Remembering a Pioneer: Professor Dawn Bohulano Mabalon

GOLDEN GATE XPRESS -- Her presence in the SF State History Department was paramount in helping to identify and represent a large population on campus. “As a History major, seeing someone of the same background really empowered me to pursue something better and to see that my own history was just as beautiful,” said Lennard Nerona, a senior at SF State and a former student of Mabalon. Nerona read “Little Manila is in the Heart” — a book Mabalon wrote about the early Filipino community in Stockton, California — while in one of her classes. That introduction to Filipino-American history allowed Nerona to connect more to his own history. “I never really got that education going into high school, and it really opened up my eyes that there is a deeper meaning to my own cultural identity,” said Nerona, who is of Filipino descent.