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Social Science 3 – Jose

Rizal’s Life, Works &
Writings

CHAPTER 13:
Rizal’s Visit to the United States

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Rizal first saw America on April 28, 1888.

He saw the discriminatory treatment of the Chinese and

Negroes by the White Americans.

He kept notes of what he observed during the trip from

San Francisco to New York, where he took a ship from
England.

Rizal was a man of truth, he wrote what he had seen

and experience.

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 Arrival to San Francisco

The streamer Belgic, with Rizal on Board, docked at

San Francisco on Saturday morning, all passengers
are not allowed to land.

The American health authorities placed the ship under

quarantine on the ground that came from the Far East
where a cholera epidemic was alleged to be raging.

He discovered that the placing the ship under

quarantine was motivated by politics. The ship was
carrying 643 Chinese coolies.

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 Arrival to San Francisco

- At that time public opinion on the Pacific coast was

against cheap coolie labor because the coolies from
China were displacing white laborers in railroad
construction camps.
- After a week of quarantine, all first-class passengers
including Rizal, were permitted to land.
- May 4, 1888. the day he was permitted to go ashore,
Rizal registered at the Palace Hotel.
- Rizal mentioned in his diary the name of Leland
Stanford. Who was the millionaire senator representing
California.
- The President of the United States that time was
Grover Cleveland.
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 Across the American Continent

On May 6, 1888. Rizal left San Francisco for Oakland,

nine miles across San Francisco Bay by FERRY
BOAT.

May 7 – Reno, Nevada

May 8 – Utah States
May 9 – Colorado
May 10 – Nebraska
May 11 – Chicago
May 12 – Niagara Falls
May 13 - Albany

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 Rizal in New York

May 13, Rizal reached New York, thus ending his trip
across American Continent.

He stayed 3 days in the city and called it the “big town”.

He visited scenic and historic places. He was awed and

inspired by the memorial to George Washington. He
wrote to Ponce : “He is a great man who, I think, has no
equal to his country.”

May 16, 1888. he left New York for Liverpool on board

the City of Rome.
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 Rizal’s impression of America

Good impressions were:

1. The material progress of the country as shown in the

great cities, huge farms, flouring industries, and busy
factories.
2. The drive and energy of the American people.
3. The natural beauty of the land.
4. High standard of living.
5. Opportunities for better offered to poor immigrants.

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 Rizal’s impression of America

His bad impression was the lack of racial equality.

There existed prejudice which was inconsistent with the
principles of democracy and freedom of which the
Americans talk so much but do not practice.

“They do not have civil liberty. In some states the

Negro cannot marry a White woman, nor White man to
a Negress. Hatred against the Chinese leads to
difficulty for other Asiatics who, like Japanese are
mistaken for Chinese by the ignorant, and therefore
being dislikes, too.”

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 Rizal’s impression of America

In 1890, two years after Rizal’s visit to the United

States, Jose Alejandro, who was then studying
engineering in Belgium, he asked Rizal : “What
impression do you have of America?”

“America,” Rizal answered, “is the land par excellence

of freedom but only of the WHITES.”

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CLASS ACTIVITY

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