When Guam was ceded to the United States after the Spanish-American War in 1898, the island fell under the administrative control of the US Navy. The first half of the 20th century saw thirty-two naval governors appointed to rule over the island and its people, but with no formally established civil rights or offers of citizenship for the people of Guam.
National Attention on Guam’s Postwar Campaign for Citizenship Read Post »
Although Chamorros have a long history of resisting the different colonial administrations that have governed the island, the latter decades of the 20th century are marked by the emergence of formalized indigenous activist groups. These groups mobilized to addressed the island’s ongoing colonial status.
OPI-R: Organization of People for Indigenous Rights Read Post »
Ancient wisdom. Within the region known as Micronesia is a chain of islands called the Marianas, which are the furthest north and the nearest to Asia of all the Pacific Islands. The Marianas are the summits of a vast, submerged mountain range extending south from Japan. Guam is the largest and southernmost of these islands.
Land Ownership in Guam Read Post »
Following the conclusion of the four-month long Spanish-American war in 1898, Guam was placed under the control of the United States Department of the Navy by Presidential Executive Order 108-A on 23 December 1898—just prior the ratification of the Treaty of Paris that officially ceded the island from Spain to the US. By 12 January 1899, the first Naval governor of Guam was appointed by the Navy.
US Naval Era Governors: Contributions and Controversies Read Post »
The Commission on Decolonization was established by the 24th Guam Legislature in 1997 to enhance the efforts of the Commission on Self-Determination. Its purpose is to educate the people of
Commission on Decolonization Read Post »
The goal of education in any society is to impart knowledge and to equip people with the tools necessary to become valuable and contributing members of their community. Yet, who determines what should be taught or what kind of knowledge people should acquire?
Role of Education in the Preservation of Guam’s Indigenous Language Read Post »
CHamoru activism in the 1970s. In the 1970s, several CHamoru activist groups organized to resist both local injustices and United States colonialism on Guam in general. PARA-PADA was formed from two activist groups that merged together and operated outside the traditional political leadership circles on Guam.
30 Years in the making. Guam’s Commonwealth Act was both a continuation of indigenous rights struggles from the early 20th century and a reaction to Washington’s negotiations and status agreements with Guam’s regional neighbors to end the United Nation’s Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (TTPI). For three decades, from the early 1970s to 2001, the commonwealth movement was the dominant theme in federal-territorial relations and a major expression of Chamorro/CHamoru cultural nationalism.
Guam Commonwealth Act Read Post »
Partitioning the Mariana Islands at the peace table in Versailles was undoubtedly one of America’s greatest foreign policy “Follies.” Despite the best advice from naval officers who had been in the region since Commodore Matthew C. Perry opened Japan in 1853, President William McKinley chose to give a portion of America’s spoils of war to a European nation that did not even participate in the war.
History of Efforts to Reunify the Mariana Islands Read Post »
Early Guam newspapers. Two publications that emerged during the US Naval Administration of Guam (1898-1941) were the Guam Eagle and the Guam Echo. The Guam Eagle replaced the Guam Recorder as the main printed source of news, information and local interest stories about the island. The Guam Eagle was owned and operated by the United States Navy prior to World War II.
Guam Echo and Guam Eagle Read Post »
