Orang Asli: Introduction to the ‘First People’ of Southeast Asia
For much of my adult life, I have been collecting old photographs of the so-called “little blacks” of Asia.
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As a kid growing up on the far South Side of Chicago, whenever I would envision the physical features of Asian people—since those I saw most were in martial arts movies and Ultraman reruns on television—a fairly narrow set of characteristics always came to mind. Perhaps not all that surprisingly, brown skin and curly black hair were never among them.
But one fateful day, my father told me about an eye-opening experience he’d had as a young man serving in the United States Marines.
While stationed in the Philippines between 1961 and 1963, “Pops” would learn of Asians whose physical features were significantly different from what most Americans have been conditioned to expect.
There in the Philippines, my father saw native Filipinos who, albeit small in stature, looked a lot like him, with dark brown skin, curly black hair, and — stranger still — African facial features.
To say the least, the sight of such people living in the heart of Southeast Asia was completely unexpected.
It was also unsettling.
Equally as unsettling, my father soon learned that these puzzling pint-sized people were typically referred to locally by a Spanish term, one that translates literally into English as the “little blacks.”
Facts of Life
As the Earth’s largest and most populous land-mass, Asia is home to 60% of the planet’s human populations. Included in this sum are the continent’s lesser known groups called the Negritos—indigenous Asians who look a lot more like the relatives of Kevin Hart than Jackie Chan.
The term Negrito was first applied by Spanish sailors in the 16th century after encounters with such people during early forays into the region. And though wholly unscientific, the term is still used today to refer to distinct ethnic groups living in…
