friend of Rizal, became assistant diplomat to Felipe Agoncillo in 1898, campaigning for the international recognition of #PH independence. He was stationed in Hong Kong. Image
At the turn of the 20th century, the U.S. turned from Filipino ally against Spain, to colonizers against Filipinos. After much tension from Aug 1898 to Feb 1899 bet. Filipino & US forces in #PH, the Philippine-American War broke out on 4 Feb 1899.
This divided the family. Clemencia's half-brother Mariano believed that autonomy under US was more practical than an all-out war & resistance, while Sixto was very vocal in his conviction about total independence. Clemencia's closeness to Sixto suggests her political leanings.
On 13 Dec 1901, American authorities confiscated Lopez properties in #PH, & arrested 3 of Clemencia's brothers-- Cipriano (a former revolutionary), Lorenzo, & Manuel-- all of whom were just attending to their affairs in the family business. They were all detained w/out charge.
Mariano, although free, could not move for fear of financial ruin. Nor could Sixto, who in HK, proved too controversial, earning the ire of U.S. authorities. The Lopez sisters moved. Andrea secured the family home, w/c was occupied by US soldiers, while others updated Sixto.
After 2 wks since the arrests, Clemencia decided to go to HK & then the US to appeal for her brothers' release. She was accompanied by Friske Warren, member of the Anti-Imperialist League & close friend of Sixto.
Knowing that she would face American gender politics & racism that ran rampant in the US empire, coupled w/ the reputation that preceded her w/ her brothers branded as insurgents, she used her privilege to get the message across. Upon her arrival, in Jan 1902...
... the anti-imperialist minority in the US Senate was calling for her testimony, similarly so in May in US Congress, in an attempt to probe the atrocities committed by the US military on civilians, but this never came to fruition.
She was granted briefly an audience by Pres. Theodore Roosevelt, but this came to nothing. However, she granted interviews to the American press, & was portrayed as sophisticated, rational, & an ideal woman--unusual in the general portrayal of Filipinos in the U.S. at the time. Image
Clemencia Lopez was also invited to speak in meetings of women organizations across the United States. One of her speech, delivered to the New England Suffrage Woman Association on 29 May 1902, was read in the US Congress by Rep. John Sharp Williams: ImageImage
Clemencia enrolled in Wellesley College to learn English, but never earned a degree there as she returned to #PH in 1903. Two yrs later, she co-founded the Asociación Feminista Filipina (AFF) leading the feminist push for women's suffrage.
While suffrage was granted to women in the United States in 1920, in #PH under the Commonwealth, upon the committed campaign of Filipina women like her, this came to fruition in 1937. She passed away on 4 June 1963.
Photos:
- Clemencia Lopez from The Story of the Lopez Family, by Canning Eyot, 1904
- Sixto Lopez, undated, The Lopez Family History Balayan Batangas FB page
- C. Lopez feat. in San Francisco Call, 2 Nov 1902
- C. Lopez' speech, US Congressional Record, 24 June 1902 Vol. 35, P. 7

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