At the turn of the twentieth century, the United States extended its
empire into the Philippines while subjugating Black Americans in the Jim
Crow South. And yet, one of the most popular musical acts was a band of
"little brown men," Filipino musicians led by an African American
conductor playing European and American music. The Philippine
Constabulary Band and Lt. Walter H. Loving entertained thousands in
concert halls and world's fairs, held a place of honor in William Howard
Taft's presidential parade, and garnered praise by bandmaster John
Philip Sousa--all the while facing beliefs and policies that Filipinos
and African Americans were "uncivilized."
Author Mary Talusan draws on hundreds of newspaper accounts and
exclusive interviews with band members and their descendants to compose
the story from the band's own voices. She sounds out the meanings of
Americans' responses to the band and identifies a desire to mitigate
racial and cultural anxieties during an era of overseas expansion and
increasing immigration of nonwhites, and the growing "threat" of ragtime
with its roots in Black culture. The spectacle of the band, its
performance and promotion, emphasized a racial stereotype of Filipinos
as "natural musicians" and the beneficiaries of benevolent assimilation
and colonial tutelage. Unable to fit Loving's leadership of the band
into this narrative, newspapers dodged and erased his identity as a
Black American officer.
The untold story of the Philippine Constabulary Band offers a unique
opportunity to examine the limits and porousness of America's racial
ideologies, exploring musical pleasure at the intersection of
Euro-American cultural hegemony, racialization, and US colonization of
the Philippines.
