Teodoro Andal Agoncillo was a 20th-century
FilipinoThe Filipino people or Filipinos are an Austronesian ethnic group native to the islands of the Philippines. There are about 92 million Filipinos in the Philippines, and about 11 million living outside the Philippines ....
historianA historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
. He and his contemporary
Renato ConstantinoRenato Constantino was an influential Filipino historian. He was a known leftist historian of the Philippines. He is the father-in-law of political commentator Randy David.-Works:*The Philippines: A Past Revisited...
were among the first Filipino historians renowned for promoting a distinctly nationalist point of view of Filipino history (nationalist historiography). He was also an essayist and a
poetA poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
.
Life
Born in
Lemery-People:* Nicolas Lemery , French chemist* Henry Lemery , Martinique politician...
BatangasBatangas is a first class province of the Philippines located on the southwestern part of Luzon in the CALABARZON region. Its capital is Batangas City and it is bordered by the provinces of Cavite and Laguna to the north and Quezon to the east. Across the Verde Island Passages to the south is the...
, Agoncillo obtained a bachelor's degree in philosophy from the
University of the PhilippinesThe ' is the national university of the Philippines. Founded in 1908 through Act No...
in 1934 and a master's degree in the arts from the same university the following year. He earned his living as a linguistic assistant at the Institute of National Language and as an instructor at the
Far Eastern UniversityFar Eastern University in the University Belt area, West Sampaloc, City of Manila, is a nonsectarian, private university in the Philippines. Created by the merger of Far Eastern College and the Institute of Accounts, Business and Finance, FEU became a university in 1934 under the guidance of...
and the
Manuel L. Quezon UniversityThe Manuel L. Quezon University is a private university in Quiapo, Manila, Philippines. It is a member of the Colleges and Universities Sports Association . It offers academic programs at the pre-school, elementary, high school, tertiary, and graduate levels. It is named for Philippine president...
. In 1956, he published his seminal work,
Revolt of the Masses: The Story of Bonifacio and the Katipunan, a history of the 1896
KatipunanThe Katipunan was a Philippine revolutionary society founded by anti-Spanish Filipinos in Manila in 1892, whose primary aim was to gain independence from Spain through revolution. The society was initiated by Filipino patriots Andrés Bonifacio, Teodoro Plata, Ladislao Diwa, and others on the night...
-led revolt against Spanish rule and its leader,
Andres BonifacioAndrés Bonifacio y de Castro was a Filipino nationalist and revolutionary. He was a founder and later Supremo of the Katipunan movement which sought the independence of the Philippines from Spanish colonial rule and started the Philippine Revolution...
. He garnered acclaim for this book, as well as criticisms from more conservative historians discomfited by the work's nationalist bent.
In 1958, Agoncillo was invited to join the faculty of the Department of History of his
alma mater, the University of the Philippines. He remained with the university until his retirement in 1977, chairing the Department of History from 1963 to 1969. Philippine President
Diosdado MacapagalDiosdado Pangan Macapagal was the ninth President of the Philippines, serving from 1961 to 1965, and the sixth Vice President, serving from 1957 to 1961. He also served as a member of the House of Representatives, and headed the Constitutional Convention of 1970...
named Agoncillo as a member of the
National Historical InstituteThe National Historical Commission of the Philippines is part of the government of the Philippines...
in 1963. He served in this capacity until his death in 1985.
Agoncillo's
History of the Filipino People, first published in 1960, remains a popular standard textbook in many Filipino universities, as are many of Agoncillo's other works. This is despite Agoncillo's controversial tone and for his perceived leftist bent. Gregorio Zaide, Teodoro Agoncillo, Reynaldo Ileto and
Renato ConstantinoRenato Constantino was an influential Filipino historian. He was a known leftist historian of the Philippines. He is the father-in-law of political commentator Randy David.-Works:*The Philippines: A Past Revisited...
stand as the most prominent 20th-century Filipino historians to emerge during the post-war period. It must be noted however, that Agoncillo's works suffer from uneven scholarship throughout, especially with his use (or especially, non-use) of reliable historical sources.
Works
- The Revolt of the Masses - (a biography of Andres Bonifacio
Andrés Bonifacio y de Castro was a Filipino nationalist and revolutionary. He was a founder and later Supremo of the Katipunan movement which sought the independence of the Philippines from Spanish colonial rule and started the Philippine Revolution...
)
- Malolos Crisis of the Republic - (sequel to Revolt of the Masses which discusses the events from Biak-na-Bato to the end of the Philippine-American War)
- The Fateful Years - (Philippine history during World War II)
- The History of the Filipino People