Routes

"Filipino American Routes: Following the Crops on the Central Coast, the Early Years," covers the living and working experiences of Filipino men and women who migrated to California to work its farms in the 1920s and 1930s. This online exhibit focuses on Filipino migrant life in San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Monterey Counties. The story is pieced together from oral histories, personal memoirs, and public records. 

These Filipinos, mostly young men, dreamed of an idyllic future based on stories they heard about the United States while in the Philippines or on plantations in Hawaii. They arrived in San Francisco by ship and made their way to Stockton, Salinas and other farm employment centers. Months later they would often wake up from these dreams and find themselves in primitive bunkhouses on farms stretching from California to Washington state, where they planted and harvested during the day.

The government was concerned about poor living conditions for many of these workers, not only for humanitarian reasons but because they feared that the squalid conditions would make easy recruits for radical unions. Strikes and even sabotage were common when farmers lowered wages during these uncertain times.