Filipino American Roots

Guadalupe, Lompoc, Pismo Beach, Salinas—these Central Coast towns were among the many places up and down the West Coast well known to the Filipino migrant laborer. Filipinos, mostly men, could find work in these towns through a Filipino labor contractor who assigned him to a crew at a farm labor camp or boarding house. They found cheap entertainment in gambling houses, in pool halls, or at cockfights, or female companionship in dance halls or brothels. They also created community and fraternal organizations to lend support to one another. “Liberty and Justice for All” When Filipinos arrived in the U.S. in the 1920s, they came not as foreigners but as nationals with American passports. They had dreams of a new life in the United States. After their country was forcibly taken over by the U.S. during the Spanish American War (1898), they were required to attend schools that taught them the English language and civics lessons promoting the ideals of “liberty and justice for all.” Once here, however, Filipinos were confronted with legal, economic, and social limitations that created  bachelor societies, or “tigertowns.” They were prevented from becoming citizens or from marrying, had little opportunity outside of wage labor, and were looked upon as a social menace.  World War II Changed Their Lives December 7, 1941, Japanese Imperial forces attacked Pearl Harbor; the Philippine Islands were bombed hours later. Many Filipinos in the U.S. enlisted to defend both countries. Other Filipinos progressed from farm laborers to farmers because of the need for wartime food supplies, and they were able to lease the lands left behind by the large number of Japanese American farmers who were interned during the war. During World War II, Filipinos finally were given the right to become U.S. citizens. Either as citizens or as soldiers, Filipinos had the opportunity—for the first time since migrating to the U.S.—to travel to the Philippines. California law prevented Filipino men from marrying Caucasian women, and Filipina women were a rare sight in the U.S., as a look at the 1930 U.S. census would boldly illustrate. The vacation to the Philippines, then, became a chance to find a wife and to establish more traditional families.