LITTLE MANILA
HISTORY
The Digital Delta Project seeks to use modern technology to preserve and present the history of minority cultures in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The project's first subject has been the Little Manila community.
In the early to mid-1900s, Stockton's Little Manila neighborhood just south of downtown was a thriving community. By the 1950s, it was home to 15,000 people and was the largest Filipino community outside the Philippines.
Starting in the late 1960s, however, the neighborhood was largely torn down to make way for the Crosstown Freeway.
Residents scattered to the Bay Area and Sacramento, and by 1978, the Filipino-American population in Stockton dropped to just 5,000.
(Photo courtesy of the Filipino American National Historical Society)
Digital Delta fellow and graphic designer Kyle Sabbatino on how he hopes the project will help people learn about Little Manila. (Click on the image to play the video)
DIGITAL DELTA PROJECT
THE TEAM
The Digital Delta Project was initially funded by a $100,000 Pacific Strategic Educational Excellence Development grant in May 2016. It provides students with an opportunity to combine history and technology in an interactive platform that gives back to the communities in the university's three cities: Stockton, Sacramento and San Francisco.
This year's seven Digital Delta summer fellows are a multi-disciplinary team from history, computer science, graphic design and education. During the five-week fellowship, they received a $3,000 stipend through the grant.
FELLOWS
Kyle Sabbatino '18, Graphic Design | Andrew Johnson '19, History | Mary Milliken '20, Graphic Design | Tyler Reardon, MA Education (Pacific history grad) | Sophia Vu, MA Education (Cal Poly grad) | Keely Canniff '20, Computer Science | Alicia Stephan '20, Pre-Dentistry, Computer Science minor
FACULTY
Jennifer Helgren, Associate Professor, History | Dan Cliburn, Professor, Engineering & Computer Science | Joshua Salyers, Digital Curator
RESEARCH
Among the first things the fellows did was to see what's left of Little Manila for themselves. They visited the Little Manila Historical Site near Stockton's Crosstown Freeway as well as a local museum and foundation.
This year, the project was awarded a $15,000 California Humanities grant to create a virtual reality museum exhibit that will be housed at Stockton's Filipino-American National Historical Society. The exhibit will be a digital reconstruction of the Little Manila neighborhood and will interpret its significance as a center of regional and national Filipino-American culture.
History major and project fellow Andrew Johnson explains how the humanities and digital teams work together.
The game includes recreations of street scenes and building interiors that show what life was life for Filipinos living in Stockton between the 1930s and 1950s.
Computer Science major Keely Canniff discusses her work with the humanities majors to create the virtual reality game.
In addition to the virtual reality experience, students have also worked with Stockton educators to create a 3D video game for classroom use.
COMMUNITY RESPONSE
Minnie Liwanag, who grew up in Stockton's Little Manila community, talks about what the Digital Delta Project means to her.
Digital Delta fellows unveiled the new Little Manila Recreated virtual reality game for the Stockton community on June 15. More than 100 people, including many from the local Filipino-American community, learned about the project and tried out the game.
Credits:
Photos by Jaslyn Gilbert