This FAHM piece is presented by lovedearflor - a FilipinoAmerican owned small business. Before Bruno Mars and Olivia Rodrigo, there were the Filipino Rough Riders — America’s first touring Filipino performers. In 1899, at the height of the Philippine-American War, three Filipinos — Geronimo Ynosincio, Felix Alcantara and Ysidora Alcantara — joined Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show as the “Filipino Rough Riders.” Recruited in Hawaii, they traveled from San Francisco to New York aboard the SS China, debuting that spring at Madison Square Garden — where the crowd booed them amid anti-Filipino sentiment. According to Buffalo Bill’s 1899 and 1900 Route Books, the troupe rode more than 22,000 miles by rail, giving over 670 performances across roughly 267 towns and cities from the Northeast to the Deep South — reaching an estimated six to seven million spectators. By 1900, the group had expanded from three to eight members, including Gregorio Azarraga, Eustaquio Caliz, Ysidoro Constantina, Lo...