Helen Agcaoili Summers Brown

Helen Agcaoili Summers Brown was born in Manila on May 16, 1915.[2] She was the third of seven children born to Trinidad Agcaoili Summers, a Filipina woman, and George R. Summers, an Anglo American man.[3] Her father had emigrated to the Philippines to teach English as part of efforts to establish Western-style schools following the acquisition of the Philippines by the United States through the 1898 Treaty of Paris.[3]

She graduated from Manila Central High School in 1934.[2][3] Her family moved to Arcadia, California soon afterward, where Brown enrolled in Pasadena City College.[3] After choosing to write a report on the Spanish influence on Manila, Helen found no resources in the college's library or the public library, and completed the assignment using her father's scrapbooks and memorabilia.[4] The experience inspired her to become a lifelong collector of resources about Filipino culture.[4]

Brown transferred to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where she earned her bachelor's degree in education (1937) and a master's degree in social work (1939).[3][5] She is the first known Filipino to have graduated from UCLA.[6] Brown was an early supporter of Asian American Studies at UCLA; she was a member of the interim steering committee that drafted the proposal to establish the Asian-American Studies Center in 1969.[6]

She met William (Bill) Brown while attending UCLA. They dated for six months, and the couple got married in August 1941.[7] They traveled to Boulder City, Colorado to get married due to California's miscegenation laws, then in place, which would not permit a mestiza to marry a white man.[5] Due to a disability, Bill was not required to serve during World War II. [5] Instead, Bill worked the midnight shift at Bethlehem Steel as a tester for welders. At the time, Brown was pregnant with her first son, and took a leave from teaching for six months. Many women worked as welders, and after encouragement from her husband, Brown became a welder, and welded the bulk heads of liberty ships.[7]

The Browns enjoyed traveling, and would take their four sons on trips.[3] Brown would periodically travel to the Philippines every two years after her marriage, bringing her children and husband, to visit her family and tour the country.[7]

Brown worked for the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) for thirty-four years, retiring in 1974.[5][4] She first worked as a substitute teacher, before teaching fulltime. Brown taught third grade at schools within the district and other lower grades for eight years.[7][3] While Brown enjoyed teaching, she felt confined by the school curriculum, and applied to become a Pupil Personnel and Attendance Counselor.[5]

During her time at LAUSD, she lobbied the district to recognize the specific needs of Filipino-American school children.[8] She also lobbied on behalf of Filipino-American schoolteachers, working to increase the number of teachers and to see them promoted within the system.[8]

After retiring as a teacher, Brown focused her energy on the collection of materials she had gathered for four decades.[4] The collection became a home library, and in 1985, a church near downtown Los Angeles, the First Filipino Christian Church, donated space in their basement for the library to reside.[4][7] The Pilipino American Reading Room and Library (PARRAL) opened to the public on October 13, 1985.[8] Brown hosted visiting hours two afternoons a week.[8]

In 1988, the Pamana Foundation was established by Helen Brown, Tania Azores, Brad Bagasao, and Ming Menez to encourage interest in Filipino-American culture and history, with the library as a research center.[8] PARRAL was moved to Luzon Plaza in Historic Filipinotown, Los Angeles in March 1994, providing more visibility.[8] The Los Angeles Times described the opening as "a milestone in the history of the local Filipino community."[4] Another relocation in 2000 moved the library to Temple Street and inspired a renaming of the library to the Filipino American Library (FAL).[8] At 6,000 items, including books, pamphlets, photographs, and artifacts, it was the largest collection of Filipino and Filipino-American reading materials in the United States.[9]

A short documentary titled Got Book? Auntie Helen's Gift of Books was created by Florante Ibanez in 2005 to recognize Brown and the founding of the FAL.[10] In the film, Brown is interviewed by her son and discusses her upbringing in the Philippines as a mestiza.[10]

When the Filipino American Library closed, the collections were sent to the University of Southern California Libraries.[9] The USC Libraries have digitized materials in the Filipino American Library Collection, including materials written in English, Tagalog, and Ilocano.[9]

Brown and her family lived for over fifty years in Hermosa Beach, California.[3] She spent her last years in an assisted living residence in Hermosa Beach.[8] Brown died there on January 25, 2011.[3]

• Got Book? 9-minute video documentary about Brown and the founding of the Filipino American Library (2005)
• Get to know Fil-Am education pioneer Helen Agcaoili Summers 3-minute video about Brown from Balitang America (2020)
• Filipino American Library Collection materials from the USC Digital Library
• Shades of L.A. a recording of an oral history interview with Helen Agcoaoili Summers Brown (1993)