| Barbara Mercedes Posadas DeKalb, Illinois A Renowned Historian of Filipino-Americans |
Barbara Mercedes Posadas is an award winning, internationally
recognized historian of Filipino Americans. She has published
more than a dozen scholarly articles on the history of Filipinos in
the United States, and has given more than two dozen public
presentations on Filipino American history across the United
States, Paris, Winnipeg, and Manila. Born in Chicago, Dr.
Posadas is the daughter of the late Alipio Gutierrez Posadas who
came to the United States from San Carlos, Pangasinan in 1926
to study at Purdue University and Estelle Hazack Posadas, a
Chicago-born daughter of Polish immigrant parents. Dr. Posadas
graduated summa cum laude from De Paul University in Chicago
in 1967.
Educated as a United States urban and social historian at
Northwestern University where she received her M.A. (1971) and
Ph.D. (1976) degrees, Dr. Posadas came of age long before
recognized historian of Filipino Americans. She has published
more than a dozen scholarly articles on the history of Filipinos in
the United States, and has given more than two dozen public
presentations on Filipino American history across the United
States, Paris, Winnipeg, and Manila. Born in Chicago, Dr.
Posadas is the daughter of the late Alipio Gutierrez Posadas who
came to the United States from San Carlos, Pangasinan in 1926
to study at Purdue University and Estelle Hazack Posadas, a
Chicago-born daughter of Polish immigrant parents. Dr. Posadas
graduated summa cum laude from De Paul University in Chicago
in 1967.
Educated as a United States urban and social historian at
Northwestern University where she received her M.A. (1971) and
Ph.D. (1976) degrees, Dr. Posadas came of age long before
Asian American studies had acquired academic respectability. In the late 1970, she began her study of
Filipino immigrants to Chicago in the pre-World Ward II era not merely by poring through archives and old
newspapers but also by interviewing surviving members of the “old-timer’s “ generation themselves. In 1982,
she extended her research in the United States to the Philippines Diliman. Published in such journals as
Labor History, Amerasia, the Journal of American Ethnic History, and the Illinois Historical Journal, as well as
in several scholarly collections, this work has made Dr. Posadas a widely recognized pioneer in the field of
Filipino Americana history.
Dr. Posadas has been an active member of the Filipino American National Historical Society, serving as co-
chair of its Program Committee for the 1992 National Conference, as a member of its Board of Directors, and
as a member of the editorial board of the Filipino American National Historical Society Journal. In 1994, she
received FANHS highest honor, its gold “Very Important Pinoy” award.
A member of the History Department of Northern Illinois University since 1974, her work on Filipino Americans
is widely known outside the Filipino American Community as well. Beyond the Filipino American Community,
she has served on prize committees for the Organization of American Historians, the Immigration History
Society, the Illinois State Historical Society, and the Association for Asian American Studies and as a member
of the editorial boards of Amerasia, the journal of Women’s History, the Illinois Historical Journal, and the
Encyclopedia of Chicago History. She was recently appointed to the Board of Directors of the Urban History
Association and to the Committee on the Status of Minority History and Minority Historians of the Organization
of American Historians, the first Filipino American to serve on this committee which she will chair in 1998
during the centennial of the declaration of Philippine independence. Her service as a consultant for films and
exhibits and her informal mentoring of a young generation of Filipino American graduate students have also
helped spark interest in the history of Filipino Americans.
In her home state of Illinois, Dr. Posadas is a respected role model whose scholarly versatility is attested by
her teaching and research in the history of Chicago, United States women’s history, and historic preservation,
in addition to her work on Filipino Americans, and in her directorship of Northern Illinois University’s M.A.
Option in Historical Administration. In Illinois, Dr. Posadas has served on the Board of Directors of the FANHS
Midwest Chapter, on the Illinois Historical Sites Advisory Council, and on the Board of Directors of the Illinois
State Historical Society whose Minority and Heritage and Personnel Committees she also chaired.
Throughout, her steady intelligence, imagination, humor and energy have contributed to the successful
completion of projects begun and to an esprit de corps among those with whom she has worked.
Dr. Posadas is married to Dr. Roland L. Guyotte, also a Northwestern University-trained United States
historian, who is a faculty member of the University of Minnesota, Morris, and with whom she has co-authored
several of her articles on Filipino Americans. Their most recent joint publication is “Celebrating Rizal Day:
The Emergence of a Filipino Triadian in Twentieth Century Chicago,” in Genevieve Fabre and Ramon A.
Gutierrez, eds., Feasts and Celebrations in North American Ethnic Communities (Albuquerque: University of
New Mexico Press, 1995), 111-128. Dr. Posadas’ book, The Filipino Americans, will be published in the New
Americans Series of Greenwood Press in 1998.
Filipino immigrants to Chicago in the pre-World Ward II era not merely by poring through archives and old
newspapers but also by interviewing surviving members of the “old-timer’s “ generation themselves. In 1982,
she extended her research in the United States to the Philippines Diliman. Published in such journals as
Labor History, Amerasia, the Journal of American Ethnic History, and the Illinois Historical Journal, as well as
in several scholarly collections, this work has made Dr. Posadas a widely recognized pioneer in the field of
Filipino Americana history.
Dr. Posadas has been an active member of the Filipino American National Historical Society, serving as co-
chair of its Program Committee for the 1992 National Conference, as a member of its Board of Directors, and
as a member of the editorial board of the Filipino American National Historical Society Journal. In 1994, she
received FANHS highest honor, its gold “Very Important Pinoy” award.
A member of the History Department of Northern Illinois University since 1974, her work on Filipino Americans
is widely known outside the Filipino American Community as well. Beyond the Filipino American Community,
she has served on prize committees for the Organization of American Historians, the Immigration History
Society, the Illinois State Historical Society, and the Association for Asian American Studies and as a member
of the editorial boards of Amerasia, the journal of Women’s History, the Illinois Historical Journal, and the
Encyclopedia of Chicago History. She was recently appointed to the Board of Directors of the Urban History
Association and to the Committee on the Status of Minority History and Minority Historians of the Organization
of American Historians, the first Filipino American to serve on this committee which she will chair in 1998
during the centennial of the declaration of Philippine independence. Her service as a consultant for films and
exhibits and her informal mentoring of a young generation of Filipino American graduate students have also
helped spark interest in the history of Filipino Americans.
In her home state of Illinois, Dr. Posadas is a respected role model whose scholarly versatility is attested by
her teaching and research in the history of Chicago, United States women’s history, and historic preservation,
in addition to her work on Filipino Americans, and in her directorship of Northern Illinois University’s M.A.
Option in Historical Administration. In Illinois, Dr. Posadas has served on the Board of Directors of the FANHS
Midwest Chapter, on the Illinois Historical Sites Advisory Council, and on the Board of Directors of the Illinois
State Historical Society whose Minority and Heritage and Personnel Committees she also chaired.
Throughout, her steady intelligence, imagination, humor and energy have contributed to the successful
completion of projects begun and to an esprit de corps among those with whom she has worked.
Dr. Posadas is married to Dr. Roland L. Guyotte, also a Northwestern University-trained United States
historian, who is a faculty member of the University of Minnesota, Morris, and with whom she has co-authored
several of her articles on Filipino Americans. Their most recent joint publication is “Celebrating Rizal Day:
The Emergence of a Filipino Triadian in Twentieth Century Chicago,” in Genevieve Fabre and Ramon A.
Gutierrez, eds., Feasts and Celebrations in North American Ethnic Communities (Albuquerque: University of
New Mexico Press, 1995), 111-128. Dr. Posadas’ book, The Filipino Americans, will be published in the New
Americans Series of Greenwood Press in 1998.
Washington D.C. Since 1987
Washington D.C. Since 1987
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