Dr. José P. Rizal - Juneau, AK
Posted by: 
neoc1
N 58° 17.924 W 134° 24.216
8V E 534958 N 6462124
A monument honoring the national hero of the Philippines, Dr. José P. Rizal, is located in Manila Square in downtown Juneau, AK.
Waymark Code: WMZ9ZM
Location: Alaska, United States
Date Posted: 10/06/2018
Views: 7
A monument honoring Dr.José P. Rizal contains a bronze bust of the national hero of the Philippines mounted on a tapered block stone base containing three bronze plaques. Dr.Jose P. Rizal is depicted from the chest up. He is wearing a jacket with wide lapels, a high split collar and an ascot.
Below the bust on the tapered part of the base is a bronze plaque inscribed: Dr.Jose P. Rizal. Below is a second plaque inscribed:
THE CITY AND BOROUGH OF JUNEAU ASSEMBLY
HONORS THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF
FILIPINOS IN JUNEAU
BY NAMING THIS DOWNTOWN LOCATION
MANILA SQUARE
JUNEAU ASSEMBLY MEMBERS:
DALE ANDERSON DON ETHERIDGE, JR. JEANNIE JOHNSON KEN KOELSCH
FRANKIE PILLIFANT JIM POWELL RANDY WANAMAKER MARC WHEELER
JOHN MACKINNON, CITY MANAGER SALLY SMITH, MAYOR
FILIPINO COMMUNITY OF JUNEAU:
DANNIE LAZARO, PRESIDENT, 2002 - MORRIS CARRILLO, PRESIDENT, 2003
AUGUST 19, 2002
On the lower part of the base in a plaque with the inscription:
MANILA, THE THRIVING CAPITAL OF THE PHILIPPINES,
IS THE CENTER OF GOVERNMENT AND CULTURAL
HERITAGE, AND IS THE ECONOMIC HEART OF THE NATION.
IN 1904, ABOARD THE CABLE VESSEL "USS BURNSIDE,"
80 FILIPINOS ASSISTED THE INSTALLATION OF THE
FIRST TELEGRAPH CABLE LINKING JUNEAU AND SEATTLE.
DURING THE 1920S AND 1930S, FILIPINOS WORKED IN
SOUTHEAST FISH CANNERIES WHERE THEY WERE
REFERRED TO AS "ALASKEROS" AND LABORED
IN THE ALASKA-JUNEAU GOLD MINE.
THE FIRST FILIPINO COMMUNITY IN JUNEAU WAS
ORGANIZED IN 1929. IT WAS LATER INCORPORATED
UNDER TERRITORIAL LAW ON FEBRUARY 1, 1956.
ALL MEMBERS OF THE FILIPINO COMMUNITY
ARE GRATEFUL TO THE JUNEAU ASSEMBLY FOR
DEDICATING "MANILA SQUARE" IN THEIR HONOR.
José Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda was born in Calamba, Philippines on June 19, 1861. He attended school in the Philippines before travelling to Spain, in 1882, to earn a medical degree from the Universidad Central de Madrid. He became leader of the reform movement of Filipino students in Spain. He contributed essays, allegories, poems, and editorials to the Spanish newspaper La Solidaridad in Barcelona espousing liberal and progressive ideas of individual rights and freedom for the Filipino people.
In 1892 he returned to Manila and formed the civic movement called La Liga Filipina. For his activities on behalf of the rebellion he was sent to Dapitan in Mindanao, in the southeastern Philippines, where he became a community activist. He was allowed to travel to Cuba to minister to victims of yellow fever.
By 1896, a revolution erupted in the Philippines. While on route to Cuba through Spain, Rizal was arrested and imprisoned in Barcelona. He was sent to Manila, tried before a court-martial for rebellion, sedition, and conspiracy, convicted, and executed on December 30, 1896 at age thirty-five.