| Event date: August 21, 1901 |
Displays: 5835 |
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Created: |
Aug 01, 2007 at 05:01 PM |
Modified: |
Aug 23, 2007 at 12:51 AM |
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The "Thomasites" arrive in the Philippines 
The Thomasites (365 males and 165 females) arrived in the Philippines to serve as teachers. They were called Thomasites because the transport vessel they arrived in was named the USS Thomas. The Thomasites was the largest group of pioneers with the purpose of educating the Filipinos, though they were not the first to be deployed by Washington, D.C. Arriving a few weeks before the USS Thomas was another group composed of 48 American teachers aboard the Sheridan. A few weeks before the arrival of the USS Thomas, U.S. Army soldiers had already began teaching Filipinos the English language, thus in effect laying down the foundation of the Philippine public school system. Later batches of American teachers were also dubbed as the Thomasites, the total deployed was 1,074. |
